After having survived the entirety of GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum's victory concession fundraising incessant and rambling speech following his primary losses in Michigan and Arizona Tuesday night (and Wednesday morning... and Wednesday night... and Thursday morning - or at least it seemed that long), I had an epiphany. No, not the life-changing, religious transformation brand of epiphany. It was more the a-ha-moment-that-I'm-sure-dozens-of-more-incisive-writers-than-I-have-already-had-but-I'm-too-lazy-to-Google-and-actually-find-out kind of epiphany.
Through the course of the Obama administration, the assertion by the GOP that the President is engaging in class warfare has become repetitive and reflexive. Repetitive, in that the RNC and related enterprises (yeah, I'm talking about you, Fox News) have made the assertion a mantra to be repeated anytime the red light on a camera goes on. Reflexive, in that "class warfare" has become the go-to response to any and every Obama proposal, speech, and lunch order. Return taxes to responsible levels in order to deal with the debt and deficit? He's trying to "take" from the "makers" and stir up resentment among the "not-yet rich." Give an historic speech on the growing inequality of income, and the American values of making sure that "everyone's got a fair shot, everyone's doing their fair part, and everyone's playing by the same set of rules", and the President is trying to turn the United States into a European-style entitlement society, guarantee equal outcomes for everybody regardless of effort or ability, and subsequently engaging in "the bitter politics of envy". Order a Number 8 from McDonald's, and it's all "Why does he need the Premium, Select chicken STRIP... is he too good for the blue-collar Chicken McNugget?
But we've somehow gotten used to it. The Mind-blowingly Stupid Meatheads people masquerading as the Mainstream Media has taken to using the term "Class Warfare" as an adjective for any program or policy initiative that even involves the higher income brackets. Raise taxes by two percentage points on earned income over 250,000 dollars a year? Class warfare. Let the "temporary" Bush tax cuts expire for those making more than a million? Class warfare. Eliminate the carried interest deduction? Say it with me... class warfare. Pass a compromised bill that provides and strengthens healthcare while cutting costs over a decade, utilizes and strengthens the existing insurance industry, and that's based on the long-held Republican views and plans for healthcare reform? Okay, so that's not class warfare... just a Socialist, unconstitutional, big government, debt-exploding, freedom-robbing, job-killing, death panel-instituting assault on everything that makes us American. (Or not.) The MSM looks at the Occupy Movement, and sees a mobilization of this so-called warfare, even though the main thrust of using the imagery of the 99% was to illustrate that there was an uneven playing field, a different set of rules for those with the greatest financial power and resources. (Personal note: I acknowledge that this message has been fuzzy at times, and has been seen differently by different people. My assertion is based on early documents and my personal experience listening to the rhetoric at the two cities with occupations that I visited, as well as what I heard and saw through television or livestream.) In truth, this was less class warfare that was being waged by the 99 percenters than it was a recognition or realization that there was a group of uber-privileged power brokers that were waging a war to advance their own concerns at the expense of the 99% - or perhaps, more accurately - 99.9 % of society. Which takes us to Rick Santorum...
My epiphany was simple. There is a class war being fought, and its Commander-in-Chief is Rick Santorum. (That would make its Field General Newt Gingrich. Chief-of-Staff and Minister of Propaganda, Rush Limbaugh. Court Jester, Andrew Breitbart. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...) Look and listen to the words Santorum has used just this week.
- Snob (referring to the President)
- Snobs (people who have different beliefs/values/political views than Santorum's crowds)
- Elites (see:Snobs)
- Liberal Indoctrination Mills (referring to 4-year colleges and universities)
- "They" think they know better than you (referring to the government)
- "They" think they're better than you (referring to people who believe that college should be available to all who would like to attend)
- "They" come up with phony theology (see: Snob, Snobs, Liberal Indoctrination Mills)
All of these words or phrases from Santorum can be found in the above clip, or in his rhetoric of the last week. And this is just a tip of one iceberg. (Newt Gingrich, who I refuse to dignify with any more space in this post, is also an unashamed employer of such balderdash.) Former Senator Santorum has taken to unabashedly engaging in actual class warfare, pitting so-called "elites" against "working class men and women." This bit of a recent speech is illustrative of the class-warfare- and religious-imagery-filled speeches he's been giving lately.
