This is the significance of Sarah Palin: She is the Authority for the far right wingnuttia. Several things are necessary for success when dealing with authoritarians. They include a person to act as figurehead, who might or might not be the actual authority. A code of conduct is necessary, which will consist of characteristics that the authority wants the group to have. Those characteristics will provide an identity for the group's followers and a means of identifying other members of the group. To identify members one must identify non-members. The group must be superior to the non-group for everyone wants to feel good about themselves, and one way authoritarian leaders ensure obedience is by demonizing the Other, declaring them to be evil and dangerous. Rejecting the authority's code of conduct and beliefs means risking expulsion from the group, which would mean the follower would no longer have an identity, group, or moral superiority.
I think that if Palin seems to be a winner, most of the authoritarian right will back her, because associating themselves with winners to feel good about themselves is a major factor in their make-up. Almost everything else is secondary. But they don't pick the candidates, the authoritarian leaders do, and we need to determine their goals to determine their future actions. They have stolen as much as they can, so the next big push will probably be the elimination of their expenses. The goal of the tea-party right is to eliminate taxes and benefits, as described by Freedomworks, led by Dick Armey and funded by the Koch family. "Dedicated to Social Security reform, repeal of the Death Tax, tax cuts in general, and limiting the size and scope of government," their website says. The next president will be the candidate who promises to end taxes for the rich, and that might actually be Sarah Palin.
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I've noticed a not often mentioned difference in progressive vs wingnut rhetoric. When Bush was elected, then re-elected, and when that administration passed one constitution shredding travesty after another, progs responded by talking about their plans to move...to New Zealand, Australia, Canada, wherever. Now that Obama is president, what do the wingtards talk about? Armed revolution! If Sarah Palin ever manages to slither into the White House; unlikely as that might be, I be tempted to rethink the whole armed revolution thing.
It seems to me that no matter how much progressive people hate Palin, she has captured the hearts and minds of many Americans. Why is that? Because she speaks their language: opportunity and low taxes. Those are issues that progressives can claim too, if we can get over ourselves. Take the Estate Tax for example. This is a tax that does nothing but line the pockets of large insurance companies (see www.estatetaxtruth.org if you doubt me) why would we be in favor of that? A lot of progressive people I know just get into a knee jerk reaction mode without every thinking about the issues. If we want to hold on to power, we need to reach out to Americans, not continue to fight old battles.
Michael--Do you seriously think, for even one second, that you can drop in here and lie? Push your bullshit and expect me to swallow it?
But you have given me an interesting new avenue to look down. My favorite bit so far, regarding your parent organization's founder:
"”[Sen.] Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and I were talking about the estate tax. If we knew anybody that owned a business that lost life in the storm, that would be something we could push back with.” – Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said in a taped conversation with law professor Harold Apolinksy about using the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to once again push for the end of the estate tax for the wealthy. Apolinsky recruited colleagues to search for victims whose stories could be used. Time magazine reported that the search has been fruitless because so few people affected by Hurricane Katrina were assessed the estate tax."
Using poor dead African American to get rid of taxes for the rich. That's as competent as it is moral.
You're lying about being progressive, lying about Palin, who is a national joke (literally), lying about opportunity, lying about power, and lying about taxes. Come back when you find your soul.
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