When Ignorance and Authoritarianism Combine:Today’s GOP

[riqster]

https://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/when-ignorance-and-authoritarianism-combinetodays-gop/

Source material at the link.

Scary stuff, Gentle Reader, scary stuff. The party that controls most of our country prides itself on being a load of scientifically illiterate, math-challenged yahoos who want to monitor each and every intimate detail of your life.

If that doesn’t scare you, you aren’t paying attention. We heard a prominent member of the Senate Repubs call for a miltary coup, forcing the government at gunpoint to starve the poor and feed the MIC.

We have a plethora of elected and appointed Teapublicans who loudly proclaim their willful ignorance on matters such as climate, rape, and even basic arithmetic, ferchrissakes.

So the same people who want to shoot anyone who disagrees with them are also those who take pride in their lack of knowledge about pretty much anything except for about 10% of the Bible. They are running things. And they are running things because they got the most votes.

Which means that stupid voters are in the majority. That is even scarier.

[Panich52]

1. Sad thing is that the stupid out-vote the apathetic majority

People's opinions of politicians hasn't changed much over the centuries, not even opinions of gov't. What has become more prevalent, is the feeling that nothing can be done to improve either, at least in our democratic republic. The result is that those who listen to the loudest voices, no matter how obtuse, end up believing those pundits have viable answers and vote accordingly -- in droves.

Repubs may have recognized this long before Dems (or Ds couldn't admit it) and started their 50-state plan of gerrymandering, bolstered by voter suppression. Oh, and add dumbing down education. (I've wondered if getting rid of civics classes was part of the long-term plan.)

"Truth has a liberal bias" should be a bumper sticker on every left-of-center vehicle there is.

[gratuitous]

8. That isn't by accident

There has been a concerted, conscious effort for decades to convince voters that their votes don't matter, or that the solution to their problems isn't vested in the political system. Sometimes even folks who should know better feed into that narrative, either by accident or in service to some larger point about how dysfunctional our political and governmental systems are.

In any event, it's rather amusing that the ruling coalition in our country has been subject to the specialness of each and every member in the Republican party. Every one of those elected officials seems to think that the party would be nothing without their unique contribution, and respect must be paid not only to career politicians like Sen. McConnell or Rep. Boehner, but equal voice and credence must be granted to arrivistes like Sen. Cruz and Sen. Cotton, knuckleheads who can't fathom that the country got along just fine without them for more than 200 years. They may even be right, considering how scared McConnell and the rest of the Republican leadership is of them and their dopey political stylings.

[cali]

2. never underestimate the stupidity of the electorate.

When you consider how ill informed the majority is, it's pretty shocking.

[hifiguy]

3. "There is nothing more terrible than ignorance in action."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[longship]

4. I think this a good opportunity to pitch John Dean's book again.

Conservatives Without Conscience

Dean takes on today's GOP in an intellectual way. It is devastating and is a huge part of the reason he left the GOP. (He now professes to be an independent.) He tackles the authoritarian nature of the GOP head on.

And it is a great read. He is very, very smart.

[hifiguy]

5. All of John Dean's books are well worth reading.

He cuts through to the quick in a manner shared by few.

[riqster]

6. He was truly rehabilitated by the justice system.

[maxrandb]

7. Well, Obama and the Democrats

weren't everything to all Democrats/liberals, so we stayed home and decided to turn over the reigns of power, all over this country, to the "nutbaggery".

People better realize, right-quick, that we better get out and vote these ass-pickles out of office, or there won't be anything left to fucking save.

It's that fucking vitally important. Every single time someone comes on here (and I don't care if they have 150K+ posts), and tries to convince us that anything other than complete and total Democratic Party victory is the goal, needs to be smacked down...and smacked down hard.

It's either the Democratic Party in charge, or fucking Rush Limpball clones. I choose the Democratic Party.

[riqster]

9. Well said.