Daily Archives: Monday, December 1, 2008

Conservatives actually prefer obstruction and are good at it. In fact, when you think about it, it’s their natural place in the system since they claim to not believe in government. There’s something quite dissonant about being in charge of something you hate. So they are quite natural at being the party of obstruction, far better than the Democrats who proved that they really don’t have a talent for it at all.  quote from Digby at Hullabaloo http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

There is a pretty interesting logical contradiction here.  “Government is bad”, “Washington is bad” but nevetheless we yearn zestfully to be in control of it…to be that thing we dislike and disapprove of.   

One could posit that this does go some distance in explaining why they muck it all up so badly, as the last eight years have demonstrated.  Who’s going to be good at governance while holding that governance is bound to muck things up?  What other outcome could be possible or desired?  Let us prove to you how bad government really is.  We shall endeavor to support our thesis about the badness of government by avoiding any significant action or project or legislation which much improves conditions because then our thesis would look fairly silly. 

This is a conundrum that arises from their populist position, actually, their populist rhetoric which maintains that political power must not fall into the hands of an “elite”.  Which is why Bush Jr, raised in a family at the apogee of political and financial and social elites in the US says “Howdy” and has film crews out at the ranch he purchased before the primaries always (it is always) showing him with his sleeves rolled up. 

It’s all quite farcical, of course.  And what they are really trying to convince us of through these twists and turns of logic and dissonance and spin and snowjobs and photo ops is that nobody else ought to be in control of government, least of all the people or those who might sincerely wish to represent the people.