Somebody is going to get shot.
If I am wrong - and I hope desperately that I am - we will be extremely lucky. Because there is a suffocating, sweltering mood brewing in our country, like that of the anxious early 1960s.
Consider the all-too-ubiquitous racist Tea Party signs and the rash of death threats against congressmen who voted for health care reform. There's the stomach-churning image of teabaggers calling civil rights hero U.S. Rep. John Lewis a "nigger" and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank a "faggot." Another tea partier caught on camera chucked a dollar at a health care supporter with Parkinson's disease, sneering, "Start a pot; I'll pay for you. I'll decide when to give you money."
Congressional town hall meetings have dissolved into fisticuffs. I nearly witnessed a couple on Thursday when U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer spoke in Battle Creek (and managed to keep his cool, despite frequent jeering).
And in a move only George Orwell could love, Second Amendment patriots will be holding rallies on April 19 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of when far-right militiamen incinerated 168 people in Oklahoma City.
There is a festering ugliness that's gained safe haven on the right and in the Republican Party. It makes no sense to deny it.
Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and other craven carnival barkers stoke the rage of the fearful, the unemployed and the generally unbalanced for fun and profit. There's not a lot of money to be made being the reasonable guy in the room, as oft-fired former Bush speechwriter David Frum can tell you.
GOP leaders, desperate to regain power, know that the only energy in their party is from the farthest of the far right. So Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele declares that he's the Original Teabagger (O.T.) and House Minority John Boehner whips up a frenzy warning that national Romneycare will beget Armageddon.
Do leaders condemn the attacks on John Lewis or tell a Republican congressman he was out of line for calling U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak a "babykiller" on the House floor? Nah. Wouldn't want to display basic human decency and tick off the wingnuts.
Wallowing in victimhood, some so-called conservatives make excuses that these are just the cries of an ignored majority. The liberal media is just highlighting a few bad apples. The Democrats brought this on themselves.
They conveniently forget that journalists heard all this from liberals during Bush's tenure, especially after most Americans turned against the Iraq war. They, too, were angry and felt powerless. But anyone who's been to an anti-war rally or gay pride parade knows that crazy gets the coverage - whether it's the sign of Bush as Hitler or the bearded beer-bellied dude donning a bikini.
Getting control of your message is Politics 101.
What's interesting is that Democratic leaders didn't embrace the nutters. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - the embodiment of San Francisco liberalism - refused to impeach Bush and Dick Cheney and was thus challenged by far-left anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.
There is a very good reason for this strategy.
I did not grow up in the '60s and barely recall the '70s. But as a student of history and a journalist, I have read dozens of accounts and done my share of interviews. America was a tinder box, rocked by protests of all stripes, racial strife, assassinations and an ever-escalating war.
The left went too far, with extremists blowing up buildings and spitting on soldiers. Those disgusting acts poisoned liberalism for decades. Democrats scurried to distance themselves from the whackjobs, but the GOP successfully branded it as the party of "acid, amnesty and abortion."
Violence and fear killed the old Democratic Party, whose coalitions had been crumbling since FDR's demise.
The new strain of this on the right is symptomatic of the Republican Party, which appears to be in its death throes. Oh, the GOP will do fine and dandy in November, primarily because one in 10 people can't find a job. Anybody who tells you the economy ain't reasons one through 100 for Republicans' success is probably hawking gold as a foolproof retirement plan on teevee.
But demographics make the sustainability of an overwhelmingly white, male, far-right party infeasible. Women vote more on domestic issues that favor Democrats. America is hurtling toward becoming a majority-minority country. Young voters are steadfastly socially liberal.
A fiscally conservative party that tolerates tax increases like Ronald Reagan and does not fetishize abortion, gay marriage and illegal immigration could win these groups over. They may not yell as loudly as the tea partiers, but there are sure a lot more of them. They could, ironically, emerge as the new silent majority.
