Victoria Jackson Speaks for Conservatives?

I really don't know what to say. When I read about Victoria Jackson's incoherent rant this afternoon, I just shook my head. I have heard this self-proclaimed conservative spew her hate and rhetoric towards Obama and his administration before. What bothers me most is that she actually makes people like Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, and Palin look tame and intelligent.

I would like to address several of the key points in her rant:

Abortion -- It is quite obvious that Miss Jackson is Pro-Life. She comments that Obama is killing babies. It does not matter your stance on abortion. Obama does not kill babies, and the issue of abortion is not even within his purview. The issue was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973. Regardless of the merits of the arguments, Roe v. Wade set the law of the land, and unless the ruling is challenged, accepted and overturned, the President has absolutely no standing to contest or oppose established case law like this. People on both sides of the issue have worked strenuously since 1973 to fight this ruling, Pro-life advocates to overturn it, and Pro-Choice advocates to uphold it. That the issue has not been overturned in this time is telling.

Health Care -- This is obviously the current hot-button issue for much of America. There are a great number of things being tossed back and forth in this debate, several are good, many more are bad - from both sides. There is an agreement that something needs to be done with our health care system. From there, the sides diverge greatly. While I agree with her contention that customer service, especially among government employees, is lacking in our society, I do not see how this applies to the argument. The state of governmental customer service (or lack thereof) has been as such for many, many years, and cannot be attributed to the Obama administration in any way.

On the actual issue, nobody (of consequence) is suggesting socialized medicine. To remake our current system into a fully public system is likely impossible. Currently, millions are without insurance, the industry has not held up their responsibility of quality patient care, and control of the system is relegated to a few powerful organizations. We need a change, and since the industry has proven throughout history to be incapable of bringing the kind of change needed, and with the interests of the patient in mind, it falls to the government. Unfortunately, nobody has provided a viable alternative to this. The Obama administration has put forth a plan to make a public option available for people, like me, who cannot obtain private coverage nor have an employer-sponsored plan. How is this socialized medicine?

I completely lose her when she combines these two points to assert that Obama would be killing senior citizens. First, it is only Congress that has the authority to pass legislation, which would be necessary to affect the change necessary to overhaul our health care system. Sure, Obama has to sign it, and he can play cheerleader, but it is ultimately up to Congress. Even without this fact, her point falls down easily. With it, it is completely blown out of the water.

By the way, she hints that she may be asking for Social Security and/or Medicare as she ages. If she is so set in her conservative ways, how can she fathom taking advantage of the very social programs she despises?

Obama v. Hitler -- This is where she starts orbiting Pluto. Even if you believe the argument that Obama is a socialist (which he is not), this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. How can any intelligent person make a connection between Barack Obama, a moderate, liberal President of a capitalist, representative democracy, and Adolph Hitler, with his vision of a totalitarian, autocratic, single party, national socialist dictatorship realized in Nazi Germany? I really don't know what else to say. Hitler was ultra-conservative, and dedicated his life to the "purification" of the human race, while Obama just wants people to be able to make a decent living, have access to education and healthcare, and to generally just get along. Where is the connection?

Evil Governments -- I had to laugh at this one for a few reasons. First, a system with a King is called a Monarchy, and is not inherently evil. As with any authoritarian form of government, it is prone to corruption by power-hungry individuals, but is not itself evil. The same thing applies to Oligarchies.

Secondly, fascism is not a form of government, but a political ideology frequently found in authoritarian governments.

Finally, Socialism and Communism are socioeconomic structures and can be found in conjunction with any of a number of governmental models. If we take this argument and restructure it to fit the assumed meaning, authoritarian governments are evil, as are the socialist and communist models of economic theory. Without debating the merits of these, I think we can agree that America is not an authoritarian form of government, nor is it a socialist or communist state. For all its warts, our system is undeniably a representative democracy and adheres to capitalistic economic philosophy.

Note: Wikipedia, while not always perfect, can be a wonderful tool for helping to understand concepts like forms of government, socioeconomic schools of thought, and political ideologies.

She then rambles on about an encounter she had with a small business owner. She asserts that the "facts" she was informing the shop staff about caused them to glaze over, apparently from the realization of just how screwed we all are under Obama. I suggest that the real reason for the glazed look was their polite way of dealing with a crazed person in their store.

With her rant, Miss Jackson reminds me of a quote, attributed to Abraham Lincoln: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Please, somebody on the conservative side, educate this woman or prevent her from speaking out. She is not helping your cause.

