(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
The Origin of the Big Lie [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-05-03
“A lie travels halfway around the earth, while the truth is putting its pants on.”
No, not Donald Trump’s big lie about the election being stolen. The lies put out by the right wing media about democrats over the last thirty years. They have done a masterful job of character assassination of the democratic party worthy of Joseph Goebbels for Hitler in 1933. It started, arguably with Rush Limbaugh around 1975 or so, distorting the facts of political history, the character of prominent democrats, and the policies of the democratic party. Frequently telling blatant lies to paint all democrats as socialists, equating them to Godless communists. Mud that has stuck to this day. Of course, Limbaugh wasn’t alone. His mantle was taken up by other right wing talk shows such as Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchannan and more recently, Steve Bannon, who almost single handedly got Trump elected. Following Hitlers playbook, “shout a lie loud enough and long enough and people will believe it.” Bannon ranted nonsense to millions of gullible people and accidently tapped into a populous sentiment anxious to be part of a “tribe.” A cult much like James Jones, David Koresh, or Charles Manson.
The rightwing republicans have brainwashed naïve people so well that devotees would probably drink the poisoned Kool aid if they tell them to. Lies that have brought our democracy to the brink of disaster. In the conservatives viewpoint, they equate compassion towards society and governance as socialism, therefore communism and has no place in a capitalist country. Anyone that votes for a democrat is a dreaded liberal and should be banned or shot on sight. As a strategy, it has worked beautifully for the last thirty years. A lot of people nowadays hate “liberals” although they usually can’t tell you what a liberal is or what they stand for, however, they are quick to cash their social security or unemployment checks or take advantage of Medicare when they get sick, still they rail against democrats and any program that helps evens the disparity between the rich and the poor. Section 8 housing, food stamps, farming subsidies, etc.
The game of character assassination in politics is as old as governments itself, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone. The amazing thing is people are still falling for it. For lies so blatantly obvious that clouds in the sky light up and beep with the words B.S in huge letters. Still people believe what they want. Have people really lost the ability to distinguish between reality and B.S? Or do we love lies so much because they are entertaining?
Most historians agree, the right wing conservative mentality originated in the antebellum south. A mindset of plantation owners who had grown rich on the backs of slave labor, encouraged, and sponsored by the evangelical Christian church, they had come to believe that their way of life was a God given right. They put on moral blinders and trumped up the logic that it was “states” rights to choose between slavery and capital ownership, not the federal government. A battle that still rages to this day. The one tool they needed, and the most important to their success was unregulated, tariff free (laissez faire) capitalism. The cornerstone of the conservative platform. Slavery was made illegal in 1833, but it wasn’t until the north imposed tariffs on the southern plantations owners that incensed the south to do the unthinkable, take up arms against the federal government. Virginia succeeded from the union and the rest is history. It’s remarkable how close the same idealism is today, dividing our country to a heated point that is dangerously close to ignition. One man did (and still does) hold the match. Donald Trump. Trump may be a clown, a conman, a narcissistic egomaniac but for some strange reason, a lot of elected republicans bow and kiss his ass. Believing in his lies, big and small. These are the people I worry about, not the proud boys, oath keepers or the other 200 plus likeminded groups, for they are dupes, huckleberries and sooner or later, will wake up and realize it. MAGA republicans, it seems, have no limits to their lust for power. They are even willing to change state laws to game the electoral college system. In effect, stomping the last pretense out of our countries claim to be a democracy. Make no mistake, there are broken clogs in the wheel of our democratic system, but I for one am not willing to tear down the whole government and replace it with a fascist dictatorship. And that is exactly what the republican party has become. The election deniers, the extremists who would ban books, ban woman’s abortion rights, eliminate free public education, social security, and Medicare. They have shown us exactly who they are, and we should believe them.
