Today, in the prosperous warfare and welfare state, the human qualities

of a pacified existence seem asocial and unpatriotic – qualities such as the

refusal of all toughness, togetherness, and brutality; disobedience to the

tyranny of the majority; profession of fear and weakness (the most

rational reaction to this society!); a sensitive intelligence sickened by that

which is being perpetrated; the commitment to the feeble and ridiculed

actions of protest and refusal. These expressions of humanity, too, will be

marred by necessary compromise – by the need to cover oneself, to be

capable of cheating the cheaters, and to live and think in spite of them. In

the totalitarian society, the human attitudes tend to become escapist

attitudes, to follow Samuel Beckett's advice: “Don't wait to be hunted to hide..."
- Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man

It is obvious that all of the so-called “spontaneous” gatherings one is seeing in the United States these days is based on one event: the results of the 2008 Presidential election.  The people one sees comparing President Obama to Hitler, Stalin, Castro who also claim to be “praying” [sic] (one doesn’t “pray” to Satin, one bargains one’s soul) that he will “die from brain cancer just like Ted Kennedy” are being motivated by one issue.  They simply can’t accept an African American president.  The antics of nut cases like the "birthers", the "deathers" , those who dispense the never changing psychobabble on am radio and TV talk shows and the pathethic activities of Palinites - all result from this single fact. 

That their act is causing their own self destruction doesn’t matter.  They are reality deniers, who like all conspiracy theorists, believe that what is real is in fact imaginary and the corollary belief that what is imaginary is real.  Based on their class situation, there really is something of greater importance they are facing:  as I’ve outlined here before, the health care system in this country is really broken.  Moreover even those who have insurance are living on the brink of bankruptcy and self ruin. A single coincidental event can bring disaster.  

In comparing health care systems in France and the United States , Roger Cohen notes:

So beyond all the hectoring, the main French-American difference on health care is not ideological but a question of efficiency. Both countries use a mixture of public and private. France is at a very far remove from “socialism.” The United States has already “socialized” a significant portion of its medicine. (Nothing illustrates right-wing ideological madness in the United States better than calls from some to “keep the government out of my Medicare.  The “socialism sucks” Republican broadside on Obama’s reform plans — with its overtone that the “cosmopolitan” president wants to “Europeanize” American medicine — is nonsense. It’s nonsense because the free market is vigorous in France (and Europe), because there are all sorts of European approaches to health (within the compulsory coverage), and because the United States has already “socialized” aplenty without turning its capitalism pink.

It has also been a year since U.S. financial entities like Lehman Brothers failed and American International Group required a tax payer financed bailout.  One would think those unable to accept the results of the 2008 election might be concerned about the money, their money actually, that was provided to American financial corporations to “save” capitalism once again from its own self-destructive behavior based on personal greed.  But the money lost to the tax payers isn’t a problem it seems.  

Certainly the corporations that were bailed out aren’t concerned.  In fact, they are back to their old habits in less than a year.

Banks still sell and trade unregulated derivatives, despite their role in last fall’s chaos. Radical changes like pay caps or restrictions on bank size face overwhelming resistance. Even minor changes, like requiring banks to disclose more about the derivatives they own, are far from certain. Coming on the same weekend as the 11th-hour bailout of the giant insurer American International Group, and the sale of Merrill Lynch, Lehman’s failure was the climax of a cataclysmic weekend in the financial industry. In the days that followed, nearly everyone seemed to agree that Wall Street was due for fundamental change. Its “heads I win, tails I’m bailed out” model could not continue. Its eight-figure paydays would end.  In fact, though, regulators and lawmakers have spent most of the last year trying to save the financial industry, rather than transform it. In the short run, their efforts have succeeded. Citigroup and other wounded banks have avoided bankruptcy, and the economy has sidestepped a depression. But the same investors and economists who predicted, and in some cases profited from, the collapse last fall say the rescue has come at an extraordinary cost. They warn that if the industry’s systemic risks are not addressed, they could cause an even bigger crisis — in years, not decades. Next time, they say, the credit of the United States government may be at risk.

So soon this is forgotten?  Here is a reminder:

Eight Years Republican President, Eight Years Republican Congress, Eight Years Republican Ideology

Fri Oct 3, 2008:

* U.S. House of Representatives approves bailout

* Jobs fall the most in 5-1/2 years

* S&P 500, Nasdaq have worst week since Sept 2001

* Dow has worst week since July 2002

And regarding spontaneity, which Joe Wilson claims his “you liar” outburst during the president’s speech to the U.S. Congress and the American people is, shall we say, “under review.”

One has to wonder if Wilson and his ilk are intent on committing political suicide - and in the process taking down with them the entire GOP - or if their prejudices are so deep that they just cannot help themselves. Many believe that Wilson's outburst was planned to distract from the President's speech. If it was, the plan worked like a charm. Shamefully, media coverage of Obama's message became a sidebar to Wilson's disgusting show of coarseness. Yet, the plan could turn out to be no more than a pyrrhic victory. After all, even if Wilson and his cohorts do not like it, Latinos are the fastest-growing group of new voters in the nation. And they can be sure that mistreating, dehumanizing and disrespecting Latinos - and immigrants in general - is not going to help them win their hearts and minds. There will be hell to pay at the polls.

And those “tea party” events.  Uhh…well that qualifies as an eleven foot pole joke.  I simply wouldn’t touch the topic with a ten foot pole.  Do your own research on this one.

I was growing up in a very red state in 1963 and what I see now is evoking a lot of bad memories and nightmares from then.  The hatred of John Kennedy was mostly based on ideology: he was “soft” on communism; he wanted to make peace with the Soviets, etc. The behavior of those who were obsessed on this then made them very unstable people, many were so infused with hate that they were scary to be around. Obviously they are still with us; however for Obama, the issue clearly is race. I became concerned immediately after the election when it was reported that people started buying guns en mass. 

The red necks and nut cases simply cannot accept an African American president.  We have seen what they are willing to do to express this fear: the open display of guns at public meetings is the most obvious example.  Ultimately if the United States can still be considered a civilized society, it will be largely due to the efforts of the Secret Service and Federal Law enforcement in general.