The Republican party has looked almost ridiculous in its serial embrace of arch-conservative candidate nutcases: from state to state in primaries they’ve careened from Michelle Bachmann through the governor of Texas through the 1900 mindset of Ron Paul, to the head of a pizza chain, then the hideously scummy Newt Gingrich, to now the hideously conservative Rick Santorum who just today said aid for higher education needs to be cut so fewer students go to college to get indoctrinated for Obama. What concerns me is not that these nutters exist.
These kinds of people always exist, wildly liberal as well as wildly conservative. What worries me is they actually have a substantial following among regular citizens, enough that they become serious contenders for a mainstream presidential nomination. Of course, bad economic times brings out bad people, and the demagogues can find ways to connect. Hitler in the 1930s was elected, and supported by huge crowds of enchanted supporters—despite his clear, unmistakably clear message of hate and horror. In a Democracy a good share of the voters just don’t think rationally, don’t think clearly, and vote with their emotions. Lincoln saw this, but hoped you can’t fool all the people all the time. I have believed that while the American people were generally a little too conservative for me, they also generally were not crazy. (Okay, a mistake there in Prohibition, but, well.)
Today, though, I wonder if the crazy side really is gaining ascendency. I’m thinking the only thing their gaining is a good megaphone through the press by way of the GOP party they commandeered, and that we will find their message to be way out of touch with American mainstream. But we can’t be sure, can we? Only in looking back can we point to clues that might have helped us predict the future. The future is really easy to predict when it’s gone past.
—Feb. 24, 2012, Fargo, N.D.
OtD 