Yesterday I tried in my very best loopy-liberal reasonable voice to explain what liberals are, their inherent characteristics and flaws, and the reasons we should not simply shoot them on sight. So today I will try to make the case for what I believe conservatives are really all about and why we should not automatically shoot them either (or shoot them with automatic weapons so that Ted Cruz can cook more machine-gun bacon.)
Remember, I explained liberals and liberal philosophy as being an instrument of change. And I identify myself as a liberal in these times of the Trumpster, Chaos Clown of Making America Sweat Again. I think change is needed. I had hoped for that with Obama, but the conservatives were victorious in their primary function of preserving the status quo. Now, I do think there are times in history when conservatives were absolutely essential to our government. The 1950’s is a good example of that under the Eisenhower Administration. (But not for social reasons like the struggle for equal rights, rather the economic situation of growth and innovation and positive spirit… along with the invention of Rock and Roll.)
Conservatives are meant to preserve what is workable and good, beneficial to all. Unfortunately, some conservatives fall into the trap of wanting to preserve their own power. That leads down dark paths to Fascism. In my cartoon of conservatives immediately above, I should point out that I have included only the cartoon characters that have fallen at least partially into the Fascist tiger trap.
George Herbert Walker Bush is the son of Prescott Bush, a politician and banker whose New York UBC bank (he was president of the bank at the time) in 1942 had funds confiscated from it on the grounds that it was Nazi money funding the Nazi party in Germany and allowing the funny-looking failed painter from Austria with the toothbrush mustache to become the ultimate Fascist leader.
George W. Bush, his son, also known as Lonesome George the Rodeo Clown (mainly by me), continued the Nazi tradition by introducing the Patriot Act, reducing American civil liberties and establishing the surveillance state that we now enjoy.
Definition of Fascism from Webster’s;
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often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
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a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>
Richard Nixon had a direct link to the good conservativism of President Eisenhower, having been Ike’s Vice President and even being related by marriage as Nixon’s daughter married David Eisenhower. But he also had a streak of paranoia and panic that caused the entire Watergate kerfluffle and his eventual flight from power into ignominy.
Donald J. Trump is, to be fair, still pretty much an unknown quantity. But everything he has demonstrated in his business history and presidential campaign suggests he will be an even stronger Fascist than anyone I have named so far. He puts on a show like P.T. Barnum, and horrifies and fascinates his audience. But we never made the mistake of electing a liar and a con man like P.T. Barnum to the highest office in the land before. And the paranoia and excuse-making through denial of reality we have seen so far in the Russian hacking scandal, makes me fear the worst. Trump is more paranoid than Nixon. He will probably do much worse things than Nixon did as a result.
The KKK has a place in my cartoon because their history is one of trying to preserve the status quo through violent repression and terror campaigns. Their suppression tactics are the same as the Nazi brown-shirts on Krystallnacht and the Gestapo throughout WWII. And through the Steve Bannon connection, the KKK has a firm grip on the underlying philosophies of the Trump Administration.
So the possible end point of the conservative push toward Fascism is the same sort of chaos you get on the far left end. The leftist idea of constant revolution ends in violence or Fascist dictatorship. Fascist dictatorship squeezes everything it tries to control so hard that it breaks, and Fascists try to control everything.
So, I fear both ends of the political spectrum.
Though I apologize to Bernie. I would’ve voted for Bernie. He was just the farthest left Joker meme I had to choose from for this metaphor.
As you have probably guessed by now, I intend to write one more post about this whole mess of political nonsense. I have talked so far about the doom on both ends of the horseshoe, and so far ignored the middle, the part that holds the good fortune. So, being well over 500 words once again, I will leave you until my next horrible political post about the world just prior to the Apocalypse.
When You Can’t Laugh at the Clowns
It is sad that Ringling Brothers, Barnum, & Bailey will be closing for good this coming May. I have personally gone to the circus and enjoyed the spectacle under the big top (though actually in arenas) about fifteen times, first with my parents and then with my own kids. I loved the elephants, the wire-walkers, the lion tamers, and I laughed at the clowns. And now that will no longer be possible. I have gradually lost more and more of the most important things in my life as I have gotten older. I lost mobility with arthritis. I have lost financial security through health problems. I have lost the ability to do the job I devoted my life to and so deeply loved. And now I can no longer laugh at the clowns.
The problem is not that there are no clowns left, even though most of the greatest ones, Emmett Kelly, Bob Keeshan, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and the man who played Bozo, have all passed on. The problem is not that my kids are afraid of clowns, scared to death of people who aggressively get right up in your face while theirs is covered with grease paint (especially since my kids are now grown and can sock the clown in his painted mush if he gets too close). The problem isn’t even that the clowns are not funny any more.
The problem is that the Clown in Chief has killed the laughter. He has become an agent of instability and chaos. When he is mocked brilliantly by Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live, he has to mount a tweet storm on Twitter and uses his limited twit-wit to angrily denounce and threaten and belittle instead of laughing at the jokes as other politicians like the current President and Vice President have graciously done, even sometimes using self-deprecating humor to get in on the jokes themselves. Even notoriously humorless political clowns like Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin have more grace in ignoring mockery and smiling at insults than this Great Orange Face that we put in charge of the country’s most serious business.
The ability to laugh at oneself is a very serious thing. When the whole “golden showers” business made it into the national debate, this manic moron did not make it seem mere political hum-buggery by laughing it off. No, he got deeply offended and defensive, the same way a person who is actually guilty of the accusation would react. So, if it is not true, the Crybaby in Chief has only bolstered our belief that it is most probably true. As ridiculous as the accusation sounds, you have to admit that Trump’s behavior in the past makes you at least entertain the possibility that it is a true thing that he has done.
And now, he has over-reacted again, this time to the very real concerns raised by Congressman John Lewis, an honest-to-God civil rights hero, with cruel and crusty criticism that lowers my respect for Trump as well as lowering all future expectations. The man isn’t even sworn in yet, and he has already shown such bilious badness in his character that I truly dread living in this country under his rule.
I am a man who lives to laugh, and laughs to live. That is how I overcome the things that bother me as well as the things that hurt me. I use laughter as medicine, not as a weapon. And I hate to see the viruses in our society that I have always been able to inoculate myself against with humor become totally drug-resistant in that way.
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Filed under angry rant, clowns, commentary, feeling sorry for myself, humor, politics, satire
Tagged as Bozo is dead, clowns, Donald Trump, politics, rant, Ringling Brothers closing