“I don’t come from the elite,” Santorum said. “I worked my way to the success that I have and I’m proud of it. Elites come up with phony ideologies and phony ideas to rob you of your freedom.”
It's not just
that Rick Santorum is engaging in class warfare that's troubling. It's not even that it's - unsurprisingly - hypocritically endorsed and employed by those who cry loudest about it when it's the other side that points out class and economic disparities. (see: Minister of Propaganda Limbaugh et al.) It's that Santorum, in support of his class war, blatantly distorts, misrepresents, and flat-out lies to attack his opponents.
Politifact and
Washington Post's Glenn Kessler have pointed out just some of the trouser-immolating lies - yes, I will use that word, LIES - that Santorum has tossed around unblushingly. (Lying seems to be the only job requirement among the GOP candidates this cycle. Mitt Romney never disappoints his crowds, always leaving them with at least a couple of whoppers that make even Burger King proud. Gingrich is mendaciously talented, as well, but his lies are often so beyond any capacity for belief that even Wolf Blitzer will call him on it.) The man who has chosen to inject his version of Christian faith into the race, taking things to the extreme of expressing his lack of belief in the separation of church and state and letting people know that he, if elected, will
talk about things that "no President has talked about": things such as the grave and moral ill also known as contraception, and that our laws should be in line with what he sees as God's laws.
Yet while he talks about how the President and Democrats are assaulting freedom-loving "regular folk" and preaches how this administration has been an economy-killer who doesn't care about them and even "purposely holds the economy back", the actual policies that Santorum pushes cannot hide his true priorities. His economic policy is supply-side economics, re-heated. His plan to deal with the deficit and spur economic growth is simple: cut taxes and cut services to the poor, elderly, and disabled. If he keeps his word to cut $5 trillion over 5 years while not cutting military spending, then his cuts can only come from so many places. In contrast to his carefully cultivated image as blue-collar champion, the cuts he proposes will come at the expense of those very blue-collar and lower income voters. He proclaims that he will do with all entitlements what he pushed through to "reform" Medicare as a Senator: eliminate Federal programs, and send them to the states... the same states that already face crippling budget and structural deficits, thanks to the "generosity" of the Federal government sending things back to them. (He says he'll reduce spending by at least 10% by doing this.) It's important to note that most states have balanced budget amendments, which means barring massive state-level tax hikes, millions of people will fall off the rolls of Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, and even Social Security. He sees people on unemployment insurance as being encouraged by the government to be a drain: they don't actually want to go back to work, they enjoy the humiliation and "lavish benefits" they're receiving. He sees those on government nutritional assistance as milking an unnecessary system, because, after all, they are often obese. And that doesn't even cover his views on black blah people and welfare.
The wealthy, on the other hand, will finally be saved from the endless suffering they've endured under Obama. For the 2,800 (that's not a typo... 2,800) people a year who die with more than $5 million in their estate, they'll be saved from the crippling estate tax. The general corporate tax rate will be lopped in half, so giant corporations like G.E. can finally cut their onerous tax bill of ZERO to, well, HALF OF ZERO. For the owners of manufacturing businesses, an emancipation from the industry-wrecking income tax altogether. Those over-burdened top earners in our country will see their tax rate dropped to 28%. In case you're doing the math at home, you'll see that this all adds up to a deficit-free, debt-tackling, responsible approach to economic governance by ADDING $4.5 TRILLION DOLLARS to the deficit over the next 9 years. (The previous link, from the known liberal rag Wall Street Journal Marketwatch, is worth a read. Even the WSJ thinks his plan is ridiculous.)
Rick Santorum has proclaimed that he wants to get away from the social policy discussions, and has urged people to look at his economic plan. I've looked. And I've listened. And I come away just as appalled as I am by his social stances. There are those who believe that a Santorum candidacy will mean an electoral landslide for Obama this November. A closer analysis of the electoral map places that assumption in doubt, but that's for another post. Class warfare - of the religious, of the political, and of the economic types - is alive and well in the Rick Santorum campaign. It would be a grave mistake to stand by and underestimate the threat that he brings. The question is... "who will fight back?"
written w/ R.L. Alitheia
This diary crossposted at R.L. Alitheia: Politics and culture... through the eyes of a follower of the words of Christ