I don't know how the picture changes if serious violence occurs. My guess is that there will be revulsion for the far right and those who coddled extremism, though they'll quickly attempt to distance themselves from it.
America would catapult into a period of instability. Our moral standing in the world would decline. And we can't afford either of those scenarios.
Politics and public policy are serious business. Emotions run high. But both sides need to draw a line at threats, violence and bigotry.
As a country christened in violent revolution that later endured a bloody civil war, there is a history. Adams and Jefferson verbally crucified each other repeatedly, Brooks caned Sumner on the Senate floor over slavery and four presidents have been assassinated.
But the glorious thing about civilization is learning from the barbarism and fallacies of the past. Let's hope we do so before it's too late.
Follow Susan J. Demas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sjdemas
I was at the Town Hall meeting in Battle Creek which she said she attended. There were not a lot of people and I know what Susan looks like from her picture which use to be in the Battle Creek Enquirer before she was let us say "let go". I did not see her there. Now she may have been there but I did not see her there and I did stay after to ask a question of one of the speakers
She is not telling all of you the truth, this Townhall meeting was not out of control, complete lie. There was ONE women who got out of control and she was obviously a liberal because she wanted all her healthcare paid for and she wanted to pay nothing for it.
The name calling she is stating is not true either. There has been offers of up to 100,000 dollars for anyone who can come up with a video tape of this happening and there has been no takers.
Also John Lewis NEVER said that someone called him the "N" word, he said he heard others were called that.
Is this what progressives and liberals are about, just making up stuff.
I tend to agree with Ms. Demas. Eventually, someone on the Right is going to go too far.
We are entering a fight for our constitution. the leftists, or progressives, are willing and eager to rewrite the constitution to give all the right of government controll of our lives. They are eager to end our rights to be free from repressive government, and to create a true nanny state where all is given from big brother, and we all simply wait in line for everything.
Now is the time to get off our behinds, join the tea party movement, and fight against Obama and the new Socalist Democrat party that is completely out of controll, and headed directly into the hands of the Anarcists. This is thier last gasp, lets kill this beast before it destroys the greatest nation the world has ever seen.
The only violent ones are those who scream to silence the voices of those who speak the truth. Look what they do to Sarah Palin, Newt, or anyone on the right. They don't want to hear what they have to say, but are determined to scream and chant until the speaker gives up and leaves. That is not America, and those people should be arrested for enciting a riot.
"A Method to Republican 'Madness' " http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/033110.html
It is their WAY. It is what they do. There is 40 years of recent history to cull from.
Susan: you might not remember much of the 70's...(me either actually) but read this post and take a quick refresher... Republicans are insidious and focused on one thing! De-legitimizing the Democratically held majority and seat of power in the White House. Period.
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'Stop right wing' is message to local GOP.
Link http://www.marionstar.com/article/20100401/NEWS01/4010315
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Posish!
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R/ PRONESE
I find it interesting that in the same sentence you call the "tea party" protestors teabaggers while admonishing them for alleged racial and homophobic epithets. Calling a group of people teabaggers (an obvious reference to a sexual act) kind of destroys your whole argument. That said, I would like to know if there is any actual video or audio recordings of these alleged incidents occuring. Notice I say alleged. I'm not calling those who these comments were supposedly directed at liars, but I am also not going to smear a whole bunch of people who are simply exercising their 1st amendment rights. I would like to see/hear the proof and know who or how many were engaged in this behavior.
I share your concern regarding violence, but I would like to know how angry/upset old people voicing their opinions, albeit sometimes loudly, will necessarily translate to violence. I only point this out because of the past protests by left wingers who engaged in the G8 protests (which often were violent) and many others during the 8 years of Bush.
In the first place our protests were actually not really violent, except on the part of the police. A half dozen anarchists besieged by overwhelming and sometimes lethal police repression pales in comparison to what we see today. When we protested in NY, we were forced into cages. Where was their cage in DC when the "tea partiers" spit on duly elected members of congress?
