In my other blog I asked if it took this writer of horror stories (H.P. Lovecraft) to so perfectly describe the Republican Party. For the purposes of this discussion the relevant part of the quotation of Mr. Lovecraft's description is as follows:
“As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world,...” (emphasis added).
What brought this quotation to mind were the events in Oregon; in particular it was a reporter there who said we should not dismiss as nut cases the members of the militia occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge because there are many people, particularly in the west, who feel the same way they do! The identity of this reporter is not terribly important because a quick inter net search will turn up quite a few right wing apologists saying the same thing. Those of you suffering from rationality and a recognition of reality are probably having the same WTF reaction I had. The demagogues and apologists can spin this until they puke, but I am not buying the absurd justifications. I am also silly enough to seek a real explanation for this obvious lunacy.
The Boston Glob ran a story entitled “The Oregon Standoff Has Roots In Mormon Fanaticism.” The Boston Glob story reminds us that, historically, the Mormons have had good reason to feel alienated from the rest of the nation and from the federal government. All right, so in this instance there may be a religious motive. But the conditions causing the Mormons to feed alienated have largely disappeared and the Mormon Church is finally condemning the occupation of the reserve. Furthermore, the members of other anti-government militias, like the ones in Texas, are not Mormons. There has to be more to this.
Could it be that these right wing nut cases are dwelling “... smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world..?” I think it is even worse. I think they are worshiping a highly romanticized past that never really existed, and they are terribly frustrated by the fact that they can never revisit it. In those places where there was free range, the free range times were characterized by range wars that really demonstrated the need for a strong government to restore and keep the peace, and to prevent the greediest and most vicious bastard from using violence to take it all!
Unfortunately, the right wing militia types in the U.S. share a terrible trait with the barbarian members of ISIS who willfully destroy historical sites. Neither of them wants to honor or join the march of civilization, nor do they want to conform to the rules of a civilized society.