Inside the GOP’s hallucinatory dogma
The first Democratic presidential primary debate was a great example of “normal politics” in action. To that end, the participating candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee — had a mostly intelligent discussion of matters of public concern, and their various approaches to addressing those issues. Compared with this year’s crop of Republican candidates, none of the Democrats on stage offered any comment or idea that would leave a reasonable person to believe that they were a threat to the safety, security, or future of the republic.
However, the question remains: Will the normal, functional politics of the Democratic Party be enough to win over the persuadable Independents and undecided voters in the 2016 election.
Normal politics in the Age of Obama face a daunting and dangerous foe. The power and appeal of the Republican Party lies in how its consultants and media accomplices have created a highly entertaining and confusing type of absurdist political theater. While wealth and income inequality are central to America’s political polarization and dysfunction, the alternate reality cultivated by political leaders and right-wing media has a heavy impact on a political culture where broken politics is not just an aberration or outlier, but rather the norm.
Movement conservatism is compelling for so many people because of its visceral emotional appeal, and how the mindsets of conservative authoritarians are oriented toward accepting a Manichaean, binary, fear-centered, and dominance-oriented perspective of the world.
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http://www.salon.com/2015/10/18/inside_the_gops_hallucinatory_dogma_how_the_politics_of_paranoia_disorientation_conquered_the_republican_mind/