It’s no secret that the middle class is shrinking. And the cause is the conservative republican facial policies. Favoring the business class by lenient tax codes, passing laws protecting property rights over people’s rights, and a justice system geared to protecting the wealthy. However, the radical right takes a much harder line. They want unfettered capitalism at any cost. Even if it means the destruction of democracy as we know it. Certainly, the destruction of the social order based on income. Beginning in the mid 70’s with the rise of the right wing radio talk shows, spewing distortions of character and history, they have finally managed to come into significant power. They have demonized the democratic party itself by labeling all democrats as “socialists” as if that term equated to communists, therefore evil. Socialists are not communists and never have been. When Lenin gained power in 1917 Russia, he took the philosophy of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels and twisted it into what became “Communism.” A completely different economic and social way of governing than Marx ever intended. Then came the McCarthy hearings in 1954. His virulent nonsense brainwashed three generations of Americans into believing all democrats were socialist, therefore evil. One is reminded of the famous retort by Joseph Welch to McCarthy, “Senator McCarthy, have you no sense of decency?” But the damage had been done. Now there are people today who would rather vote for Mussolini than a democrat. Having no idea or education about what the different political “isms” really are. Do we blame it on the educational system of the past thirty years or so? It’s no secret that republicans want to change education in our country. Selective teaching of history, political philosophy and economics, particularly black history, and achievements, going so far as to banning certain books. The supreme court already took the first step in taking us back to the 1850’s by overturning Roe Vs. Wade. Now they want to take us back to the Middle Ages. Jefferson himself said it best at the very beginning of our country, “democracy will only survive in a well informed and educated populace.”
The number one problem every kingdom or government faces is the equitable distribution of wealth. In a benevolent government it’s called compassion. A gene that conservatives seem to have been born without. Its long been known by notable economists that pure capitalism doesn’t work in a free democracy, so instead of adjusting their beliefs about governance, the conservatives, guided and funded by likeminded billionaires, headed by The Federalist Society, and following a playbook by James McGill Buchannan have set out to destroy our democracy, to pave the way for their unlimited greed. We have moved way past simple ideological differences. For ideology can be debated between intelligent people. What we are now seeing in Washington by the right wing republicans is a hatred that goes way beyond sensible discussion of policy. The radical right, in its approach to government and social issues and economic policy, has reached a virulent level not seen since the 1920’s and the ultra-conservative Hoover administration. Could it become a shooting war like the 1917 Russian revolution? Battles like Charlottesville all across the country? Civilian armies wearing red or blue armbands.
The term “liberal" derived from signs carried by northern protestors reading “Liberty for All” in the heated years leading up to the start of the Civil War. The current battle started, arguable with the election of Barack Obama. When Obama got elected president, a black man, the republican party went batshit and came up with a strategy to regain power. They would be as obstructionist as possible so nothing would get done in congress and blame it on the democrats. It proved to be a golden strategy. It is still working to this day. Organized by the Federalist Society and other ultra conservative groups, and funded by billionaires like the Koch brothers, they spoon fed lies about democratic policies to millions of uneducated and ill-informed people and finally elected a likeminded racist egomaniac for president. What are they teaching kids in high school these days? Certainly not political philosophy, history, or economics, or has somebody put stupid pills in the drinking water?
The republican party has in my lifetime (and I’m old enough to have voted for Adli Stevenson.) always been the protectorate of the business class, while the Democratic party has traditionally been for the working man. Protecting workers' rights, enabling labor unions and fair practices of wages, medical insurance, and affordable housing, etc. The balance worked well up until Clinton got elected and went more centralist, leaving the party of FDR in the dust. When Reagan won over a sizable percentage of democrats through his smoke and mirrors economic policies (Trinkle down economics, by Arthur Laffer) the damage was done. By giving tax breaks and financial loopholes to the rich, Regan economists believed the excess profits would “trickle” down to the middle/lower classes, thus creating a more equitable balance between the rich and poor. It was a noble sentiment, but it never worked. What the rich did with their newfound wealth was reinvest, not allow monies to twinkle down anywhere. It set the stage for the 2008 collapse. Which allowed Barrack Obama to get elected president. Obama bailed us out of that crisis, but the problem is and continues to be that ultra conservatives took over the reins of economic policy, and under trump put it on steroids. Laffer economics is destroying the middle class, creating the largest gap between the rich and poor in history. Annihilating the working poor, creating mass homelessness to rivel the poorest 3rd world countries, and raping the world of resources going to the largest corporations instead of to helping mankind. John Maynard Keynes himself warned the governments of the world (at the 1944 Bretton Woods consortium) of exactly the havoc corporations could cause if unchecked. The United States in its blind devotion to capitalism didn’t listen. (And is still not listening) Dylan Sullivan, an author and researcher at Macquarie University in Australia, noted, “capitalism, is an undemocratic system where production is organized around elite accumulation rather than human needs. To maximize profitability, capital often seeks to cheapen labor through processes of enclosure, dispossession, and exploitation.” Progress in human welfare did not begin until the late 19th century in Northwest Europe and not until the mid-20th century in the global South. Researchers point out that this coincides with the rise of the labor movement, de-colonization, and socialist political parties. “These movements redistributed incomes, established public provisioning systems, and attempted to organize production around meeting human needs,” He concludes by saying, “Progress only comes from progressive (liberal) social movements.”
