Supposedly we liberals are out to gain power by forcing the lower class into total dependence on government. That's what Rush Limbaugh tells his minions. That's how Thomas Sowell says politicians win votes. I'm pretty sure that Bob Ellis, Troy Jones, and Dr. Ken Blanchard have all impugned such crass motives to my liberalism.
Of course, if you watch Fox News, you know that's total bunk. We liberals aren't trying to build our power on the backs of the poor; we're trying to eradicate the poor with birth control!
Now suppose I were an evil genius. If I were hell-bent on destroying the underclass, I wouldn't dink around handing out condoms and waiting a couple generations while they figure out which end is up. I wouldn't finagle the Institute of Medicine to dress up genocide as a laundry list of really good health policy advice that will help people lead longer, healthier lives. I'd starve the poor out now with a plan that ends all funding for education and other social assistance and drives them deeper into poverty, where they either die quietly or turn to crime, at which point I can throw them in prison and give them AIDS.
If I were just hell-bent on gaining power, I wouldn't dink around trying to coax millions of politically weak folks into even greater weakness. I'd be having cocktails with rich people, making powerful friends, and marshaling wealth and power to control what people think much more directly.
If I were hell-bent on both goals, power over and destruction of a lot of people, and if I suggested to my henchpeople, "Hey, henchpeople! Let's use a dependent underclass to gain power, and then let's destroy that underclass!" I would expect my henchpeople to mutiny.
That's what listening to conservative conspiracy theories gets you: bad ideas... and outright contradictions.
Bonus Cranky Conservative Conpiracy! An eager reader sends me this 2003 article by Frank J. Gaffney, a former Reagan Administration official and strong conservative, who accuses Grover Norquist of fronting for radical Islamists. David Horowitz believes Norquist is working with the Muslim Brotherhood. Weakening America with a "no new taxes" pledge and a debt-ceiling impasse... clever! But even there, amusing as it might be to believe Grover greets every new no-tax pledge with a whispered "Allahu Akbar!" it still seems an evil-plotter would find it easier to crash a few planes into buildings and erase America's peace dividend by putting us on a perpetual REDCON 1 deficit-spending binge.
Granted, there isn't a lot of evidence that liberals are real smart, but they're at least smart enough to realize (Lord knows history is full enough of teaching examples) that if you take away the liberal indoctrination centers and the financial cocaine that keeps people dependent on government dole, they'll...take care of themselves.
And that wouldn't fit into the socialist plan at all. Far too much freedom and people thinking for themselves involved there.
Of course, even though pushing abortion actually does eradicate the Leftist's own power base, they really can't help themselves. They are in such slavish bondage to sexual autonomy that all other priorities are eclipsed.
Bob rolls another one right into the gutter.
(Lord knows history is full enough of teaching examples). Well the time to give examples is now Bob. Lets hear em.
Or is this another case of the "drive by blogger"?
This sounds like something that David Barton would say. He spouts drivel like a goose with the runs, he lies like a conservative fundamentalist homosexual preacher, and he invents evidence to suit his views. Bob meet David, David meet Bob.
Don't give me your holier then everyone else attitude. Man you couldn't even get in the front gate.
The Blindman
I don't think they are trying to eradicate the poor. That is way out there. However, I don't think liberals are innocent of "having cocktails with rich people, making powerful friends, and marshaling wealth and power to control what people think much more directly."
And that wouldn’t fit into the socialist plan at all. Far too much freedom and people thinking for themselves involved there.
Man that’s rich Bob. Who are the ones that want to control a woman's body without concern for what that woman thinks?
Who are the ones that want to say who should love who and by what means and for what reason?
Who are the ones that want to say what a person can put into their bodies, or not?
And who the hell are the ones that want to control what is being taught in our schools, creative design, along with their own particular religious views.?
No Bob it sounds like you either want to inhibit free thought or force other people to think like you do. Wow talk about a pot calling the kettle black.
I must apologies to David Barton. You couldn’t even carry his magic marker let alone stand beside him at the front of the room.
The Blindman
"If I were just hell-bent on gaining power, I wouldn’t dink around trying to coax millions of politically weak folks into even greater weakness. I'd be having cocktails with rich people, making powerful friends, and marshaling wealth and power to control what people think much more directly."
Oh, reeeeeeeeeally?
I agree with you on the first sentence, Dan. Alas, as usual, you then fall into making the wrong argument. I make no such claim that liberals are innocent of seeking power. The post here focuses on dismissing the grand conspiracy claims of right-wing radicals. (Keep reading, Dan, you might learn something about proper argumentation. The Madville Times will make you a smarter citizen yet!)
I'll pass on whatever Ellis is imbibing. But I do hope he is reproducing. Keep him at least 500 ft from a school.