I had coffee this week with a very conservative relative. He is a reasonably nice guy who is bitter that his life hasn’t been what he expected (after getting laid off from a large Evangelical para-church organization—something he blames on liberals). He listens to rightwing radio tirelessly (ironically, he’s on disability and gets health insurance through his wife, who is a teacher). There is a lot of anger and conspiracy theories lurking behind an infectious laugh and confident charm.
The conversation this Monday morning, however, was chilling.
“Hope you guys have lots of cash saved up—it’s going to be a long time before folks want to remodel their homes.”
(I am part owner of a successful and growing home remodeling business.)
“Uh, so why is that?” I responded, not sure if I wanted the answer.
“Because the Tea Party is about to teach liberals a lesson.”
What followed was a crazed diatribe about how the Tea Party had figured out that the only way to stop “people wanting to live off the government” was to force the kind of cuts a default would require.
“It’s like the sequester. The only way to get what you want is to let the liberals think it’s not what you want.”
He kept quoting the “experts” who say that the Treasury could just pay the interest out of current tax receipts if they just prioritize what other bills were being paid.
“There isn’t a problem. If we just cut spending there isn’t a default.”
What followed was a conversation sidebar about how it would help get America back to the gold standard if there was less confidence in the dollar—since confidence in the dollar is all based on the liberal lie of the Federal Reserve's Imaginary Money (his favorite monster under the bed).
“It’s going to cause a lot of pain, but someone’s got to pull the rotting tooth.”
I left the conversation with a knot in my stomach. My cousin is pretty tapped in to the thinking and ideas of the extremists of the rightwing movement.
It would appear that disaster is their highest hope.
Are they really this unhinged?