Now we are engaged in a civil war again, but perhaps it’s a misnomer to call it a civil war because it’s gone way past simple racism, although eliminating people of color out of significant roles in society is one of the right wings stated agendas. Call it fascism against democracy, republicans against democrats, conservatives against liberals. Call it the wealthy against the poor, and lest you don’t know your history, I remind you of the Russian and French revolutions, both of which happened because of the disparity between the rich and the poor. In fact, every revolution in history has happened because of perceived unfairness in the governing system. Some were successful to some degree; most were crushed in bloodbaths not written about. To all of you thinking, it can’t happen here. Wake up and pay attention folks. It IS happening here. As MAGA republicans take control of the GOP, and erase whatever moral core the party once possessed, they are looking more and more like 1920’s Germany. The GOP is following an age old strategy direct from Machiavelli and adopted by Hitler. Divide and conquer. In 1921-23 Hitler was ranting on soap boxes in town squares. Then came the beer hall putsch (brawl) in 1923 and he was arrested and sent to prison. There he wrote Mien Kamp (My Struggle) a blueprint for gaining power. He blamed all of Germany’s problems on the Jews. It was beside the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was the main culprit of Germanys problems, (because it put so much cost on reparations) Hitler saw the anger and pain around him and took advantage. By genius or just plain damn luck, he tapped into the people's anguish and created a nationalist movement unapparelled to this day. At least until Trump came along and copied his strategy of lying and showmanship. Trump knew that by inflaming people with violet rhetoric, he could achieve two things. Bask in the attention of worshipers and loosen their pocketbooks. He knew hours after the election, he had lost, but he continued to push the lie to con fans out of money. Simple as that. There has been numerous witnesses in Trumps inner circle who can and did testify to that, but one is reminded of Mark Twain’s famous quote “No amount of evidence will ever convince an idiot.”
When The Tea Party was founded around 2009, they took the obstructionist strategy to the next level. Their way or the highway, and conservative republicans jumped on the band wagon. They put their ideology first over the good of the country, come hell or high water. When did integrity and character stop mattering to people? The water is rising folks, and it’s now higher than any in my lifetime. The civil war taking place now is the MAGA republicans against the democrats, and they’re not taking prisoners. As Republicans glee over the suffering they think they are causing liberals, they have created a chasm that cannot end well for anybody except the ultra-wealthy. They love it when “blood runs in the streets,” for that is when there is abundant financial opportunities. America is not yet a place where anyone can make it; The system doesn’t work for everyone; The ultra-wealthy have too much of a strangle hold on the design of our economy. But I for one don’t want to see it torn down and replaced by an ultra-conservative fascist dictatorship. Particularly with Trump at the helm. A power mad egocentric narcissist. A five year old in an adult body, who throws temper tantrums if he doesn’t get his way…and worse, destroys careers of everybody who oppose him. We are at a crucial time in America, a turning point. In the next few years, Americans must choose what form of government they want. Continuing an autocracy run by free rein capitalists or a compassionate government based on liberal ideologies. The answer is clear to any educated thinking man. I am not opposed to capitalism, but it must be tempered with a moral conscience. Politicians willing to do the right thing, instead of bowing to the winds of getting reelected and/or bought by lobbyists. Placing their own ideology over the law and interest of the people they pretend to serve. America is still in its infancy, still deeply racist, still a caste system, and full of too many republicans that have watched way too many cowboy movies. One has to wonder, if MAGA republicans actually know better, or are they all delusional psychopaths?
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/3/2167393/-The-Origin-of-the-Big-Lie
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
