Enough Already Blogenlust
Avedon and Digby are involved in an interesting discussion about the "freakish confidence" recently exhibited by Republicans. The question, first raised by Avedon, is why are they so confident about something that could very easily bite them in the ass at the voting booth? As Digby wrote, "It really does make you have to at least consider the possibility that they know they will not lose elections."
I recently had a conversation with Far East about this very same topic. What crossed my mind in that conversation was how much the Left's relationship with the Right mirrors an abusive relationship. The posturing, policies, and false bravado, in conjunction with the electoral success of this Administration and its political Party is having an adverse effect on the emotional mindset of the Left. Like the abused in an abusive relationship, the Left's first reaction is to buy into the false power and intelligence of the Right, which causes us to cower and freak out about what might come next. The best example of this is the talk about past rigged elections, and the prospects of future rigged elections.
My own opinion is that the Right loves our worries and conspiracies about vote rigging because it reinforces our perception of their dominance and our self-awareness of our feebleness. Whether we know it or not, talking about rigged elections or wondering whether the Republicans are too confident because they know they're going to win only reinforces our problems and does nothing to rectify the lack of our Party's political power.
Conservatives have been waging a political psy-op war against us for a generation, and until we realize that our reactions are reinforcing their strategy, nothing will change. Now I don't have a lot of answers for how to break this cycle, but a good start would be to cease all discussion about how the Republicans control our destiny, and start talking and thinking about how we can establish a political identity that is not a reaction to the Republican Party.
I'm not the sort that reads Powerline with any regularity, but this caught my attention:
It's great to see someone standing up for colonialism, especially British colonialism. I agree wholeheartedly with this observation, for example:
Had Britain had the courage to face down Gandhi and his rabble a few years longer, the tragedy that was the partititon of India might have been avoided.
My own opinion is that the Right loves our worries and conspiracies about vote rigging because it reinforces our perception of their dominance and our self-awareness of our feebleness. Whether we know it or not, talking about rigged elections or wondering whether the Republicans are too confident because they know they're going to win only reinforces our problems and does nothing to rectify the lack of our Party's political power.
Conservatives have been waging a political psy-op war against us for a generation, and until we realize that our reactions are reinforcing their strategy, nothing will change. Now I don't have a lot of answers for how to break this cycle, but a good start would be to cease all discussion about how the Republicans control our destiny, and start talking and thinking about how we can establish a political identity that is not a reaction to the Republican Party.
