Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

It seems to me, ER, that the radical left is the side that seems the most scared of authority, the most concerned about the emergence of a "Riechwing Police State."
Is this not the side of the aisle that is the most afraid (or at least the most vocally opposed to) the Patriot Act?
I love Garrison Keillor. He is a very intelligent man, however I find his politics to be somewhat misguided.
 

Garrison is on target again.

Anyone who longs for the America of yesteryear, and is honest about its horrible legacies of segregation, racism and discrimination, knows how far off-balance we've become from the romanticized American ideal.

Speaking in sweeping generalization only, Republicans, especially Christian ones, have a world view that wealth is a blessing from God. (Jesus rode a Mercedes, didn't he?) They do not separate wealth by the sweat of one's brow from the wealth of writing lucrative laws that give corporations undeserved tax breaks; or the wealth that derives from rubbing the back of another and using one's elected power to rub back. Republicans hold themselves out as pristine, holier than thou. When they become corrupt, they are corrupt for God -- although you'll never hear that from them.

The same percentage of Democrats, meanwhile, are as corrupt as Republicans. But rather than defending their corruption to the last, Democrats understand that criminals infiltrate both political parties. They're not going to tell you they're God's chosen people. They're going to say, "Here are the facts. We don't like a lot of them. This is reality and we'll do what we can."

And there you have the Democrats' greatest weakness. And there you have while I'll always admire them.
 

To tugboatcapn: You're right, the Left is the most scared of authority. The Right is the most likely to follow authority blindly. Which do you prefer? Holding authority accountable to a questioning allegiance, or wholesale acquiescence?
 

Well, no. Libertarians are pretty unnerved by the Patriot Act, too. And even some previously mainstream Repubs. Bob Barr for one.

But that doesn't have anything to do with the quote in this post. The point of which is this: Repubs, by and large, dislike government. Hold it contempt, in fact.

May I add: They generally dislike it to the point where they can't usually even operate it efficiently, as a government, because they foolishly keep tryin' to run it like a bidness, which government is NOT.

Hell, I don't even think Repubs know how to run a damn war right, judging from current events.

What the hell is the deal sending the Guard over to do professional solders' jobs?!?

What the hell is the deal with Rummy's continued adherence to a "lean, mean" force, or whatever he calls it, when there are boots on the ground?!?

Why in the hell is anybody talking abut closing ANY base right now?

The right wing will LOSE this f------ war because of it's own damn blind spots.
 

ER: Excellent points about Republicans hating government, yet wanting to run it. After Reagan and W., their version of running government is cut taxes and keep on spending. 'Nuff said.

Here's how I'd like any Republican opponent to respond when a Repub says anything like: "Gub'ment needs to be run like a bid'ness." Which business do you prefer? Enron, Tyco, MCI?

It ain't the system, it's the standards.
 

I do not follow authority blindly.
In many ways, I am very disenchanted with the Bush administration. I think he is way too liberal when it comes to give-away programs like the prescription drug benefit, and not serious enough about shrinking the size of government. I would like to see the government whittled back down to only what the framers of the constitution intended the federal government to do.
However, I shutter to think of what America's standing in the world would have been by now, Had Kerry won the Whitehouse last year.
No war can be won by appeasement, or begging, or by turning the defense of America along with our national sovereignty over to a third party (The U.N.) especially a holy war declared by suicidal terrorists.
The only way to win a war is to DEFEAT THE ENEMY.
To work toward that goal, the U.S needed more troops than the military that GWB inherited from former President Clinton (who tore down the military at every opportunity)could muster (without a draft), so the Guard had to be called out.
By the way, I put my handle, along with a link to my blog above my comments.
I don't like being preached to by Anonymous people...
 

ER, it's going to be a lonnnnnnnng week...
 

Tug, "not serious enough about shrinking the size of government."

What do you mean, not serious "enough"? Try not even in the same universe! Biggest growth in government in my lifetime!

Old retorts, those. And I don't buy them. You are free to use them, of course.

Anonymous commenters are welcome. Ad hominem attacks may or may not be allowed, depending on my mood.

Maybe they need to bring back the draft. It's the only way this war might could be done honestly and honorably.
 

I only have one question about this:

Exactly who said anything bad about public servants? I know I've never heard that before.

And I love Prairie Home Companion, by the way. I listen to it all the time.
 

ER, I'm a little confused about the "honestly" part of your mention of the draft, though bein' a relative young 'un I've only read about it. Weren't a lot of young men able to avoid the draft in the Vietnam Era by going to college or joining the Nat'l Guard? And weren't a lot of those young men not poor? Seem to remember seeing statistics about the family income levels of the young men who were sent to Vietnam, but can't find them now.
 

Mark, I think what he's saying, and I agree, is that the whole spirit of the modern Republican Party is anti-government, anti-public service, anti-public servant -- and pro-me, pro-mine and pro-what-else-can-I-get-for-me-and-mine.

Kiki, a draft would have whatever loopholes and exceptions Congress put in it, I guess. What I meant was by bringing back the draft, the nation as a whole would be forced to look hard at the war, the reasons for it, the people prosecuting it, the fellow Americans cheering for it, and really have to THINK about whether it's the right and wise thing to do with our country's resources -- and honor.

I personally think it is a reasonable response to 9/11 -- and y'all antis keep your but-buts about the plans for Iraq supposedly in place even before 9/11. There SHOULD have been plans in place for Iraq before 9/11. The fact remains the trigger wasn't pulled until after, until after all reasonable Americans' priorities had changed, or at least had been reevaluated.

BUT, I really don't think most people in this country are THINKING about the war. They're FEELING their way to conclusions about whether it's right or wrong. While the feelings of the populace are a good way to get a war started, they probably won't sustain it.
 

Well, I think Keillor's concept of "public servant" -- and my own -- go well beyond police and fire protection and the military. Repubs want to private everything, and have been fairly successful at it, from prisons to trash collection to other public services, that, is government services.