 |
||
|
|
||
The 20% Solution
Thinking
back on national polls over the past few years, there has consistently
been about 20% of the population rabidly dedicated to extreme conservatism.
That’s one out of five Americans – a minority, true, but more
than enough to cripple a nation when the majority remains silent.
Republicans know this. They know that most Americans
are too civilized to contend with people they deem loud, obnoxious, uncontrolably
angry bullies who seek to disrupt town hall meetings. This is especially
true when the bullies speak nonsense bordering on delusion, and refuse
to listen to reason. These bullies now serve as the new Republican
Guard, party storm troopers, trained at disruption, propaganda
and sabotage – led by the madcap ranting of people like Glenn
Beck.
These loyal soldiers don’t realize how quickly
the conservative elite, corporate CEOs and Republican politicians, will
drop them once they are no longer needed. If healthcare reform does not
pass, conservative politicians will be amply rewarded by insurance and
pharmaceutical companies, and those forgotten soldiers will be wondering
why their insurance premiums keep rising, why they can’t access the
medical help they need, or why their coverage was dropped completely.
Will it dawn on them that they are responsible for
their own troubles? Will they remember their caustic remarks and how they
believed ridiculous lies just to focus their anger on those who would
make all our lives better? Will they regret their militancy that was directed
at the American people, including themselves?
Probably not. If they believe in deaths panels, care
rationed by the government to help only those who are fit already, and
can’t read a Hawaiian birth certificate that proves someone was born
in the US and not in Kenya, they are probably not bright enough to know
when they’ve been had. Republican strategists are counting on that,
so they can enlist them again when needed. Hence the solid 20% who still
think George W. Bush did a fine job, despite all the problems he
propagated, and Barack Obama is the worst threat this country ever
faced, because he is intelligent and actually fixing things.
Liberals don’t see the threat in this. After all
the insanity reflects only 20% of the people. But they are a very real
threat, because 80% of the people don’t stand up to them. Republican
strategists are counting on that too.
In ancient times, Rome fell to barbarians, not because
the barbarians outnumbered the Romans, but because a) they were more brutal
and aggressive, as uncivilized people often are, and b) it is easier to
destroy than to build.
Are conservative extremists inclined to destroy, or
are even capable of destroying, America? Just listen to their rhetoric.
Many call for a revolution because we democratically elected someone they
don't like. They are, in effect, revolting against our American system,
as it is delineated by our Constitution. They claim they are defending
the Constitution, parroting the paranoia of Glenn Beck, but their words
prove that they have no idea what they are talking about.
They are now sabotaging democracy by disrupting healthy
communication between citizens and their elected officials.
Their anger and hate is such that they would deny medical
coverage for all Americans.
And they dare to call themselves patriots!
Widening their circle of complaints (and nobody complains
as much as conservative extremists), they would deny equal rights to various
minorities, defend global warming, eradicate separation of church and
state, dispense of safety net programs, and raise taxes on the middle
class in order to lower them for the wealthy. Some actually want to destroy
the Union through state cessation.
It does well to remember the Oklahoma City bombing,
and the number of so-called private militia groups gearing up for war
in several regions of the nation. Even the FBI has warned us of the possibility
of increased conservative violence.
A sizable minority of closed minded fanatics can raise
havoc in our nation. Only the majority can counteract their belligerence
and sabotage. But will they?
Now is the time for real patriots to speak out for
our nation against those who would destroy it. We cannot sit back and
think someone else will do it for us, or delude ourselves into thinking
that 20% of the population cannot deny medical coverage for all Americans,
or deny rights to those who think differently than they. The past tells
us that they can and will if we let them.
