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Republican fantasies
I was thinking about how I might perceive reality differently from many Republicans. For example, on the threat from terrorism there seems to be a piece of the picture missing: considering American relations with countries like Saudi Arabia it seems that politicians talk plenty about the threat from radical Islam but not about issues like the US maintaining military bases in the region and, presumably with strategic issues in mind, helping to support authoritarian regimes there despite our talk of democracy. Maybe that's since the Carter Doctrine, though I guess that the events like the 1953 coup in Iran precede even that. Anyhow, we do have a history of concrete acts in the region that seem to have been in our own interest and to the cost of the ordinary citizens in those countries, together with our overlooking our allies' apparent war crimes and atrocities. However unjustifiable their retaliation, I suspect that one side of the extremists' attitude to us, and success in recruitment, is related to our own tangible foreign policy in that region but such is rarely discussed in mainstream public discourse: it is a popular fiction that terrorists' fixation on the US is simply about culture clash or religion.
I was likewise considering the Republican perception that the country's been going in the wrong direction. It occurred to me that there may be some bait and switch going on, encouraged by the Republican leadership. If the lower and middle classes aren't so prosperous in recent decades then, on the one hand, it could be due to reducing taxes on the rich (e.g., on investment income), weakening labor laws, letting inflation outstrip the social safety net, failing to regulate markets such as healthcare and telecommunications so that they remain competitive, etc. Or, it could be due to trade agreements and immigrants and suchlike. Readers can probably guess what I think. Still, I couldn't help but reminded of the church telling the peasants that their woes are nothing to do with governance by the established order, they instead arise from their own sins and especially the witches in their midst, so let's go and burn some innocent people: which will be of no help at all but will allow the powers that be to continue to abuse their position.
I was likewise considering the Republican perception that the country's been going in the wrong direction. It occurred to me that there may be some bait and switch going on, encouraged by the Republican leadership. If the lower and middle classes aren't so prosperous in recent decades then, on the one hand, it could be due to reducing taxes on the rich (e.g., on investment income), weakening labor laws, letting inflation outstrip the social safety net, failing to regulate markets such as healthcare and telecommunications so that they remain competitive, etc. Or, it could be due to trade agreements and immigrants and suchlike. Readers can probably guess what I think. Still, I couldn't help but reminded of the church telling the peasants that their woes are nothing to do with governance by the established order, they instead arise from their own sins and especially the witches in their midst, so let's go and burn some innocent people: which will be of no help at all but will allow the powers that be to continue to abuse their position.