Thursday, January 13, 2011

A Double Dose of Ugliness: Giving Voice to Sarah Palin's Know-nothing Brigades and The Tennessee Tea Parties Want to Whitewash the Constitution



Like clockwork, the reactionary Right-wing keeps it classy.

After my previous post on Sarah Palin's dog whistle use of the phrase "blood libel," I thought it only fair to give equal time to her supporters. As I tell my students, as folks try to work towards common solutions in the interest of the public good, we should treat the worldview and demands of the opposition with sincerity and honesty. Thus, we are obligated to let the Tea Party Populists New Age John Birth Right Wing reactionaries exercise full agency as they speak for their own issue positions.

In keeping with said commitment I offer you the above documentary. Right American Feeling Wronged is an insightful look at the bleeding heart of Palin's Know-nothing brigades. As a complementary piece of the puzzle, the following story details the struggle by the Tea Party and the New Right  to "correct" the narrative that is U.S. history. Once more, the New Right shows us who they always have been. And one cannot help but smile when the White Soul displays its own unrepentant narcissism and myopic ugliness.

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Tea Parties Issue Demands to Tennessee Legislators

NASHVILLE — Members of Tennessee tea parties presented state legislators with five priorities for action Wednesday, including “rejecting” the federal health reform act, establishing an elected “chief litigator” for the state and “educating students the truth about America.”

About two dozen tea party activists held a news conference, then met with lawmakers individually to present their list of priorities and “demands” for the 2011 legislative session that opened Tuesday.

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.”

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."

“The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds, whose website identifies him as a Vietnam War veteran of the Air Force and FedEx retiree who became a lawyer in 1995.

The group also wants the state legislature to reject key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as “an insult to Constitutional principles.”

The activists also said they want legislators to either start the process of amending the state Constitution to provide for the popular election of the state attorney general or to create a separate position of solicitor general who is directly elected by voters and with much of the litigation authority now vested with the attorney general.

In Tennessee, the attorney general is appointed by the state Supreme Court. The group’s printed material says the attorney general has reflected “views of the U.S. Constitution that conflict with those of the people of Tennessee.” It specifically says the current attorney general, Robert Cooper, has rejected “the call of the people and the General Assembly” to join with other states in contesting the constitutionality of “federal mandates, including ‘Obamacare.’”

The priorities also include terminating state subsidies for unfunded or unconstitutional federal mandates, and “enforcing constitutional law.” Later Wednesday, the Tennessee Health Care Campaign said repealing the federal health reforms would mean repealing protections the law gives consumers against insurance companies.

18 comments:

Oh Crap said...

Look at them in Wake County, NC. http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/01/education

And people thought I was being alarmist to link the teabaggers to anti-integration/desegregation efforts in the 50s-70s.

Plane Ideas said...

White supremacy continues to stain our nation..

John Kurman said...

Here's my plan. Since the Teabaggers think the 1790s were just the hottest shit around, I propose that they get their fondest wish granted. they should be infested with head lice, hookworms, drink water infiltrated with human and animal feces, be afflicted with various mouth and skin ailments, eat tainted food and receive poisoned medicaments, and of course, be harassed them for rent and services on a weekly basis by thug representatives of their gentlemanly propertied class of their natural superiors.

That's right off the top of my head.

Mrs. Chili said...

I need help with this. Every single thing I've seen from the right - EVERY SINGLE THING - has been of this nature - proudly ignorant people who don't understand half of the things they're saying - people fearful to the point of terror that "their country" is going to be destroyed.

WHERE does this kind of thinking come from? Is there no one on that "side" who can speak clearly, rationally, and articulately to reasonable concerns that they have? Because, honestly, I'm starting to get genuinely frightened of these people; there seems to be no way to hold reasonable, considered dialogue with them - they're right and nothing anyone can show them will change their minds. They believe what they believe, they "know" the "facts" are skewed, and they honestly believe that people who don't think like they do are out to get them.

HOW did we get here? More importantly, how do we save ourselves?

Please... help....

chaunceydevega said...

@OhCrap--John Birchers. But didn't you know that you are the real racist by introducing race into this conversation? What is wrong with you?

@Thrasher--In the DNA down to the bone.

@John--That is their fantasy, no? The tea baggers have a fantasy that they are the elite and not the knuckledragging rabble which they are. As I wrote about earlier, the Federalists and the Constitution were deeply concerned about that type of ilk, the rampaging mob taking over. Ironically, in the 21st century it is they who argue for "strict" interpretation.

@Chili--great comment. bumping that one up.

fred c said...

There are certainly a lot of White foot-soldiers in this movement who are quick to make racist comments. The larger movement, however, is not White-Supremacist. Let's remember that the overarching goal is to impoverish large numbers of people, mostly White because of the demographic realities, to benefit the few (also mostly White, it's true).

These credulous morons are being controlled through flattery, encouraged to believe they are better than other people. I understand that it's been going on forever and that it's wrong, but it doesn't make the current corporatist so-called Conservatism a White Supremacist movement.

Plane Ideas said...

Fred,

So our nation decays by a thousand cuts??..From my perspective this is a pathology at play and the core of this cultural diease is white supremacy..

Your explanation lends one to think you are making excuses

If we at the dinner table I would hope I would not choke on your narrative but I would ask for a stiff drink after you offered up this chatter..

fred c said...

The enemy that we both hate here is not only the enemy of Black Americans, it is also the enemy of the White working class. I just think that seeing the problem in Black/White terms misses an essential point. The White supremacist and racist aspects of this mess are certainly big problems, but they do not represent the entire problem. It's bigger than that.

I love you, Thrasher. I know that I can be annoying (just ask my wife!) I hope that when you say, "our nation," you include me in it.

fred c said...

