I snipped this from a conservative poster on SI. It is an interesting evolution, seeing Bush's dropping poll ratings as the result of a new McCarthyism that will tear the country apart. It sounds very much like a desperate last stand, but that's JMHO. He omits to discuss that the criticism would be irrelevant had Bush been a successful uniter as promised.
POLITICAL POLARIZATION AND THE CAMPAIGN OF INTIMIDATION
A conscious campaign of political intimidation has been underway for many months.
One part of the campaign is to attack the Bush Administration for each and every thing that it does -or doesn't - do. Sometimes the attack is on the merits (Iraq & WMD), sometimes it is procedural and the "way it was handled" (Dubai ports)and sometimes both - 'take your choice' - such as Social Security. But the important thing is that the attack be broad based and unrelenting so that every American be made to feel that - though they agree with Bush on individual issues - that overall he has been "40 miles of bad road."
More generally, the intimidators never, ever, say "President Bush"; it is always simply "Bush" (or "Chaney", etc) pronounced as though it were an epithet.
This campaign has the same hallmarks as the campaign of intimidation attempted by the political right and Senator McCarthy against communists "and their fellow travelers"in the 1950's. In fact, it resembles (in diluted form) the campaigns against "rightists" conducted by Stalin and Mao.
In the short run, campaigns such as this WILL work. But there is a cost in terms of the bonds that hold us together as a civil, decent society. These bonds - often ignored and taken for granted - when they go will lead to a hell so bad you can't even imagine, Mr Greeenlaw. Don't look to the Courts then for protection, Mr Greenlaw. For there is always a backlash. No threat, just fact. ( See Thucydides for the best description of what happens to a democratic society when these bonds dissolve.)
I could go on about how today the political middle is shrinking and how those on the extremes are growing in tandem at an EQUAL rate; and how they view each other as so much worthless degenerate garbage that needs to be thrown out.
I could ask you Mr Greenlaw about the growth rate of the American economy under Bush relative to the rest of the "West;" about the unemployment rate under Bush relative to the West ;and under Clinton at comparable stages; about the debt of America relative to the West and its percentage to the GDP. Etc. All to the point that you have so much reason to be aggrieved and sorry for yourself. |