Comments

[JohnBryansFontaine]

Ms. Jackson is only the latest in a line of reacto wing-nuts to make a doublethink Obama-Hitler comparison. Using Orwellian casuistry, these extremists* attempt to claim that Liberal policies such as Choice and/or national healthc are somehow akin to Nazism.

The main error that all these right-wingers make is that Hitler, ( the original reacto wing-nut ), used the term socialism only because he believed that it was not the opposite of nationalism ( as the Left claimed ), but identical to it and was therefore a right-wing ideology. This is why Hitler created the phrase: national socialism.

*recently including Joyce E. Thomann, president of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County. Also Reps. Ron Paul and Paul Broun.

See also:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/2/749151/-New-Rightwing-Ad-Campaign-To-Suggest-Obama-is-Like-Hitler

[middleofeverywhere]

Here is an issue I have with anything like this. We have chosen in this country to play follow the leader. We elect a President to lead us. Once it's all over and your "side" has lost, there is a leader in place--so follow him until something happens that makes it clear he is unable to lead. It seems that any President, Democrat or Republican, barely gets his butt in the chair behind the desk in the Oval Office and everybody is on about what a lousy job he's doing and how disappointing he is. Obama has been in office 6 months or so. I don't think he'd have time to fit everything into his schedule plus kill babies and work on a Hitler imitation. It is no wonder our country is frequently divided at election time. No one seems able to put their pride down once the election is over and give the guy the benefit of the doubt for a while. When you add onto that the fact that as soon as you're famous in this country you suddenly have more of a voice than an average intelligent citizen who probably has as much if not more to say, this is what we end up with. Some weird rambling woman who, because she managed to get her fifteen minutes of fame extend by a few minutes, now has the floor.

[mjkearns]

Come on folks, lighten up. Victoria Jackson is a comedienne­...have you heard of satire? Also, as a collective, maybe the left should do some soul searching now, we on the right sat through 8 years of the same hateful rhetoric. Now that you're on the receiving end, it ain't so nice is it? Do a Google on Bush Hitler, and then Google Obama Hitler, see which has the most hits. You all need to get over yourselves.

[mag68]

This isn't part of her act, these are her her actual political beliefs. There is no satire here, just insanity, glad she's on your side......­.

[Melissa Hapke - Huffpost Blogger]

Well stated Mag68

[Stephanie Vaughn Hapke - Huffpost Blogger]

I agree with Mag68 here. Miss Jackson really does believe the things she says - this is NOT satire.

Comparing ANYBODY to Hitler is wrong. Comparing Obama to Hitler is so contrary to his political philosophy that it does not even hit funny. Hitler was an evil that I hope nobody has to ever experience again.

If Miss Jackson, or anybody for that matter, has issues with Obama, I support them airing their grievance(s). However, when somebody, like Miss Jackson, spews lies and inaccuracies, and fails to offer a meaningful alternative, it defeats the whole purpose of what they are trying to accomplish.

Please, be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.

[annie g]

The Right will allow anyone to speak as long as they speak with hate and lies. I have in the past just laughed at these ridiculous people with their ridiculous statements. But no more, because they have so many venues to spread this type of venom.
If people like this go unchecked and never questioned about their opinions of hate, fear mongering, and even violence, they will just continue to grow in their rhetoric. It is encouraging to know that so many see on the Left that it will not be tolerated and our voices are getting louder and louder.
This was an excellent article. Thank you.

[Stephanie Vaughn Hapke - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi Annie!

This is what really bothers me about our current political climate. How much more do you think that we could accomplish as a country if we could stop playing the partisan politics?

Unfortunately, the political far right seems like an animal backed into a corner, and is doing anything they can to disrupt any meaningful progress on the part of the moderates and liberals in fixing this country's problems. If lies and inaccuracies help to feed the FUD they are trying to spread, they feel that the ends justify the means.

What has our country come to? I am so disappointed.

[mikerobjohn]

Yes, absolutely she speaks for and like all conservatives. It's unfortunate but it's true.

And to think they were running the country with their ideas.

Conservatives is and un-GODLY ideology!

[kps888]

Great post, well written and thoughtful. Anyone residing in this dimension knows you are of course correct. I do fear you are preaching to the choir, however.

[Stephanie Vaughn Hapke - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks KPS!

Unfortunately, I agree, but see my comment to mjkearns about this above.