Friday, October 26, 2007

The 9 Most Terrifying Words


"I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."-Ronald Reagan.

I like that conservatives like to think about the government as some
"other". It's this thing separate from us over there that we compare
ourselves against. It's like a tacit admission that our constitutional
republic is just a democratic kabuki intended to veil a dense
tapestry of statutory bribery. To develop an ideology which allows an
individual to run for office under the banner of "the government is
bad"...wow.

The whole "government bad" component of conservative mythology is one
of those grand unifying structural elements I think is so fascinating
about the contemporary Republicanism. The whole thing is like an
incredible rhizome composed of competing information packets that
is truly miraculous in both complexity and success. Complexity in that
it requires a re-engineering of traditionally accepted American
cultural, political and economic norms that would have been
unimaginable before the proliferation of the Chicago School philosophy
but which can only maintain its structural integrity through something
like "the government is bad". Success in that it can maintain
political power by consistently performing the most fantastical
rhetorical gymnastics in order to sculpt a functional coalition out
of the religious right and the capital class...amazing.

It's like the democratic party isn't even participating in the same
discipline or they're trying to play the same sport but the
Republicans are the Yankees and the democrats just got thier first
mitt. The skill with which the republicans can craft thier message, no
matter what is at the core of the message is enviable to say the
least. I'm deadly serious when I say the contemporary Republican party
is a work of pure genius, a revelation of applied science no less
significant than relativity or the discovery of dna.

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