Filibuster Cartoons
 |
|
 |
“Government = bad” seems to be the main mantra of the American conservative movement these days. It’s a message we saw repeated again and again at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, and it’s the one consistent note of the otherwise fairly incoherent Tea Party movement. Republicans, sensing the direction the winds are blowing, have tried to co-opt as much of the anti-government tide as possible, hoping to cruise to victory in November by making “government vs. freedom” the crux of all talking points.
The problem, though, is that not all anti-government agendas are created equal. There’s the mainstream, beltway Republican style of anti-government activism, pushing for lower taxes and less regulation and the like, but then there’s also the kook style, going on about the NWO and martial law and the Bilderberg group all the other nonsense that thrives in the shadier corners of the internet. There is evidence that the lines between respectable anti-government and kook anti-government are becoming increasingly blurred in the modern discourse, due in part to the uncritical legitimacy a lot in the former camp are offering the latter, for strategic, short-term partisan reasons.
Scott Brown, for instance, made some statements recently that treaded dangerously close to expressing sympathy for the crazed lunatic who flew his plane into the IRS last week, talking about the legitimate mood of frustration sweeping the country. Then you have people like Debra Medina, the Tea Party-endorsed Republican candidate in the Texas gubernatorial primary, who have gone on record expressing calculated doubt in the “real story” of the 9-11 attacks. And of course Sarah Palin famously gave the keynote address at a recent activist conference that, among others, featured speakers raising all sorts of conspiratorial junk about Obama’s birthplace and religion.
You probably have examples of your own. Or not. Talk about it in the forums by clicking on the link below.
