FACEBOOK DEBATES
ON OUR FRACTURED CIVIC DISCOURSE, PART 2

That's the thing about facebook; the conversation, in theory, is never really over.  Here's part one.  And the discussion continues:

Kristin I agree with how Liberals are depicted as being unAmerican..however Conservatives are painted as being backwards, nonintellectuals with no concern for the poor. I also challenge you to call out Liberals when they challenge our nation's unity. The name calling comes from both sides and it is revolting.

Ronald Actually, Kristin, I'm okay with the name calling to an extent. Yes, liberals characterize conservatives as "backward, nonintellectuals with no concern for the poor," just as conservatives characterize liberals as ivory tower elitists, or as socialists or communists who steal from the rich and the middle class. Both characterizations, at face value, are false, but then both are also rooted in reality. We've got to allow some wiggle room in the public discourse, some hyperbole, some passion.

The right-wing penchant for what amounts to revoking the citizenship of Americans with whom they disagree, however, is something else entirely. Needless to say, this is NOT rooted in reality, in any way at all. And it isn't simply name calling: rather, it's a philosophy, one that runs right through the middle of the Conservative Movement. The most disturbing and over-the-top example of this is the Birther phenomenon, which literally asserts that President Obama is not an American, and therefore totally illegitimate as our leader, but we saw big strains of this, too, in the Clinton hatred of the 90s, in spite of the relative era of peace and prosperity we experienced under his leadership--indeed, the hatred was so fierce that Congress impeached him for dubious reasons. Speaking of Congress, we see this philosophy manifest in the constant obstructionism of the Senate, where virtually every bill is filibustered, allowing the Republican minority to shut down the Democratic majority's ability to do any business at all; contrast this with the Republican freakout on the Dem's threat to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee when the roles were reversed a few years ago. Consider the conservative radio talkers: Michael Savage routinely uses the same word Nazis used to describe Jews, "vermin," to describe liberals; Rush Limbaugh calls liberalism a mental illness, and so on.

The problem with the liberals-aren't-American philosophy isn't that it's offensive. Rather, it gives conservatives permission to dismiss anything and everything liberals have to say. It creates the intellectual foundation for gridlock and constant political warfare. It turns routine problems of governance into apocalyptic events, as per the debt ceiling crisis, which ended up with the United States losing its prime bond rating, which embarrassed the US globally, and potentially endangered our fiscal health.

As one of my favorite Republicans once said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Conservatives need to get back to their roots on this or we're all doomed.

I said "'Nuff said" last night.  But now I wonder.

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