Maybe I should say: when your ox is gored, I will stand with you. When our ox is gored, we should also stand together.

Mrs. Chili said...

I understand the racist element to it. One need look no further than the paranoid rantings of the anti-immigration crowd to understand that. I'm not entirely sure that's the driving factor, though.

What worries me most is the willful, proud ignorance. It seems that education is something to be scorned; you can't be "folks" if you've been to a fancy college. What the hell is THAT?! Does this go back to the "stupid people don't know they're stupid" argument, or do they know and are actually proud of it?

Honestly; I'm starting to get genuinely frightened...

Plane Ideas said...

Fred C,

Unlike you I am not a white male as such I cannot divorce myself from the prism of my experience..It is easy for you to elevate and muse about a common enemy you have not been a minority in this country..

It reminds me of the kum ba ya themes there is no race, we are all the same human race mantra's...I only here these pleas when it is apparent that white supremacy is in retreat...I have worked in many unions where Blak workers still are margainalize..

I recall once buying my wife a fur coat comething she wanted for ever when I got it we were out one day an attacked by PITA..WHite folks have been privledge and had it all but when we get something we are attacked and the world is coming to an end and we all must come together songs..
Often when the government is in decay Blacks folks are then elected or given a chance to save the world.

Which I have no problem gathering around the fire and chanting with you as well...

Yet I will admit there is a part of me that seeks to reserve my total emersion into the collective enemy theme as a Black man in this nation given our nation's legacy and how this culture has broken our hearts and often spoke with a forked tongue..

It may take me a while to get to the mountain top with you..My wounds still hurt and my heart stings and my head is clouded even on MLK Holiday..

But I will keep hope alive my brother..

fred c said...

Thanks for the generous response, Thrasher, I really appreciate it. I understand the effects of our differing experience, we see the world through different filters. I have benefited mightily from being white, and I know that just having accepted the benefit tars me with the brush. I know that I will never live to see an end to the problems of race in America, but I long for it like a hungry man longs for food, and I'm pretty sure it's out there somewhere. Anyway, thanks again for the respect. It was a great gift to me.

Anonymous said...

Lord give me strength! Obama will be re-elected and Rupert Murdock will have an heir apparent!

Constructive Feedback said...

[quote]White supremacy continues to stain our nation.[/quote]

Brother Thrasher:

Indeed WHITE SUPREMACY is thriving.

Between that which is found in WHITE FOLKS and that which has taken up residence in BLACK FOLKS who's PRIORITY FOCUS and CONSCIOUSNESS affirm their belief in "NON-WHITE White Supremacy" I am forced to agree with your observation.

Just imagine Greg - a room full of WHITE FOLKS and what they think has the ability to take over the last 3 HEADLINES on the "We Are Respectable Negroes" blog.

The FBI assisting the officials of Prince Georges County in stopping their 2011 murder spree against Black people is being crowded out. In a few more day's these murders will have topped the "mere" shooting victims in Tuscon yet not received but a fraction of the promotion to a "supreme" threat as was Tuscon.

I call that SUPREMACY. What would you call it?

(What is the COST to our community of these diversionary antics? This is what you and Chauncey and KCNulan need to discover)

Constructive Feedback said...

[quote]Let's remember that the overarching goal is to impoverish large numbers of people, mostly White because of the demographic realities, to benefit the few (also mostly White, it's true).[/quote]

FRED C - if THIS is their AGENDA then, by God - Greg Thrasher and others who live in Detroit, Flint and other cities will attest that they created MASS POVERTY not by their OVERT ATTACKS upon the people. They did so by VACATING these places and allowing the PROGRESSIVES to take over.


(He Greg Thrasher how far is Flintown from you?

http://withintheblackcommunity.blogspot.com/2011/01/mission-accomplished-city-of-flint.html)

Plane Ideas said...

CF,

I live in a white suburb of Detroit..I have not lived in Detroit for 20 years..Flint is 100 miles away..

Your goggle search intellect is off the mark more importantly yet again you offer up nothing authenic or progressive just the same tired siren on MLK day...

Constructive Feedback said...

My dear brother Thrasher:

Can you detail what of my comments directed at you mandate your residency in Detroit for them to be true?

Also, assuming that you followed the link and saw the challenges faced by the citizens of Flint, MI - those who DON'T have the "privilege" to live - what did you say? - "in a White suburb of Flint"....what is your opinion of the plight that they suffer?

On this blessed "MLK Day 2011" - is the PRESENCE of "equality" in Flint - equal POVERTY - what Dr King had in mind?

Why did we hear so few protestations from his living lieutenants as they instead made political endorsements of the ideological regimes that took over Flint, Detroit, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Youngstown, Rochester and so many other cities in that region?

Plane Ideas said...

CF,

What you fail to understand is that if you are a Black man in our country you are Black wherever you are in a ghetto, suburb or corporate office, jail or military base..

Detroit, Flint, Compton and many other venues suffer not because of the presence of Black people but the abandonment of a number of elements from economic to educational to cultural assets that make for great cities


Being Black did not create the decay of these cities these venues were in decay long before we became their principal residents..Detroit's decay began in the 50's and increased thereafter with the decay of the Auto industry and dumb treaties like NAFTA etc..

It is tragic that our nation can waste trillions of dollars in two Global wars and rebuilt entire nations but allow our cities to become relics and hollow vessels

The development of underdevelopment is a natural outcome of a nation that spends more money on weapons and corrections than the development of people..

US is #1 arms dealer on the planet..The poverty of urban venues in America began centuries ago when the nation's original illegal aliens and domestic terrorists( whites) entered the country and engaged in 2 domestic holocausts they created a flawed US consitution that enslave Black people, woman, native americans..This flawed blueprint created the soil of today's urban decay..

To be continued...