The images of the windows of offices across the country broken in by their bricks are not proof enough for you? Do you seriously believe a bunch of right-wing types with guns don't ever do any wrong? Who rammed a plane into a federal building a month ago? Who blew up the building in Oklahoma city? Are liberals blowing up federal buildings anywhere? But no, that was just contrived by the media, right?
You're in denial, trying to completely forget the course of events of the past 10 years, where the right enacted the policies they wanted and caused misery for the country and the world, throwing us into a horrible recession, squandering a budget surplus and starting two wars that have killed 10 times as many people as the attacks which prompted them.
Please, do get over it.
You can't be serious about the claim that instigators in the various WTO and Gwhichever riots were a handful or put the blame squarely on the authorities trying to keep the peace. Does it really add to the conversation to suggest that "we do it, but they are worse"?
I wonder if you caught the interview in which Rep Cleaver conceded that he wasn't so much spit on as he got "sprayed" by an overzealous protester. Or the fact that no video or audio has surfaced regarding these allegations...I think the author's term "image" is particularly accurate, most of these are just figments of imagination of the media and the far left which it caters to far too often.
1. I shall not read the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
2. I will only work for Dick Armey and Big Health Insurance and not my state.
3. I will ignore concepts like Fascism, Corporate Socialism, and how they fit in the Republican Party.
4. I will use Karlrovian one-liners in all my speeches.
5. I will listen to you if I do not have to give a detailed answer.
6. I will smile when you confuse me with history or facts.
7. My eyes will blink when I am lying (just like John McCain and Sarah Palin).
8. I will laugh and nod my head when I am lost for words.
9. When you laugh at me, I will be sure you are laughing with me.
10. I will change my political position in accordance to the amount of dollars in your corporate contribution to Dick Armey and my fellow Teabaggers.
I can find absolutely nothing on their website mentioning the Oklahoma City bom.bing or commemoration of that event.
The fact is that April 19th commemorates the Battle of Lexington and Concord, which happened because the British government was trying to seize the firearms, powder, etc. of the colonists.
If you wish to be believed, Ms. Demas, please to not tell such blatant lies.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/30/gun-march-oklahoma-city/
The Second Amendment March organization makes it clear that the date was chosen because of Lexington and Concord.
The connection to Oklahoma City was asserted by the authout of the article, By Ben Armbruster, not by the SAM organizer.
Again, if you want to be believed, please do not make unsubstaniated and fabricated claims.
For firearm owners? The Battle of lexington and Concord.
A couple of what? And what does "nearly witnessed" mean? It DID'T HAPPEN or it happened but you didn't see it so you cannot "report" on it acurately?
I don't understand the point of this article. More urban legends that no one can prove are now invented and reported by the press. This is news? Commentary? Libel?
Yes! In the Bush days, the abusive rhetoric was coming from extreme elements among Code Pink, MoveOn.org, and the Cindy Sheehan group, and was never endorsed by the mainstream Democratic power structure.
Another significant difference between now and then is that when Bush's approval ratings shot up to over 90% immediately after 9/11, for the next several years, the faintest expressions of legitimate criticism by Democratic leaders was drowned out by a Republican chorus calling them treasonous America-haters who were giving aid and comfort to the terrorists. "How dare you criticize a sitting president in time of war!" It wasn't until the Katrina debacle, when critics could condemn the administration's incompetence and ineptitude without having their patriotism questioned, that the long-overdue widespread criticism of Bush's policies began to flourish.
Actually, there's a book called "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam" which argues that "the common claim that American soldiers were spat upon and insulted by anti-war protesters upon returning home from the Vietnam War is an urban legend intended to discredit the anti-war movement." The author makes the case that no evidence exists to show that any of that ever happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spitting_Image
In the '60s, how many hippies got their asses beat by cops and outraged citizens? How many Black people were beaten up by them? Answer: a great many more than there are examples of hippies and Blacks hurting the police or outraged citizens. There is no equivalency here.