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15.4.10
21.3.10
The Dangers of Profitable Rage
The rhetoric that has dominated the year long effort to stop health care reform has ranged from ridiculous to very frightening. The "Tea Partiers" who yelled obscenities and spit on Members of Congress who support health care reform yesterday, reportedly calling several black Congressmen "niggers," ought to scare every reasonable American. The striking contrast between a legislative debate that is truly moderate over a bill filled with formerly Republican proposals, and the hyperbolic rhetoric of opponents is surreal. The bill is far from the comprehensive reform sought by progressives.
I have never in my lifetime witnesses such a massive collision of ignorance and hatred as I've seen on display by opponents of health care reform. The rhetoric of the Republican leaders in Congress has been virtually indistinguishable from those on the front lines of the lunatic fringe. The attitudes and rhetoric of health care opponents bares a frightening resemblance to that of anti-civil rights protesters of the 1950's, including the lament of having "lost their country" and the militant rallying cry to "take it back."
Every movement has extremists whose rage and rhetoric shame the cause, but usually these folks are rebuked by the mainstream elements of a movement. Sadly, Republican leaders are either afraid of these mobs, or worse, are in league with them. Let's hope that someone in the Republican Party succeeds in ratcheting down the hysteria soon.
Opposing the present approach to health care reform doesn't require rage or hatred or fanaticism. There are perfectly rational reasons to prefer a different approach. Unfortunately, rational political debate about something so complex and significant is hampered by the present political environment. The power of ideological and corporate special interests to manipulate news media outlets and to make direct appeals daily to millions of Americans on the internet, talk radio, and Fox News has had a significant and dangerous impact on our national conversation. Unlike the left wing lunatics that hounded George W. Bush for eight years, the present mob is doing the bidding of some of the wealthiest and most powerful special interests in America, whose money and media reach make their ignorant foot soldiers far more dangerous than the left's.
The fact that right wing fanatics on average have less formal education and more guns should also give us pause. Do Rush and Hannity and Beck really understand the potential dangers of the rage they are making millions by stoking? No one makes millions stoking anti-war or pro-environment rage. Left wing extremists don't get $100,000 to speak at progressive conclaves. There is no mass market for progress rage and paranoia. Put simply, liberal extremist propaganda will never play well in Pioria, which ultimately makes it less dangerous. Right wing propaganda, on the other hand, plays on prejudices and predispositions that are ubiquitous in America and makes it demagogic purveyors and marketers into millionaires, not just folk heroes.
If the President and liberal Democrats are able to win this battle over health care reform the nation will undoubtedly take an important (though small) step forward on policy. On the other hand, the reaction of the right wing's corporate sponsors and media bullies may determine the direction our politics goes.
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