Political Labels – Meaningless? Divisive?

I keep coming across the problem with political labels. I’m actually a fan of labels when they are used to accurately represent fundamental differences, but too often that isn’t how they are used. I probably don’t have much hope to disentangle that which has been intentionally tangled. Still, I can at least explain my own [...]

Glenn Beck is Lewis Prothero from V for Vendetta

Divide and Conquer

Here is something I never understand. Every time I hear someone talk about “Real Americans” it’s almost always a Christian conservative (such as Sarah Palin”. Why is this “Divide and Conquer” mentality so appealing to many conservatives? And why does it seem so repulsive to most liberals? The only answer I’ve found is the research [...]

Conservatives: Then & Now

US: Republic & Democracy

I keep noticing a particular belief among a certain kind of rightwinger. What they say is that the US government isn’t a democracy but a republic. I’ve seen this stated thousands of times in blogs and comments around the web. I wonder what is the source of this claim. The fact that it keeps being [...]

Just Punish; Don’t Try to Help or Understand

Here are two videos that show the problem with extreme rightwing thinking. When the world is seen through absolutist morality, everything becomes black and white and every person becomes either good or evil. Taken to the furthest extreme of fundamentalism, this attitude becomes a Manichaean vision of Cosmic War. It’s what led someone like Bush to [...]

Republicans & Libertarians: Things They Believe

 

Conservative Critics of Conservatism

I’ve been very critical of conservatism this past year and have spent much time doing research. My motivation isn’t that I hate conservatives or think they’re ‘evil’ (well, some of them are obviously not nice people and possibly psychopaths, sociopaths, or Social Dominance Orientation types: Limbaugh, Cheney, Rove, Murdoch, Ailes, etc; and there are, of course, [...]

Rightwing Paranoia Detached from Reality

Tea Party protesters believe the American public is paying more in taxes even though under Obama 95-98% of Americans paid less in taxes this year. Gun rights activists protesting on park land say Obama is trying to restrict their gun rights even though it was Obama who signed a bill allowing guns to be carried in parks and [...]

Self-Enclosed Stories, Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

I often watch the videos of Stefan Molyneux. I highly admire some of his insights, but I’m also highly critical of the conclusions he bases on these insights. Here is a very high quality video he just made to which I have a mixed response. He tells a compelling story. It’s not unlike the story [...]