Neocons are anti-American

[Oops. I should have added this sooner. This is a much changed/adapted response to Suzi. We're having a natter about politics over on WispyBlond's blog]

Ain't politics grand?

Regular readers of these mumblings will know I can argue politics all day, all night and most of the rest of tomorrow too. Politics are personal. Political debates do get heated - why do you think the British Parliament has its arcane rules? It's to keep the swords in their scabbards. Congress implemented similar rules the moment it was convened.

I laugh when a politician, any politician, says "let's keep politics out of this", and they're discussing a budget. The budget is politics. Politics is the budget. There's nothing else in politics. Keeping politics out of such a beast? You might as well request the opposing party go on vacation while you figure out what's important to spend money on. (This, by the way, applies to corporations and governments, alike.)

Let's stick to government budgets. The allocation of funds is political. There is, literally, nothing else in politics. People might confuse the penalties for crime as part of the political process - such arguments hinge on the ability to pay, or not, for those penalties. Can society afford life without parole, or is the electric chair a cheaper option? How do you keep a society healthy? Well, how? Morality hinges on such discussions, politics merely plays with them.

Neocons, of late, have taken to raving about the Founding Fathers - as if they desired a static society, and a static interpretation of the Constitution. They misunderstand both the experiment of America, and the intentions of the Founding Fathers. In fact, they egregiously distort what America means.

Read Glenn Beck's latest literary (I hesitate...) diatribe "Commonsense". It has nothing to do with Tom Paine. I read Tom Paine. Did you? Where Beck rants, Paine offers reason. Where Beck froths, Paine supplies remedies. Where Paine had the benefit of experience, Beck offers nothing.

In politics, it's what you think that counts. In neocon politics, thinking is discouraged. It is punished in "Republican" circles. Homogenous? These guys demand blocks of stone. No one thinks as others do. No one agrees on everything with someone else. It's human nature. Neocons, and extreme left wingers, seem to think that anyone not agreeing must be a lunatic, or worse. We're not - I just have an opinion of the Screeching Fancies that is based on watching some of their "shows". They are not measured, they are not reasonable and they are most certainly not considerate in their discourse! And you ask for consideration? How much do you provide to others? How much consideration does "you can't the change mind of a liberal" allow? I was disdainful, the response was condescending. I've got a thick skin, I can handle it. I ignore it.

I read a lot of neocon opinion; I don't read very many "liberal" authors. I understand what neocon philosophy is - and I write about it. It is different to conservatism, it is not traditional religiosity, and it most certainly is not erudite, reasoned or even vaguely connected to anything but knee-jerk emotional reactions. You know what I see in neocon politics? "Tow the party line, or else!" I see nothing about the individual, I see a refutation of what it means to be American, I see imposed speech, and I see a desecration of what being American really means. But I shouldn't hold that opinion - after all, you can't change the mind of a liberal.

I really don't read much liberal writing. I thought Al Franken's "Liars" (etc) amusing. I consider Michael Moore to be a better informed reply to Ann Coulter. I think that the true libertarian, the true liberal, thinks alone. I read George Lakoff, and find it hard to disagree. I read Christopher Buckley and find it hard to not disagree - but his writing is so superb, I feel wiser for reading it. I read Sean Hannity, and I wonder where the washbasin is.

Politics is a dirty business. The only business that is dirtier is the law. (Okay, religion might be a tie.) Write about politics, you will be despised. You will be a pariah. It's why so many forums ban discussions of politics. The only other subject that can incite such animosity is religion. Regular readers will know how I despise religion. But plenty opine on what their gods want - the Screeching Fancies seem to take an especial pleasure invoking their deity to explain their restrictions on what The Constitution of the United States means. I can't help wonder if this god has a big rolodex, or is it that some simply fit their sacred text to fit their fears?

Hey, folks - there's a problem when a Congressman acknowledges the cross before the flag of the United States. There's a problem when a Christian sect tries to impose a particular view on everyone. There's a profound hypocrisy when it's the same sect that sought a separation of Church and State. There's a problem when some try to argue that America is a Christian nation, when it is expressly a secular one. Religion flourishes when people can believe, or not, as they see fit. This is a profoundly American idea - to dispute it is not just going against what America is, it's going against everything that America stands for.

The idea of America is not some whimsical, inexplicable, idea of "traditional values". It is that we are all equal - we are judged not by some religious authority for our misdeeds, but by an impartial court of law. (Hideous thought, I know.) It is the idea that religion can inform our opinions, but that it cannot overwhelm others - who, as it happens, might disagree.

Dissent is not unAmerican - it is the foundation of America. The neocons otherwise explain free speech. Glenn Beck doesn't even bother explaining it; he simply refutes it. (Read his book.) I can't think of anywhere else on Earth that is like America. It is powerful, and the neocons want to use that power to gain more power. They want to be the playground bully. The "drill baby drill" crowd disdains the power, the majesty and the fragility of nature, and mistake us for Linus, and want to supply a bigger security blanket. The anti-illegal immigrant crowd have no use for "give us your poor, your tired, your huddled..." They invoke James Madison to demand that only those who don't need what America can offer, have access to that. The newly born anti-Obama crowd of 'birthers' are merely racists in feeble disguise.

Which brings me, messily, to a point we should all know: if you're going to write, and opine, about politics: develop a thick skin. Because you're gonna need it.

Carolyn Ann