Republicans Prefer Fiction

Wouldn't it be absurd if we had a two party system where one party supported reality and the other opposed it? Sound like a Monty Python sketch or a sequel to the movie "Idiocracy"? Well, "Now for something completely different. It's...John McCain's Freaking Circus!"

Let's talk a little reality first, the financial crisis that flared up savagely this week has been burning furiously for some time. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise. Remember the collapse of the housing market? The ongoing mortgage/foreclosure crisis? Merrill Lynch? Bear Stearns? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Publicity of this economic meltdown started well over a year ago, yet because the story wasn't "sexy" enough it didn't stay in the news (if only Britney Spears had been considered "too big to fail" and had needed to have been constantly bailed out by the federal government!).

It brings to mind the story of Centralia, Pennsylvania. In 1961, a fire started in the extensive coal mines underneath the town which still burns out of control today, 47 years later. This fire, which can only be extinguished by exhausting its fuel supply, is unseen...the only sign of it is when there's a collapse.

The U.S. government addressed this situation with a literal bailout, this town was condemned and a government relocation program began in 1984, finally ending in 2005. 42 million dollars and twenty years to evacuate the less than 1,000 residents of the town (and you think it takes a long time to get your income tax refund check back from the government).

That "bailout" may have prevented those citizens from being swallowed up by the results of the problem but it did not and was not intended to extinguish the problem itself.

The allegory applies in multiple ways to our current situation. On one hand, it symbolizes the destructive fire burning beneath the surface of this country, that of the political and financial domination of this nation by corporations.

Corporately financed,controlled and corrupted politicians have made the corporate world's wet dreams come true through widespread deregulation, allowing them to loot and plunder as they choose under the guise of "the free market". Meanwhile, their losses or collapses are bailed out by us taxpayers, all upside and no downside...for them, not us.

That blaze has grown into an inferno that's typically out of view from the nation it threatens. However, its undermining of the ground beneath our feet has continued unabated and has and will continue to cause one collapse after another until it is brought under control...or runs out of fuel ("fuel", AKA the redistribution of the public's assets).

Interestingly, one could simultaneously find a very encouraging allegory in this as well. The majority's simmering desire for change to this corporately dominated nation may have been kept contained underground for some time but has eventually worked its way up to the surface to crumble away the ground beneath what has been the status quo.

Which brings me back to my initial proposition, Democrats have become the party of reality, and the Republicans are the party opposed to reality.

When this latest financial collapse hit this week, the media swiftly declared that dealing with such a reality helped Senator Obama and the Democrats. This was actually borne out by Obama's turnaround in the polls. Senator McCain and the Republicans were on the defensive because actual issues, such as the economy, had taken the spotlight away from pigs with lipstick and Senator Obama's annoying tendency to put "hits" out on babies and teach the Kama Sutra to kindergartners.

What was McCain's initial response to the collapse of Lehman Brothers? To oppose reality, declaring the fundamentals of our economy to be strong. Only later would we learn that this admitted novice in economic issues was smarter than all the economists past and present in uncovering a new reality that the "fundamentals" of an economy are not what everyone had always thought but like Soylent Green, "They're people!"

Of course that's fiction...which is what seems to be the cornerstone of McCain's and the Republicans' platform. Even John McCain's top campaign adviser stated that they want this campaign to be about personalities, not about issues (read "reality").

John McCain and Sarah Palin have run the most dishonest Presidential campaign in memory, the plethora of lies is so unprecedented that the mainstream media has actually had to come off the fence to become unwilling partisans in support of truth.

McCain has repeatedly divorced himself from reality like it was a first wife who was permanently disabled in a car accident. I don't recall the word "Republican" mentioned once at the Republican convention. Our current president does not appear to be connected to McCain's or any party. Nearly 30 years of Republican-loyal positions on issues in the Senate and voting 90% of the time to support Bush are irrelevant to the "fact" that McCain is an anti-Republican "maverick for change".

Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Remember 2004? John Kerry and the Democrats ran on the reality of the disastrous and unnecessary Iraq war while George Bush and Karl Rove ran on the fictional evil of gay marriages magically destroying your relationship with your heterosexual spouse. John Kerry and the Dems ran on reining in a corrupt government while Bush, Rove and the GOP ran on ghost-stories about terrorists hiding in your closet with dirty bombs...and wanting to gay marry you.

