Should Read! Paul Krugman. ENVY. The dominant propagandistic tool used by the fascists and religionists. Envy is a strong one; of course, it only works with ‘envious to begin with’ people and people who define themselves by comparison to others. Did I just define christians in general..? “….I still sometimes see pundits claiming that the tea party movement is basically driven by concerns about budget deficits. That’s delusional. Read the founding rant by Rick Santelli of CNBC: There’s nary a mention of deficits. Instead, it’s a tirade against the possibility that the government might help “losers” avoid foreclosure. Or read transcripts from Rush Limbaugh or other right-wing talk-radio hosts. There’s not much about fiscal responsibility, but there’s a lot about how the government is rewarding the lazy and undeserving……. So what’s this all about? One reason, sociologist Daniel Little suggested in a recent essay, is market ideology: If the market is always right, then people who end up poor must deserve to be poor. I’d add that some leading Republicans are, in their minds, acting out adolescent libertarian fantasies. “It’s as if we’re living in an Ayn Rand novel right now,” Paul Ryan declared in 2009. In a much-cited recent memo, Democracy Corps, a Democratic-leaning public opinion research organization, reported on the results of focus groups held with members of various Republican factions. It found the Republican base “very conscious of being white in a country that is increasingly minority” — and seeing the social safety net as something that both helps Those People, not people like themselves, and binds the rising nonwhite population to the Democratic Party. And, yes, the Medicaid expansion many states are rejecting would disproportionately have helped poor blacks….”
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 20:49:02 +0000