"Really? With illegal wiretapping on Americans, the rushed-through PATRIOT ACT, secret detention cells, documented violations of due process clauses, open disrespect for the separation of powers, a flip-flop on state rights regarding the issue of marriage. does this sound like small government to you?"
Something happened to his eyes, as if his mind had switched off and an audio-file began issuing from his lips.
"He's unwavering in the face of terrorism," he recited.
"Historically, Republicans have rightly criticized Democrats over their love for big government and nanny state ideals. Bush is advocating the same stuff but under a different label. How does that make it better?"
The guy's lips moved again like one of those Disney robots. "He's protecting Americans from terrorism. Terrorists are out to destroy us. We need to be kept safe and he's doing that. Fighting terrorists."
I wanted to bring up how the Taliban have grown in power, ranks into Al Qaeda have tripled, the diversion of our resources, manpower, and credibility into Iraq has hurt the war on terror while dividing our allies and uniting our enemies, but I figured I'd go easy on him. "Okay." I said. "Then can't you admit that there are some things you don't like about Bush, some things that make him antithetical to classic conservatism and tend to harm our Constitution, but you can still respect his ?unwavering' attitude in the face of terrorism?"
"You f****** libs," he said, and walked away. It was a small house. I'm not sure where he thought he was going.
Cult members.
This is what we are being reduced to. Intellectual honesty is traded in for meaningless sound-bytes. People are rampantly afraid of discussion; some, like the cultists underneath Rush Limbaugh's flag, proudly wear their banner of ignorance by calling themselves Dittoheads. And ignorance, siring that bastard child known as fear, is the lingua franca of the day.
I've seen hidden camera tests in which people were asked to sign petitions for specific false causes. Women were approached and told that "women's suffrage needs to end," and sure enough signatures were quickly grabbed. Wannabe environmentalists were asked to sign a petition banning "dihydrogen monoxide" from cities, and the signatures piled up. And there are many, many other embarrassing examples.
Most Americans (and politicians, I'd wager) have never bothered to read the Constitution, but they're quick to invent passages from it or pretend they understand the intent behind it. But worst of all is the way media, politicians, and pundits have learned how to pervert our democracy by herding us into unthinking robots who merely spout the party line without thinking.
You can see it on nearly every message board. Everyone's terrified of discussion, honest debate, and finding common ground to come to the middle. Instead, they chant at the feet of their Hannitys or O'Reillys or Moores or Coulters, and swallow every poison pill that's tossed their way.
The result? Democracy becomes a lynch mob. To apply a statement from Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," a nation of men becomes a nation of worms. Politicians from both predominant cults hit a Pavlovian buzzer, and the public rolls over, feet up like a crippled insect, and barks exactly what we're told to.
But it really doesn't have to be this way.
I have a very good friend named Allie, and she's a vegetarian. I'm not. Her and I could, if we were cultish followers, simply lock horns all day and never get anywhere when the subject of meat, broccoli, and soy comes up. This is what partisans do. This is all pundits and Dittoheads can ever allow themselves.
However, Allie and I prefer progressive paths. Though her and I vehemently disagree over the core philosophy, we search for things we have in common. Neither of us like factory farming and consider it inhumane (not to mention all too often resulting in meats that are less-than-preferred for human consumption.) We'd both like to see more companies invest in free-range farms, giving the consumer greater, and healthier, choice in the marketplace.
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