The pundits today say that a campaign about the issues helps Obama and hurts McCain. In other words, when people are able to think about what really affects their lives, they vote for Democrats. When people are distracted from thinking about the issues that affect their lives, they vote Republican.

So, if you're undecided about the issues and the candidates, there's an easy way to decide who to vote for. Just ask yourself if you are Pro-Reality or do you believe that life begins at misconception?

Comments

[jazzpotato]

Brilliant. I hope, desperately, that enough people can be enlightened enough not to once again vote against their own (and the world's) interests.

[pennsykid2000]

A big difference from the 1990s is the power of right-wing TV and radio over a very large segment of the voters, pushing their version of reality as well as demonizing anyone who disagrees. I'm still floored by the poll in mid-2004 that found that the percentages of people who still believed that Iraq had nuclear weapons or was involved in 9/11 was 25% among viewers who got most of their news from PBS, about 40% among viewers of the broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS), and nearly 60% among viewers of Fox News! That is irrefutable evidence that Fox News makes their viewers stupid (or that it attracts stupid viewers; either way, not a good ad in favor of Fox News). What is needed is a strong effort to demonstrate to consumers of all partisan news sources (on either side of the political spectrum) how those biases distort reality and cause them to be misinformed and ignorant of the evidence (to the detriment of their country, if not their lives directly).

[wrylass]

I agree ... I have only been able to conclude from watching the circus that Republicans are comforted by being lied to.

[doctorwang]

All they have left are lies.....they cannot defend against the fact that they were the ones responsible for this economic meltdown. So they bury their heads in the 'sand' that is Limbaugh, Hannity, Cavuto and the other G0P pundits.

[Shepherd1983]

Mr.Fink - THANK YOU. At times it seems people just don't get what the hell is going on with the country. Still feel that a great many just don't care (either because they don't know, 'refuse' to know, or don't associate with society on the level folks used to). When the economy is as it is, it's dog-eat-dog for many, so that influence is understandable. It's good to know there are rational thinkers still out there.

I'm sure people have heard the name before, but the internet film "ZEITGEIST" is a must watch. It covers a lot, including a large section attributed to the economic crisis (pretty much PREDICTED the collapse of such financial institutions as those this past week). Also covers religion, 9/11, and a lot of other things people will, regardless of belief, at least be prompted to once again ask questions about. Mainly though, the focus on the said crisis is what people should reconsider.

Watch the updated version here> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-594683847743189197

It's a long watch, yeah, and as said, there's a lot of topics that folks will not want to hear - just hear it out, skeptic or not. Regardless, the film fights for change and a wake up call to Americans. Point is, ask some questions, don't be the obedient dog, being told to sit while the nation burns.

[Christopher Fink - Huffpost Blogger]

The Founding Fathers saw the press as the fourth branch of government. That if all else failed, a free press would be the safety net to protect the interests of the people.

They couldn't have foreseen the corporate takeover of the press.

The proposition for corporations is, do you run your business to gain the maximum profit for your shareholders (and Execs whose jobs and bonuses are based on quarterly performance) or do you make your responsibility to the public as a news organization the priority?

Seeing that a corporation would be in breach of its core responsibilities to investors not to work for the highest profits and could be successfully sued for that by shareholders, it's no wonder that the "news" is often presented to influence the public to see issues in the ways most beneficial to those corporations.

Remember the threatening graphics, drumbeating music and "scary" discussions on news stations building up to the Iraq War...instead of any investigative reporting?

Think of the critical issues like the enormous financial crisis which started well over a year ago, that disappear from "the news" in favor of stories about pigs with lipstick or Britney Spears carrying her baby like a purse.

However, now we have the internet. Stories neglected by the MSM now get out, fact checking is instantaneous and citizens' voices on issues can be organized and given weight.

Who would have thought it would be the computer that ended up as the safety net for our democracy?

[BruiserND]

Mc Cain "gets it" ...big time.. he won the election today



McCain on Financial Markets
Prepared remarks by Sen. John McCain for delivery at a campaign appearance in Green Bay, Wis., scheduled for 9:00 a.m. ET Friday

[395spoons]

Can't wait to see him dig himself further into his hole!