Bachmann Union

Home > Model Trains N Scale > Bachmann Union

July 26th, 2006 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Courting Violence

By James F. Cotter

Distortion and deliberate falsehood have no place in rational discourse, nor has violent rhetoric, which tends to encourage violent acts. No political assassination in our history has ever improved the lot of the nation. But to the weak-minded, that makes no difference, and right-wing ranting is more pervasive than ever. The most disturbing aspect of this lunatic rabble-rousing is that it is being engaged in not only by screwball bloggers, rural hayseeds and urban psychos, but also by televised clowns like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, and even worse, by the Republican Party’s leaders and elected representatives, many of whom have been behaving like obnoxious children. Such behavior is not only irresponsible, but dangerous.

Neither major party has ever lowered itself to this depth in my lifetime. The inevitable result is going to be violence, and violence is no answer to this nation’s problems. Violence is a problem. Only losers instigate violence, and only the intellectually bankrupt deliberately distort an opponent’s views.

Fox “News” is hosting an anti-tax, anti-spending “Tea Party” movement, evoking the anti-government hooliganism of 1773 that encouraged the attitudes that led to a violent revolution (whether that revolution was justified or not is another question; the point is that rhetoric influences behavior ). “This year Americans across the country are holding tea parties to let politicians know that we’ve had enough,” says Glenn Beck (1), one of the right wing’s most visible spokesmen (and worst actors).

According to New York Times columnist Charles Blow, who has spent considerable time studying the far right, these people “feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their ‘leaders’ seem to be trying to mold them into militias.” (2)

The actor and inveterate right-winger Chuck Norris wrote in WorldNetDaily, a conservative blog: “How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen, or will history need to record a second American revolution?” (2) The melodramatic blowhard Glenn Beck warns of insurrection and predicts revolution, encouraging his viewers to “Think the unthinkable.” (2) (He has also insinuated that Obama may be the anti-Christ-- but then, he called Hillary Clinton the anti-Christ in 2006 (3); I didn’t know the job had term limits. Texas representative Pete Sessions calls for the Republican Party to emulate the Taliban. (4) Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina seeks to “put together a consensus of people who can help stop this slide toward socialism.” He refers to these people as “freedom fighters.” (5) Alan Keyes, who lost to Obama in a race for an open senate seat in Illinois in 2004, told a television reporter in Hastings, Nebraska, “Obama is a radical communist, and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois, and now everybody realizes it’s true. He is going to destroy this country, and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist.” (6)

(Michael Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, on allegations that Obama is a socialist: “The charge that Obama is a socialist…has become a de rigueur epithet heard not only on talk radio but in the halls of Congress.” (7) An unnamed blogger in VirusHead last October noted, “Barak Obama is not a socialist….He’s a capitalist—just not the kind of capitalist that will exploit and plunder our economy or our environment because of rampant corruption and greed. He’s not the kind of capitalist that will appoint former industry lobbyists as directors of the organizations meant to oversee those industries. He’s not going to put the interests of the top 5 percent over the interests of the 95 percent, but he’s not talking [about] a revolution of the masses, either.”) (8)

One of the most deranged of the extremists is Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who tries not to let a week go by without being preposterous in public at least once. She has described elected Democratic officials as the “enemy”: “I’m a foreign correspondent on enemy lines and I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.” In opposing the cap and trade proposals to restrict greenhouse gases, she said, “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.”(9)

On Sean Hannity’s radio program, she called for “an orderly revolution….We can’t let the Democrats achieve their ends any longer.” (Even though they were democratically elected, unlike the last Republican president.) Bachman’s latest lunge into lunacy was her slander of Edward Kennedy’s Serve America Act; she has claimed that the act will lead to “re-education camps for young people,” who will be brainwashed into politically correct modes of thinking. (10) She seems to have pulled this mindless notion out of the air—or somewhere.

Savage rhetoric breeds savage actions. Unless the Republican Party’s spokesmen can take a deep breath, accept the fact that their candidate lost last November, and start acting like grownups, violence is inevitable.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.alternet.org/wire/thewireprovidedbythehuffingtonpost/#47449

2. http://donklephant.com/2009/04/04/on-the-rights-reaction-to-obama/

3. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/04/beck-is-obama-the-antichrist/

4. http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0209/Pete_Sessions_House_GOP_learning_from_Taliban.html

5. http://www.indigojournal.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=435

6. http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/alan-keyes-we-must-stop-radical-comm

7. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/20948.html

8. http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2008/10/19/disturbing-lies-hate-incitement-to-violence

9. http://www.alterner.org/blogs/peek/132980/crazy_rep._michele_bachmann_calls_for_armed_revolution/

10. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/06/bachmann-reeducation-camps/

This article brought to you By BreadStreet Investors' Union at http://BreadStreet.com

"Bringing Investors and Entrepreneurs Together for Profit"

Also see http://www.PrivateBusinessInvestments.com

About the Author

http://www.breadstreet.com/ was established in 2004 to help entrepreneurs meet qualified accredited angel investors. BreadStreet.com provides instant access to a 10,000 + angel investors database. Both start-up companies and well established organizations are welcome. So, what is an angel capital investor, and what do they do? The term "angel capital" was coined in the early part of the 20th century. Angel capital investor was the term given to investors that would fund Broadway plays. Over time, the term angel capital investor or angel investor became synonymous with any investor willing to become involved with a startup business or a high risk venture. However historically, finding angel investors was a daunting task. But, today some groups have organized to make getting angel capital investors an easier process; BreadStreet is such an organization. Best Accredited Investor Profile: BreadStreet delivers a signed statement from the individual accredited investor; it includes the investor’s industry interests, contact details, annual income, net worth, available liquidity, investor’s financial professional’s contact information, and project confidentiality agreement. Further, prior to delivery, the investor will have expressed an interest in speaking with you about your investment and will be expecting your call. These are the best accredited angel investor leads available. Many of the accredited investor leads are currently liquid in the millions of dollars with written proof! BreadStreet.com can further provide assistance in filing with the SEC, qualifying for the Private Offering Exemption and possibly with getting a business valuation by an accredited appraiser. Visit www.breadstreet.com

Bachmann Union