Prognostications of a Tea Party Paradise
I can remember, quite vividly, the moment when I learned that John McCain had picked Sarah Palin as his runningmate. I had taken some time out from the festivities of Dragoncon to have lunch at a diner down the street from one of the con hotels. I audibly exclaimed "Sarah who?" and then promptly went back to my meal. I later created and posted my first lolpolitician.
Who, at that time, could have imagined that Palin would become a major political force, compelling legions to bend one way or the other from the comfy confines of her Facebook page? Who could have predicted that her tweets would be covered as news?
I've been obsessively watching U.S. politics for the past couple of years, particularly the strange intermixing of Rand Paul-style libertarianism with Sarah Palin-style theocracy.* I don't see how these could be compatible, but somehow the Tea Party has blended libertarian DNA with theocratic DNA and created a stable, self-sustaining political organism. As the mainline Tea Party candidates have staked out their positions, their vision of the future has taken shape, and that vision terrifies me.
I try to project forward, and envision their endgame: it's The Handmaiden's Tale crossed with Bartertown from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I forsee a future where every major city has a small super-wealthy "gated community" protected by walls upon walls barbed wire and electric fences, and the rest of America looks like Manhattan in Escape from New York.
I forsee a future in which Georgia Tech, where I teach, is no longer a public university, if it even exists at all. Places like Stanford, Harvard, Rice, and Yale will likely continue to exist in the Tea Party future, since they will have wealthy alumni who believe they should continue to exist. But state schools? (Did you graduate from Georgia Tech, or another state school? Well, just think about all those taxpayers who were forced at gunpoint to subsidize your education! You see where this goes...)
I leave you with three links:
Downhill with the GOP, by Paul Krugman: Never mind the war on terror, the [GOP's] main concern seems to be the war on arithmetic... In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger...” So how did we get to the point where one of our two major political parties isn’t even trying to make sense?
Republican Economics as Social Darwinism, by Robert Reich: Republicans have wanted to destroy Social Security since it was invented in 1935 by my predecessor as labor secretary, the great Frances Perkins. Remember George W. Bush’s proposal to privatize it? Had America agreed with him, millions of retirees would have been impoverished in 2008 when the stock market imploded...
New Rule: Rich People Who Complain About Being Vilified Should Be Vilified, by Bill Maher: Under Eisenhower, the top tax rate was 91%. Under Nixon, it was 70%. Obama just wants to kick it back to 39 -- just three more points for the very rich. Not back to 91, or 70. Three points. And they go insane.
*Curiously, it seems that although Rand Paul started with the philosophies of his father, he has abandoned them in favor of Sarah Palin's vision. I don't know if this is from a true conversion, or if Rand is just being politically expedient.
Who, at that time, could have imagined that Palin would become a major political force, compelling legions to bend one way or the other from the comfy confines of her Facebook page? Who could have predicted that her tweets would be covered as news?
I've been obsessively watching U.S. politics for the past couple of years, particularly the strange intermixing of Rand Paul-style libertarianism with Sarah Palin-style theocracy.* I don't see how these could be compatible, but somehow the Tea Party has blended libertarian DNA with theocratic DNA and created a stable, self-sustaining political organism. As the mainline Tea Party candidates have staked out their positions, their vision of the future has taken shape, and that vision terrifies me.
I try to project forward, and envision their endgame: it's The Handmaiden's Tale crossed with Bartertown from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I forsee a future where every major city has a small super-wealthy "gated community" protected by walls upon walls barbed wire and electric fences, and the rest of America looks like Manhattan in Escape from New York.
I forsee a future in which Georgia Tech, where I teach, is no longer a public university, if it even exists at all. Places like Stanford, Harvard, Rice, and Yale will likely continue to exist in the Tea Party future, since they will have wealthy alumni who believe they should continue to exist. But state schools? (Did you graduate from Georgia Tech, or another state school? Well, just think about all those taxpayers who were forced at gunpoint to subsidize your education! You see where this goes...)
I leave you with three links:
Downhill with the GOP, by Paul Krugman: Never mind the war on terror, the [GOP's] main concern seems to be the war on arithmetic... In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger...” So how did we get to the point where one of our two major political parties isn’t even trying to make sense?
Republican Economics as Social Darwinism, by Robert Reich: Republicans have wanted to destroy Social Security since it was invented in 1935 by my predecessor as labor secretary, the great Frances Perkins. Remember George W. Bush’s proposal to privatize it? Had America agreed with him, millions of retirees would have been impoverished in 2008 when the stock market imploded...
New Rule: Rich People Who Complain About Being Vilified Should Be Vilified, by Bill Maher: Under Eisenhower, the top tax rate was 91%. Under Nixon, it was 70%. Obama just wants to kick it back to 39 -- just three more points for the very rich. Not back to 91, or 70. Three points. And they go insane.
*Curiously, it seems that although Rand Paul started with the philosophies of his father, he has abandoned them in favor of Sarah Palin's vision. I don't know if this is from a true conversion, or if Rand is just being politically expedient.