My plan was to continue my comments on the CNBC Republican debate last week, and I will do some of that, but given the events of the past week it seems appropriate to broaden that discussion a bit. There are some troubling signs about the upcoming election and, more generally, the trajectory we’re on as a nation and – yes – an empire.
Starting with the debate, probably the most telling moments of that sorry spectacle were the attacks against the event moderators – the calls of unfairness most effectively delivered by Ted Cruz, who (as Sam Seder has pointed out) really owns that sense of grievance that has become such a central part of the Republican/Tea Party narrative. There goes the “liberal” media, ripping into us after having given the Democrats the kid gloves treatment. Several of them – Christie, Trump, Carson, Huckabee – took turns revealing their inner Gingrich, whining at such a pitch that their grievance grew legs and very nearly derailed the entire GOP debate schedule in the days that followed. Pauvre petit!
Then, of course, there was some good old fashioned red baiting on the part of Cruz, Christie, and others. Christie in particular seems to be vying for the Nixon award, now that Scott Walker (a.k.a. Nixon without the charisma) is out of the picture, demagoging on Black Lives Matter by offering rhetorical support for the men in blue while calling out the socialist. Apparently, Fox Business was unmoved, as Christie has now been regulated to the also-ran table in their upcoming proprietary GOP debate.
These people probably virtually equal to one another in nuttiness, with variations in presentation. They are building popular support on the right for some really dangerously insane issues, like building a huge border wall and drilling anywhere and everywhere. Their foreign policy ideas are W. Bush II, Return with a Vengeance. And Obama is setting up the toy soldiers for them all across the game board, with special forces fighting directly in Syria, probably in Yemen and Somalia, and god knows where else. At a time when we face these enormous challenges, not least of which being that of converting to a zero emission economy, we simply cannot afford to have any of these people as president.
But here we are. Carson and Trump in the lead, Ruby-hole just behind. Really, people?
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jp
Issues wise, we heard a lot of recycled crap about simplifying the tax code. The flat tax is presented as something new; it’s basically Jack Kemp 3.0. The unifying principle is, of course, massive deficits coupled with massive tax savings for the super rich. Sound familiar? Sure it does. Nine, nine, nine, anyone? Yesterday’s nines are today’s “tithing”.