Really not much of a confluence, but somewhat interesting anyway. This morning I got an Esquire magazine and read the politics column on page 80 of the May issue. The conclusion of the article laid heavy responsibility on Democrats to save the country from current GOP insanity.
The Democratic party has an obligation to beat the Republican party so badly, over and over again, that rationality once again becomes a quality to be desired. It must be done by persuading the country of this simple fact. It cannot be done by reasoning with the Republicans, because the next two generations of them are too far gone. The state legislators now passing all manner of crazy laws represent the next generation of national Republican leaders. They are proudly unknowing. They are certain, because it is impossible.
Read the whole column here Esquire Democrats' Duty: Bring Back the GOP from Crazy by Charles P. Pierce. Of course I like that because I have probably written something too similar for several years..only more in the injunction form of "Send the GOP howling in the Wilderness for the next 50 years.".
And, Pierce wrote a paragraph that fit right in with PBS "Earth: The Operator's Manual today on SDPB-TV
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Republican party, root and branch, from its deepest grass roots to its highest levels, has become completely demented. This does not mean that it is incapable of winning elections; on the contrary, the 2010 midterms, as well as the statewide elections around the country, ushered in a class of politicians so thoroughly dedicated to turning nonsense into public policy that future historians are going to marvel at our ability to survive what we wrought upon ourselves. It is now impossible to become an elected Republican politician in this country if, for example, you believe in the overwhelming scientific consensus that exists behind the concept of anthropogenic global warming. Just recently, birth control, an issue most people thought pretty well had been settled in the 1960s, became yet another litmus test for Republican candidates, as did the Keystone XL pipeline, to which every Republican presidential candidate pledged unyielding fealty despite the fact that several prairie Republicans and an army of conservative farmers and ranchers are scared to death of the thing. ( And another link not in above text to Pierce concerning unnecessary voter ID restrictions. )
The PBS "Earth Manual" seemed at least to make a rather scientific case that man-made factors have greatly influenced our climate..which Pierce calls "The concept of anthropogenic global warming". Buy the DVD at PBS Store.
Years ago in another context, the slogan was "Stop the Insanity". That phrase applies well to the current collection of retrograde Republicans including John Thune, Kristi Noem, Willard "Mitt" Romney, Sarah Palin, ...oh, and sadly the list could go on and on.
The current GOP party view of their ideal American can be summed up by "Government of the Patriots, by the theocrats and hack Mythologists, and for the Plutocrats.".
Sorry (well not really) if this did not meet your high standards for "confluence".
*** Stay tuned. There is enough GOP insanity to write a modern bible--- Doug Wiken







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