Reality Bites.

[abradley]

Reality Bites.

Posted by Michael Kennedy on November 5th, 2015 (All posts by Michael Kennedy)

Bevin

The sobering reality of the 2015 election is slowly sinking in. How could this happen to a party “on the right side of history ?”

Richard Fernandez, as usual, has some good ideas.

Perhaps the greatest damage that “progressives” inflicted on civilization was to make people doubt the reality of the facts, when it is of the ends that we are uncertain. It may be that progress actually consists not of following the verities of the Party Line but in doing the best we can at every instant of our lives. Free men are content to endure the mystery of what happens when they do their best. Only the progressives must have a worthless guarantee of success for incompetence.

The Progressives cheered a book about “false consciousness” by one Thomas Frank, called What’s the Matter with Kansas?

The New York Times bestseller, praised as “hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests” (Molly Ivins)

Hailed as “dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic” (Chicago Tribune), “very funny and very painful” (San Francisco Chronicle), and “in a different league from most political books” (The New York Observer), What’s the Matter with Kansas? unravels the great political mystery of our day: Why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank answers the riddle by examining his home state, Kansas-a place once famous for its radicalism that now ranks among the nation’s most eager participants in the culture wars. Charting what he calls the “thirty-year backlash”-the popular revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment-Frank reveals how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans.

The Wall Street Journal even gave him a column for a while but nobody read it. The reaction to the election in Houston at HuffPo is illustrative.

A long list of local and national figures publicly came out in support of Prop. 1, including President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The measure also had the backing of companies like Apple and GE, as well as local businesses that wanted to avoid a backlash similar to what Indiana experienced when Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed an anti-gay “religious freedom” law earlier this year.

But these heavy hitters weren’t able to get past the catchy, fear-mongering slogans and images used by their opponents.

Yes, those stupid voters !

Read the rest of this entry »

It's the stupid voters again.
Many links in the original.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It's the stupid voters again.
Many links in the original.

Since this is the only thing you said, it is all I am interested in responding to.

Response: so, what are you trying to say here?

 

[BvBPL]

Right, so what is it you want us to discuss?

Edit: Tim must have paid the pizza delivery boy to come just so he would ninja me!

 

[abradley]

Right, so what is it you want us to discuss?

Edit: Tim must have paid the pizza delivery boy to come just so he would ninja me!

The article.

 

[BvBPL]

Discussing a book review instead of the book seems a little attenuated as a topic.

What about the article do you feel is worth discussing?

 

[JollyRoger]

I can't believe Houston voted down an ordinance designed to protect Christians and members of the military and veterans from discrimination. What a bunch of lefty loons.

Are you in favor of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, Ord. No. 2014-530, which prohibits discrimination in city employment and city services, city contracts, public accommodations, private employment, and housing based on an individual's . . . military status, religion . . .? FAILED

 

[Ice_Tyrant]

Reality is going to bite when half a million people here who decided to sleep instead of vote last week wake up and find out that they don't have health insurance anymore after Bevin tears down Kynect.

 

[BvBPL]

<Never mind.>

 

[abradley]

Discussing a book review instead of the book seems a little attenuated as a topic.

What about the article do you feel is worth discussing?

Is it a book review or an article about the results of an election?

 

[JollyRoger]

It's a pretty good example of why civil rights should not be decided by referendum. Houston lines up with Mecca on the result.

 

[Birdjaguar]

It's the stupid voters again.
Many links in the original.

The link appears to be just another pro conservative diatribe against everything they don't like. Would an opposing link from the left be an appropriate response?

The thread would have more life if you actually picked something specific to discuss that didn't involve reading a book first.

 

[JollyRoger]

Yeah, where are the links to the 40 hours worth of Youtube videos?

 

[abradley]

The link appears to be just another pro conservative diatribe against everything they don't like. Would an opposing link from the left be an appropriate response?

The thread would have more life if you actually picked something specific to discuss that didn't involve reading a book first.

Read it and post a rebuttal.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Michael Kennedy needs to go back to high school to work on writing essays, specifically the notion of an introductory paragraph that summarizes your thesis and lays out your points.

 

[BvBPL]

Is it a book review or an article about the results of an election?

It took me a while to parse this. It is just an annotated digest of this guy's blog post. Which, incidentally, is hosted on a much easier to read website and is itself largely composed of quotes from others, quotes that Kennedy doesn't credit.

What are we discussing? Kennedy or Fernandez's words? The book that Kennedy discusses? The election?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Read it and post a rebuttal.

I read the link.

If you want a rebuttal to "progressivism is all wrong and conservatism is all right"? The George Bush Presidency and the Tea party are sufficient for that.

It is not clear if you are talking about the book or the reviewer's opinions.

 

[JollyRoger]

What are we discussing? Kennedy or Fernandez's words? The book that Kennedy discusses? The election?

I suggest we discuss Christianity, abortion, and the Civil War until we get more guidance from the thread starter.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'd rather hear your opinion of Texas law.

 

[JollyRoger]

5 words:

The law is an ass

 

[BvBPL]

I suggest we discuss Christianity, abortion, and the Civil War until we get more guidance from the thread starter.

Obviously the Civil War story arc was orchestrated by the Christian Conservative strain of Disney. Captain America represents 'Mercians, those red-blooded, God-fearing Christians that make up the heartland. Iron Man, in contrast, is the wire mother, Kali-aspect incarnated to abort freedom of thought in America.

Spoiler :

The death of Captain America turns him into a martyr, a symbol of religious devotion. His return turns him into a Sherridan-esque messiah, not unlike Christ.