I read Haikukitty's diary, Fox-News-Clear-and-Present-Danger-to-America. It's quite familiar as most of my siblings and cousins are conservative. Perhaps I should tell you what it's like where I live. This is a part of the country where people are openly proud of their ignorance, intolerance, and racism. People have confederate flag license plates and bumper stickers. Less than a week ago, a pickup truck was pulling out of the gas station just down the road flying a confederate flag in back. This is Indiana which was never part of the Confederacy; no one is claiming that this is part of their history and heritage. At a local tire shop one car had a bumper sticker that read, "A village in Kenya is missing its idiot." I thought to myself, "It's fortunate then that we have so many spare idiots, like you." Even the Democratic candidate running in my district proclaimed that he was pro-life. And this was after Richard Mourdock's embarrassment about claiming that pregnancy from rape was God's will. ...and then there's my mother.
It seemed like my mother used to be happier. Now, she wallows daily in fear and cynicism. She used to watch Fox and crackpots like Glen Beck. But, even without Fox there is no shortage of this same vile, emotion-driven manipulation. She gets it from listening to Mark Levin and Mike Gallagher on the radio. She gets it from watching Pat Robertson on cable.
This isn't something new; Mom picks up every scrap of negative information from every nut with a pen or a voice as long as they claim to be either Christian or conservative. Do you remember the Y2K thing? Mom had a pamphlet that had been distributed at her church. It was written by someone who was a retired mainframe programmer and who claimed to be a Christian. He insisted that not only would all computers fail but so would anything with a microprocessor. He also claimed that it would be a high sunspot cycle that would blow out the electrical grid. Mom told me in all seriousness that President Clinton was going to use this disaster as an excuse to declare martial law and suspend elections and that he was going to become the anti-Christ from the book of Revelations. Today, Mom says that she doesn't remember saying that. She doesn't remember showing me the flashlight with solar charger (because there wouldn't be any electricity) and talking about needing blackout curtains so that no one would see the light inside her house. My late wife was a working computer operator and I had a degree in computer science. I had programmed mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers. We tried to tell her that the pamphlet was wrong. I tried to explain that most things with a microprocessor, such as the electronic ignition in your car, don't have any kind of date function and so could not be effected. She wouldn't listen to me, her own son; instead she believed someone she had never met who was preaching the end of the world.
I find Mom's inability to remember her claims about Clinton to be rather convenient since Y2K came and went with hardly a hiccup, much less an apocalypse. And you might think that she had learned something from this. No, she is now saying that President Obama will declare martial law, suspend elections, and become the anti-Christ. I think the excuse this time is that it will have something to do with terrorism. You know, like maybe those children fleeing violence in El Salvador are actually part of a terrorist group bent on overthrowing he United States. She is equally convinced that Obama is a Muslim. The fact that he killed Bin Laden and most of the other Most Wanted terrorists has no effect on her. The fact that Obama goes to church every week likewise has no effect. She is still convinced that Obama is a secret Muslim who is plotting to overthrow the government and invoke Sharia law. I don't think Mom has ever shot a gun in her life but she is opening concerned that Obama is going to take away everyone's guns so that it will be easier for him to overthrow the government. I try to point out that US citizens own half of all the pistols and rifles on the planet but that point falls on deaf ears. My mother claims that George Soros "hates Israel" because he is favor of the Iran treaty. My mother ignores the fact that 2/3rds of all the American Jews are also in favor of the same treaty.
My mother's worldview is based on a fake persecution complex promoted by fundamentalist Christians. It's based on a fear of anyone not Caucasian and the claim that the morals of the US are steadily deteriorating. Satan is at your door; demonic influences are everywhere. Don't get sucked in by that liberal talk about caring for your neighbor and helping those who have less. It's a view where facts are dismissed in favor of emotion. It's a view where hypocrisy is not only pervasive but part of the very foundation of this mind game. This is a world where if you point out the disasters under Bush you are being unfair, but if you suggest that Obama is under demonic influence that's perfectly acceptable. The Republican presidential race has turned into a sideshow just like last time. Remember when Newt Gingrich was the flavor of the week and then it was Herman Cain? Remember how many non-competitors the desperate, hard-core base ran through before finally, grudgingly settling on Romney? It's happening again. Donald Trump has no chance of getting the nomination, much less of being elected. Neither does Carly Fiorina no matter how many false allegations she brings against Planned Parenthood. Christ Christie has no chance, nor does Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, or Marco Rubio. It's hard to understand why any Republican would believe that this process is going to produce a winning candidate. The reality is that every minute Trump spends in the spotlight is that much less time that a candidate like Jeb Bush will have to establish his campaign.
Somehow, the party that is supposedly about leadership not only can't narrow its field for president but can't even figure out who is going to lead the House of Representatives. Sure, if Eric Cantor was still around, he would be first in line. But, he was defeated in 2014. Are you as dumbfounded as me that the party of brash bullies and rabid rhetoric has no one with enough courage to step up and take Boehner's place? Peter King stated that he saw House Republicans actually crying when McCarthy announced that he wouldn't run for Speaker. I recall the times that Mom said that she, "couldn't stand Nancy Pelosi." This is what you've been pushing for, a party that shuts down the government when it doesn't get its way, that can't figure out who is intolerant enough to carry the Republican banner to the Whitehouse, and where even a change of Speaker is a disaster? This is the party you're proud of, that you trust and cherish? You're living in an insane asylum with the other bible thumping, gay bashing, women hating, paranoid, pseudo-Christian Republicans and you just haven't figured it out yet.
Update: 10/12/2015
Apparently Indiana doesn't have enough bat-shit crazy Republicans. We are now building a top secret survival bunker near Terre Haute for those conservatives who are afraid the sky is falling and have lots of spare money.
The Man Who Builds Luxury Bomb Shelters for Paranoid One Percenters
This isn't a joke. This is their actual website:
The Ultimate Shelter Strategically Located in Midwestern America
And their crazy Facebook page:
Vivos Command