The Future of Dissent, Obstruction and Treason...a post-election speculation

The frantic flailing around for a message from the Romney camp has been comical to watch but it is accompanied by more sinister and disturbing events as well that aren’t nearly as funny.   As the poll numbers continue to swing in Obama’s favor and Romney’s climb to the presidency seems more and more far-fetched, the reactionary forces of divisiveness are making a feverish, last ditch effort to save him and are fighting like a terrified poodle thrown into the middle of a lake.   

The usual nitwits in the right wing media are bloviating at full blast in a brazen attempt at mass obfuscation.   If they raise the decibel level high enough maybe everyone will just cover their ears and, by doing so, miss the incoherent and hysterical nonsense coming out of Romney’s mouth.   I have to admit, watching bony-assed blonde skank Ann Colter on The View trying to tell Whoopi Goldberg what black people think was hilarious.   But Colter and Rush Blowhard and Hannity and Beck are clowns whose circus – unfortunately – will never pack up and leave town in a trail of elephant shit and big shoes.

So while reasonable conservative voices like David Brooks and George Will and even William Kristol – and I can’t believe I’m saying that – seem resigned to Mitt’s implosion and ultimate drowning, tea party congressional operatives and Brown Shirt governors intent on voter suppression in the name of fighting imaginary voter fraud are working harder than ever to rally the mob to the White House gates with torches blazing and pitchforks held high.   The hatred and frustration are palpable. 

I listen to Brooks on NPR today and when asked to characterize the state of the race, he gave a verbal shrug of his shoulders and said, basically, Romney’s fucked it up beyond all measure and the only thing left to do is get into the betting pool and guess how many electoral votes he’s going to get. 

Romney's obstructionist colleagues in the congress – before taking recess until after the election – tossed a procedural stink bomb from the balcony beforehand, killing a veteran’s jobs bill that was fully funded and drafted by republicans as well as democrats.   Anything to deny Obama a victory, even if they look like treasonous chicken hawks in the process.  They had no explanation and their particular constituency probably doesn’t require one or maybe couldn’t understand it if it was provided.   They see everything through the lens of Obama-hate and pissing on his shoes trumps even taking care of kids damaged by ridiculous misadventures in imperial dick measuring contests like Bush’s war with Saddam Hussein.  So sad; a puffed up Texas frat boy starting a war of honor with a third rate Stalin wanna-be that ends tragically – if predictably – for hundreds of thousands and the shameless republican heroes in congress then deny our soldiers a hand up to rejoin the job market.   Maybe these middle aged white men don’t think of returning veterans – many of whom are minorities – as worthy of a hand.  Or maybe they’re brainwashed into thinking there is some cockamamie Ayn Rand-ian principle at stake – as if the soldiers haven’t proven themselve self reliant enough at this point.

VP choice and prince regent in waiting, Paul Ryan is also creating as much distance as he dares to, privately complaining bitterly about the disorganization and lack of a focused message put forth by Romney’s advisors.   Hey Paul; this is what happens when naked ambition meets the cartoonish reality that is the current republican party and maybe – since you’ve been a part of it for 14 years – you should have had some inkling that hubris and a bucket of preposterous lies could be overcome by the simple incompetence of the dullard you chose as a nominee.

So the question becomes, what happens November 7^th in the aftermath of a Romney loss – potentially, a blowout loss?   Is it reasonable to assume the ignorant and disenchanted citizens of the far right are going to capitulate and move forward in a spirit of patriotic cooperation?   Are the delusional religious fanatics suddenly going to reconsider a more secular path in life and have compassion and empathy for those whose lives are far different from theirs?   Are the greed heads and corporate whores going to see the light of altruism, close their accounts in the Caymans and work in soup kitchens on the weekends?  Somehow I don’t think so.   In fact, there is an ominously grim vibe lurking under the babble of excited voices in these last 30 days before the election. 

It wasn’t so long ago that the misguided white Hitler youth Timothy McVeigh parked a truck full of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City and delivered a terrifying wake up call to the country.  Tragically, some people are still asleep. 

It’s easy to understand how the ignorant become the fearful become the haters and eventually become the bombers.  They see no options.  And the right wing fear mongers who are making a living being paranoid, hyperventilating blowhards aren’t going to stop; not while they’re still being paid a fortune for vomiting incendiary gibberish over the public airwaves. 

 I enjoy target shooting; I have several old WW II vintage rifles and enjoy shooting them much like someone would enjoy taking a 48 Ford coupe out for a drive once in a while.  And during trips to the gun range I often encounter people – always men – who scare the shit out of me, who look as if they don’t leave their room much and who can be seen methodically unpacking semi-automatic .223’s or enormous hand guns worthy of Dirty Harry.  Watching them shoot, there is no sense of joy or even enjoyment – only a kind of grim determination that’s deeply unsettling.

I don’t know how much of the bitterness and hatred that seems to flow easily from the far right is hyperbole, an isolated group of people whose rants are taken out of context or blown out of proportion.  But I do think the political climate is fractured and a game changing Obama victory might be the last straw for some.  If that happens the tea party voices who have spent the last four years encouraging sedition will have to answer to everyone else at last.