Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 02:22 am
The sole reason humans progressed beyond cave dwelling was their ability to learn, reason, and communicate to form communities and eventually civilizations. Unless a person is born with a genetic brain defect or are developmentally retarded, they should have the capacity to think rationally and assess situations critically to make choices in their own best interests. Of course, there are circumstances where ignorance plays a role in making bad choices, but unless a person is stupid, there is really no reason to continue reaching conclusions with no basis in fact. There is a notable difference between ignorance and stupidity, but both can lead to unwise acts, and in combination, there are few outcomes that do not produce disastrous results for the person and anyone connected with them.
In their quest to transform the country into a corporatist theocracy, Republicans are using the ignorance and stupidity of a significant segment of the population to incite violent reactions to every policy proposed by President Obama. Americans got a glimpse of the stupidity in the teabagger movement during the healthcare reform debate two years ago, and despite the availability of information about the myriad benefits of the health law, it appears that, coupled with racism, that particular group is still stupid and becoming a hazard to the security of the entire population. In the 24 hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, the combination of ignorance, stupidity, and racism exposed the threat of a violent uprising against the government of the United States.
There are Americans openly discussing armed insurrection to overthrow the government based on the notion that the worst form of tyranny this country has ever witnessed is the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality. A list of comments labeled “Hilarious Reactions to the High Court’s Ruling” on a liberal website are not remotely humorous, and only serve to inspire more hatred toward President Obama among stupid Americans who lack the ability to discern between a legally passed law upheld by the High Court and tyranny against the citizens of the United States. A Michigan lawyer emailed numerous media outlets asking, “Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified? There are times government has to do things to get what it wants and holds a gun to your head. I’m saying we have to ask when do we turn that gun around and say no and resist.” A Breitbart activist claimed, “This is the greatest destruction of individual liberty since Dred Scott… the end of America as we know it. No exaggeration.” A conservative blogger Tweeted, “We don’t just need a new president. We need a revolution.” The Christian extremist Bryan Fischer said Chief Justice Roberts “is going down in history as the justice that shredded the Constitution and turned it into a worthless piece of parchment,” and the teabagger group Freedomworks said, “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” Another conservative blogger wrote that “someone got to Roberts and told him he has to vote this way or members of his family – kids, wife, parents, whoever – were going to be killed.”
Now, any semi-conscious American with a rudimentary understanding of the legislative process may find these assertions hilarious, but there are plenty of angry, racist, stupid, and extremely well-armed Americans who perceive the court’s ruling as a threat to themselves and their ignorant concept of American liberty. Their perception of tyranny is being co-opted by Republicans who use coded language and sometimes overt proclamations that the only solution to President Obama’s tyranny is a “2nd Amendment remedy” and armed rebellion. A Republican in the House of Representatives, Michele Bachmann, told residents of Minnesota that she wants them to be “armed and dangerous” if the federal government attempted to implement laws she felt were impinging on their freedoms, and the infamous 2nd Amendment remedy solution to a Democratically-controlled Congress originated with a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Nevada. However, there are less overt buzz-words and catch-phrases being used on a daily basis by Republicans that are instigating violence-tinged reactions across the country from seriously stupid and tragically ignorant Americans.
When Willard Romney says “Obamacare is the government takeover of health care and intrusion in our lives,” the implication to moronic Americans is tyranny in the same sense as “government overreach” into Christians’ lives. Romney claims President Obama is “undermining religious freedom” and it is as provocative to Christians as taking their precious guns and bibles away. During the lead up to the 2010 midterm elections, this author interview four leaders of the largest evangelical churches in a large California city for a newspaper article on religion in politics, and when the preachers were asked if their tactics were at all like Afghanistan’s Taliban, the spokesman leaned over, smiled and said, “no, we are better organized, better funded, and more heavily armed,” and that “we have a list with your name near the top with that Black tyrant in the Oval Office.” Is it sinking in yet that these racist Christian super-patriots are a danger to the security of every man, woman, and child in America? It should.
The persistent talking points by Republicans throughout President Obama’s term have been to incite opposition to his policies and his existence as President. Romney and the rest of Republican representatives in Congress know well that the ACA is good for the American people and that it will not increase the deficit, kill jobs, or create death panels, and yet they parrot those fallacies on a daily basis. Whether or not Republicans are deliberately inciting stupid Americans toward violence is unknown, but for those of us who are stalked, have death threats nailed to our front doors, or pick up the phone to hear graphic details of our family’s dismemberment and demise, it is their persistent references to tyranny, government intrusion, and religious persecution that are part and parcel of the impending violence toward liberals, gays, Jews, and the government.
What is most tragic is that if any of these so-called patriots or religious sycophants ever took the time to peruse the Affordable Care Act provisions, they would be hard-pressed to find anything they would not benefit from. Willard Romney understands this because his similar healthcare reform in Massachusetts is extremely popular and covers 98% of adults and 100% of the state’s children. His opposition and constant criticism of the Affordable Care Act is not because it kills jobs, increases the deficit, or intrudes on Americans’ personal freedoms, it is because he is pandering to the stupid teabaggers who hate anything the African American President promoted, and that a Black man is in the Oval Office fuels their rage and drives them toward armed insurrection to “take back America.”
It is a travesty that the divisiveness raging across America for the past three years has its basis in racism, ignorance, and stupidity, because it is not health insurance reform, consumer protection from predatory banks, less government spending, lower taxes, or the jobs President Obama created. Republicans have seized on America’s racism and stupidity and parlayed them into a perpetual campaign of hate and vitriol to implement their Libertarian vision of America. America is being torn apart by Republicans and their hate-filled teabagger and evangelical bootlickers, and the real shame is that this country could be a truly exceptional nation for all the right reasons, and not because Republicans want to kill Muslims, Liberals, gays, and non-Christians. The proliferation of guns among evangelicals, teabaggers, and Mormons is no accident and there are specific reasons they stockpile assault rifles, machine guns, and a two-year supply of food and ammunition, and it is not for hunting rabbits and pheasants. The lot of the religious super patriots are on standby for a signal that the nation is ripe for armed insurrection and the Supreme Court just gave the “on your mark” warning by ruling that a brilliantly beneficial health insurance reform law is constitutional. Americans are going to need all the healthcare they can get when the shooting starts and one thing is certain, there will not be one Republican on the front line. They will be hiding out in corporate or church-provided bunkers to pick up the pieces and if any American thinks it is a joke, then they are as ignorant and as stupid as those who fire first.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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