William Rivers Pitt | A Rich Fantasy Life

A Rich Fantasy Life

Wednesday 09 February 2011

by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

William Rivers Pitt | A Rich Fantasy Life
A statue of Ronald Reagan in Covington, Louisiana. (Photo: Peter Clark)

I know I should be immune to this by now, but I still find myself awestruck by the incredibly detailed, insulated fantasy world that the American conservative "movement" has created for themselves. No lie is too big to be told, no fact is too firm to be bent around ideology, no myth is too absurd to defend to the knife. The ability to spew deliberate nonsense into the credulous ears of Fox-watching right-bent voters - and to be utterly without shame while doing it - is the core of this "movement's" political muscle, and has been for a number of decades now.

Take, for example, this past weekend's festival of Reagan. The late president's 100th birthday opened the floodgates for an ocean of nonsense to be dumped on the American people. He was a great leader, the conservative's conservative, a small-government hero who deserves a place on Mt. Rushmore.

Rilly?

Ronald Reagan's "supply side" economic model was the gateway drug that led inexorably to the collapse of the American economy two years ago, and yet his conservative acolytes - as well as far too many Democrats who should know better - still cling to that economic model as if it were holy writ.

Ronald Reagan raised taxes massively, and grew the federal government enormously, while sending the country spiraling into a morass of debt we are nowhere near recovering from, and yet his worshippers continue to tout him as the perfect "small government" man.

Ronald Reagan and his people sold shiploads of weapons to Iran even as they supported Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in his war against the Islamic Republic. Ronald Reagan and his people basically created the Taliban, al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan as a means of carrying on the Cold War fight against the Soviet Union, and yet today his conservative followers cling to a "War on Terror" as their sword and shield.

Didn't hear any of this during the weekend's Reaganapallooza, did you? No surprise. Why let facts - Reagan was a terrible president who bears a great deal of responsibility for today's national problems, a president who exploded the debt and the size of government, a president who supported known terrorists and rogue nations with money and materiel even as they were killing Americans - get in the way of a perfectly good story line.

That's the kind of comfort bubble these people live in, and it must be a nice place to be, because they refuse to be budged out of it one centimeter. The Reagan worship we just witnessed is merely this week's iteration of an ongoing phenomenon: the creation of a parallel story line - nay, a parallel universe - to satisfy the already-calcified opinions of the far-right GOP base.

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A perfect example of this is the Tea Party "movement," which is nothing more or less than a creation of the "news" media. There is no Tea Party; the term is a re-branding of that same GOP base, and nothing more. By way of vast corporate cash infusions from entities like the Koch brothers, these Tea Party dupes were fooled into believing they are a force for the common man, for the worker, for truth and justice and the American way, and even managed to get some of their so-called representatives elected to Congress in 2010...but it didn't take long for the mythology to start unraveling.

"Earmarks are bad" was the 2010 campaign refrain, but the very breathing second these Tea Party House members hit their seats in Congress, earmarks suddenly became no big deal, and now they are hardly discussed outside of the cloak room. Job creation? Nah. The newly-minted GOP House majority instead went to work trying to redefine what rape is in order to attack abortion rights, before backing off amid a storm of outrage and protest. And, of course, there is the push to repeal the health care bill, which, like the attack on abortion, is about throwing red meat to the base instead of actually getting anything done.

Here in reality, the gulf between right-wing rhetoric and actual activity has not gone unnoticed:

The GOP majority is bringing only a handful of bills to the floor this week, and none would be characterized as major legislation. Four of the five measures will be considered under a procedure generally reserved for non-controversial legislation; the fifth is a resolution that merely instructs committees to review federal regulations for their impact on job growth.

Democratic leaders contend it doesn't amount to much.

"Members return Tuesday from a week and a half of recess for another light legislative agenda in the House of Representatives," Kristie Greco, spokeswoman for the assistant Democratic leader, Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), wrote in a note to reporters over the weekend. "Perhaps if House Republicans had a jobs agenda, the schedule would be more robust."

Greco scoffed at the resolution on federal regulations, saying the GOP planned to spend 10 hours debating a bill that "instruct[s] oversight committees to conduct oversight."

Adding to the criticism, a group of 10 Democratic committee leaders on Monday sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) denouncing the resolution as superfluous and a waste of time.

"The floor schedule that the Republican majority has pursued and intends to pursue this week will create no jobs," the Democrats wrote. "Indeed, spending two days, and taxpayer dollars, on a resolution calling on our committees to perform oversight functions that they are already authorized to conduct distracts from our efforts to create jobs."

Not everyone on the right is in love with the fiction that permeates and props up the "movement." Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, decided recently to abandon his re-election bid to keep his post. Why? "I have tired," he wrote in a memo to party officials, "of those who are obsessed with seeing conspiracies around every corner and who have terribly misguided notions of what the role of the state party is while saying 'uniting conservatives' is all that is needed to win competitive races across the state." He was even more blunt with the Washington Post: "I have loved being chairman, but I'm tired of the nuts who have no grasp of what the state party's role is."

Unfortunately for the rest of us, people like Mr. Wadhams are the exception that proves the rule. The rich fantasy life enjoyed by the right - Reagan was great, the Tea Party is a "movement" for the little guy, and the new GOP House majority will be a force for good - continues unabated.

