Jonathan Chait, deft political analyst, is getting frustrated. He believes, as many of us do now and then, that a little reason might get through to the right. But he also know that it won't, citing one instance among many in which Republican legislators simply denied Obama had offered a concession Obama had indeed offered. Chait notes a perfect example from Ezra Klein:
Would it matter, one reporter asked the veteran legislator, if the president were to put chained-CPI — a policy that reconfigures the way the government measures inflation and thus slows the growth of Social Security benefits — on the table?
“Absolutely,” the legislator said. “That’s serious.”
Another reporter jumped in. “But it is on the table! They tell us three times a day that they want to do chained-CPI.”
“Who wants to do it?” said the legislator.
“The president,” replied the reporter.
“I’d love to see it,” laughed the legislator. ...Klein, WaPo
See? It's what we've all experienced when trying to communicate with the right. We have elected officials who aren't even able to acknowlege what's going on in front of them if it conflicts with their prejudices.
One of the most useful sentences of all time was uttered by Upton Sinclair, who said, "It is impossible to make a man understand something if his livelihood depends on not understanding it." People’s understanding of reality is filtered through a prism reflecting all sorts of things other than reality, self-interest being among them. ...Chait, Daily Intel
Right. So what else is new?
Chait sounds like a desperate man. We all feel desperate most of the time when dealing with these issues.
The most striking and disconcerting thing about the latest round in the budget war is that the debate within the Republican Party is proceeding on the basis of completely false premises. I don’t mean false in the sense of wrongheaded policy beliefs. I mean Republicans are debating their strategy as if President Obama’s offer consists solely of making rich people pay more taxes. They won’t acknowledge his actual offer, which includes large cuts to retirement programs. I keep writing about this. It’s crazy. ...Chait, Daily Intel
Ignorance feeds on itself as does political desperation. I guess the next chore will be to figure out what in our culture produces people who close their minds so willingly. Or is this entirely about fear even as their power recedes?
I swear I think there are many on the right who are scared to death of being challenged and of having to think for themselves. Group-think can be socially safer -- and often lethal. Certainly it has no place in a democratic republic where power is equally distributed. That is truly scary for anyone who has joined the crowd of similarly weak bullies.
But there we are. We've come full circle. It's democracy -- it's sharing power -- that scares the bejesus out of them. What scares me is that very few small-d democrats seem willing to fight to rescue democracy from demagoguery.
