One of America’s two political parties has no problem hitching their wagon to a literal “Big Lie” (having already hitched their wagon to Trump despite KNOWING he was compromised by Vladimir Putin. Almost everything about Donald Trump is bullshit – starting with the idea that he’s been successful at anything other than bullshitting people. Trump is the epitome of Republicanism – it’s greed and power lust wrapped up in a flag and praising Jesus. The GOP has as much interest in Jesus as it does in governing. But then, they’re not on a mission to govern democratically, they’re on a mission to seize power and hold onto it forever.
They think they can shove permanent minority rule down a diverse majority’s throat. Well, that is bullshit – not just the mission but any hope that it could be accomplished.
I still believe that at the end of the day, this conservative power grab will result in the very “socialized America” conservatives fear and are desperate to avoid. Conservatives really are the dog that caught the car then realized – after jumping in and grabbing the wheel – it has no idea how to drive.
We are living through the boss battle between facts and feelings.
The problem with feelings is that they feel real but aren’t necessarily based on reality. Anti-abortionists attach feelings to cells that don’t belong to them – and then insist (based entirely on their feelings) that those cells are human beings. Science disagrees completely. Even other cultures disagree (for instance, the Jewish culture). For a long, long time, current anti-abortionists would have disagreed too – and did.
Until recently, the anti-abortion crowd wasn’t anti-abortion at all. Hell, even the Catholic Church wasn’t officially anti-abortion until the 1970’s. The religiously fanatical, anti-abortion crowd has always been deeply racist. When school bussing went away as a rallying (and fundraising) cause, the fundamentalists cynically chose abortion as their new cause celebre.
If the “pro-life” crowd really was “pro life”, they’d care about life once it was born. They’d insist all those life-carrying women got incredible health care while pregnant and that both new mother and baby would get incredible health care afterwards. They’d want that life to have the best chance possible to exceed while alive – to take the fullest possible advantage of being here. That isn’t even remotely the case. Of course it isn’t.
Religionistas all believe that God favors them (as opposed to you) and speaks through them (as opposed to speaking though you). That makes them special (more special than you). That’s one of monotheism’s dangerous: it puts the voice of the creator of everything inside peoples’ heads. That can be intoxicating. A lot of religious people confuse the voice they identify as “God’s” (such as it is) with their own. They hear God agreeing with them, wishing the whole world got it as good as they do. People like this don’t so much believe in God as believe they are God. There’s a difference.
This madness infects everything from our ludicrously permissive gun laws to our bizarre attitude toward mental health, to the racism that’s bedeviled us since we cut a deal with slavery, and all the way forward to abortion. Feelings are important to us – as individuals and as groups. But, we always need to balance feelings with facts especially when the facts don’t support our feelings – even when they’re feelings about facts.
The thing about drowning in bullshit is that you don’t actually realize you’re drowning in it until it’s too late. My personal bullshit had me convinced killing myself was a good choice a few years ago. Fortunately, I clawed my way back to the air – to the surface – to Real Life and living. America can do it too.
But then, what’s our choice?