I’m currently reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, and I have to say, the parallels between the modern Bush/Limbaugh conservative Republican and a 1930s Soviet political commissar grow stronger all the time.
First and foremost there is the overarching allegiance to Party, above any other consideration. Regardless of, well, anything else, adherence to the party line is all. Then you’ve got the fact that the party has its own dedicated propaganda arm pretending to be news; the only difference between Fox News and Pravda is that Fox News makes money. They share the belief that science is shaped by opinion, that Lysenko or Senator Inhofe are somehow right when they describe how the world works because their opinion is more comfortable to the Party faithful than the opinion of actual scientists.
Both Bush/Limbaugh conservatives and Soviet commissars are also big believers in the idea of “wreckers”, that the nation is full of people actively attempting to destroy their own country (somehow) and that the country would be better off if those people were eliminated. Stalinist soviets and Bush conservatives also both subscribe to the idea that the nation should be run by one man - their man - and that everyone should defer to him because of his moral superiority. (Of course, conservatives have believed in the Leader since the days in which they were called monarchists; Soviets adopted that stance only after they achieved power.)
Frankly, the only difference between today’s Bush/Limbaugh conservative and a 30s Stalinist is that Bush/Limbaugh conservatives want money to be the root of their power.
But I confess myself surprised when the Bush/Limbaugh faithful recently went so far as to adopt communism. The fight against communism was so central to American conservatism for so long – but then, these are a new breed of conservatives, of course, heirs of Reagan’s bullshit rather than of Eisenhower’s sanguine calm.
Communism? What am I talking about? Why, the latest sally in the War on Gore™, of course.
You see, Al Gore has a big electric bill. And is, therefore, a hypocrite.
The delivery of this message was standard Wurlitzer. As usual, the paid political hitmen (in this case, “The Tennessee Center for Policy Research”, 100% bogus right-wing party operatives) carefully framed some bullshit. This was then handed out to the right-wing Internet (in this case the Drudge Report), fed to the talk-radio crazies, and then pushed up to Fox News; from there as usual it seeped into the corporate media. More importantly, it’s made the rounds of the office water cooler, which is the entire purpose of the Wurlitzer. Everyone remembers the idea that “Al Gore claimed to invent the Internet”, despite that being clearly bullshit, and completely refuted. A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has put on its shoes.
Anyhow, apparently these conservative cultists find it objectionable that a wealthy man, from a rich family, has large homes, or – get this! – multiple homes. A pool house? How dare he! It seems that regardless of personal wealth, we should all have the same size house and use the same amount of electricity.
As I say - communism.
Of course, to the simple, a large electrical bill could be indicative of wastefulness – and wouldn’t it be a lark if Al Gore, who acts as though he cares about the environment (but all his conservative media sources tell our hypothetical simpleton that Al is lying) – was wasting electricity! Ha! The hypocrisy!
Somehow, the fact that out of his $1,359 average monthly electrical bill, Gore is paying $430 extra to use green power was never reported by the Wurlitzer. Or the fact that he and his wife both work out of their home. Or the fact that he additionally purchases carbon offsets… but those are not simple statements. Neither is “American capitalism is great but it needs to reflect the real costs of its activities.”
Simple is “Al Gore’s big electric bill! Haw!”
Anyhow, not to lose sight of the issue, which is that somehow Bush/Limbaugh conservatives – conservatives, once the nemesis of collectivism! – have apparently decided that we should all use the same amount of electricity. Should have the same size homes. Should, in other words, all have the same amount of money to spend. How dare someone be rich.
Yup. They’ve become communists.
Nothing is, apparently, sacred.
Of course, the real purpose here is to attack the message – that we should do something to ameliorate global warming – by attacking the messenger. Instead of discussing how to stave off future problems they lure us all into spinning our wheels (and using lots of electricity) arguing about how one man’s behavior is or is not as Christ-like as possible.
I bet Lee Raymond’s jowls wobble like hell when he laughs.
- Sun Ra
P.S. These same jokers are now pushing another sally in the War on Gore™ - that there is a zinc mine on property leased from him. A zinc mine, mind you, with a perfectly acceptable environmental record, run by a company Gore has no hand in, other than to lease them the land.
This one isn’t getting as much traction because even many of the simpletons don’t buy into the idea that environmentalism means no economic activity at all – but some of them do. How dare he tell us to pay attention to the environmental consequences of our activities and at the same time allow mining!
It’s a wonder they can watch television and eat pretzels at the same time.