Strange Americans

There are an awful lot of willfully ignorant Americans. And they are an awful lot. These people have lots in common and keep resurfacing again and again. I think the first time I really noticed them was during the Clinton era when Bill was accused of being a major drug dealer and responsible for the deaths of scores of people. Hilary was supposed to have killed Vince Foster. These people were well funded by right wing whacko billionaires like Richard Mellon Scaife. Most of the whackos were on the fringe, but they had enough influence in Congress to force the Whitewater investigations which resulted in Clinton being impeached for lying about a blowjob in the Oval Office.

Remember the 2000 elections when a horde of "Brooks Brothers" protesters shut down the recount in one Miami office by beating on the doors and windows of the office where part of the recount was taking place?

They again surfaced when John Kerry was swiftboated during the 2004 campaign. It was an unlikely campaign to smear a decorated authentic war hero as a traitor who was running against a candidate who skipped out on his own National Guard service. How could that be? But Bush was successful in his re-election bid.

Now we have the tea-baggers, the birthers, the Palin lovers, and the Obama haters. What do all these folks have in common? They are all willfully ignorant Americans who allow themselves to be used entrenched political and business interests. They are a bunch of low-life, mostly white-trash, racist, and armed thugs. Both the tea-baggers and those currently disrupting townhall meetings on healthcare are organized by Freedomworks, a lobbying organization run by former GOP congressional whip Dick Armey, and funded by the usual rightwing whacko billionaires. Here are the written suggestions for disrupting meetings. These people are crazy, violent, and intimidating, and the nice guys on the left are too nice (or scared) to fight back.

I hope that at the Democratic leadership dumps the search for a bipartisan healthcare bill and uses the power they have in the White House and Congress to force through a bill that at least covers the basics and has a public option.

But in the meantime, I've had enough. I'm leaving tomorrow and heading back to the Old Country for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. But maybe I'll buy a gun when I get back.