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Comments

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Let's not forget other

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 15:44 — Anonymous (not verified)

Let's not forget other fantasies divorced from reality, such as "small government is always better" and "lower taxes help everyone". It isn't and they don't. It's basic economics: give EVERYONE a tax break and NOBODY's relative buying power changes. (Hint: the same thing happens if you give everyone a tax increase.) Except with tax breaks you lose good public services, like safe roads, clean air, clean water and decent schools. You want small government? Try living in Mexico. Or Guatemala.

Yeah, Reagan who was against

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 15:56 — Lawrence Seib (not verified)

Yeah, Reagan who was against big government built a huge dept and increased the government more than any other non war time president. If he can be idolized then no doubt it won't be long before Bush is worshiped like a God!

Larry

Republican politics is a

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 16:18 — nice2blucky (not verified)

Republican politics is a game inflicted on strategy-impaired silent majorities, ignorant enthusiasts, and the apathetic, and Republican legislative successes -- and un-presented, not passed legislation, as well as legislative issues not addressed -- are enabled by Democratic Representatives.

Framing the debate and controlling the message is the neo-cons bread and butter, and they are facilitated by Democratic representatives who stand silent or compromise, unnecessarily -- all the while explaining their failures as "political realities," as if there is absolutely no other way; they create the reality, then claim it had to be.

The problem with the U.S. political system is made possible by incumbent Democratic politicians.

Democratic leadership is an oxymoron.

This is not in any way a defense of Republican politicians, nor their surrogates and apologists.

However, blame for perpetuating political problems lies squarely at the feet of strategically inept Democratic apologists who cannot fathom the idea of not voting Democratic or abstaining from voting for fear of what is simply, marginally, worse.

It is not only FOX-News viewers who need to wake up.

Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

The Republican machine proves this over and over again.

Democrats also prove it, through their lack of it.

My most vivid recollection

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 16:25 — rbe1 (not verified)

My most vivid recollection of Reagan is his selling Twenty Mule Team Borax on television. Did he do something after that ?

I agree with Eric Lane on

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 16:55 — radline9 (not verified)

I agree with Eric Lane on the facebook posts. Thank you Eric!

Reagan said when under

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 16:56 — Anonymous (not verified)

Reagan said when under duress, asked himself what would John Wayne do? And Reagan was the master liar. While he had data saying the Soviet Union had collapsed in the late 1970's (in 1978, Zig Brzezinski predicted the the Soviet Union would collapse in 20 years), Reagan hid the data from the congress and much of his cabinet and administration. We spend $1 trillion in unneeded weapons, many of which never worked. Promotions within government, including the CIA, all cabinet departments, and the military became political at their core. Thousands were demoted, passed over, or resigned in disgust as their mission became to promote conservative politics before the government of the people. Ronnie's directive - we always have time for our friends was a directive that the wealthy GOP funders were first and foremost the concern of the government, not the people. There is much more, but also remember that 16 Reagan executives, including his Atty General fell on their swords rather than tell the truth about dear Ronnie.

If Danny Quayle's spawn can

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 17:04 — MNGeezer (not verified)

If Danny Quayle's spawn can babble that Obama is "the worst president in history" and not be laughed out of the country, Reagan is a lock for Mt. Rushmore. We are a nation of marching morons.

The right has openly sneered

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 17:11 — Anonymous (not verified)

The right has openly sneered in the past at "the reality-based community" (i.e., the American left). The right is exclusively an "ideology-based community," with all "facts" and "evidence" twisted to meet its (power) needs and narrative. Who needs facts when you've got marketing? Frankly, it's as much a religion as a political mvmt, with dogmas that are immune to any contrary evidence.

My favorite Reagan

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 17:35 — hbro (not verified)

My favorite Reagan memory:
He went to Europe and made a speech at a German cemetery. He kindly talked of the dead soldiers buried there.
His healing message was that those soldiers were just like American soldiers who had died in World War II.
When it was revealed that the cemetery was at Bitburg
and the poor German boys he had come so far to honor were the Waffen SS, the most evil murderers of civilians, there was no apology or explanation.
How did he pick THAT cemetery? Maybe it was the Bush connection.

For all the deluded souls

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 17:44 — Leig (not verified)

For all the deluded souls trumpeting Reagan, they may want to remember his direct policies killed more people than Adolf Hitler. Through his religious bigotry, he made a studied effort to do nothing about AIDS/HIV which ultimately cost 24 million lives, overwhelmingly in Africa. This is the guy found guilty in the World Court of state terrorism (mining the harbour of Managua, Nicaragua). But as WRP says, the truth is off the agenda of the right.

I think the Reagan fans must

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 18:18 — Anonymous (not verified)

I think the Reagan fans must be Alzheimer admirers.

I lived in San Francisco

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 18:39 — Gart van Gennip (not verified)

I lived in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS epidemic and I remember. I remember when in my neighborhood, of a mere ten square city blocks, the 1,000th gay man died from AIDS. Where was Reagan? He was silent.

He was the president, the buck was supposed to stop with him. He had a gay son, for crying out loud!

On October 11th, 1987, we spread out the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the Capitol Mall in Washington DC for the first time. That day, 550,000 people were to demonstrate for gay rights. Moments later, Reagan left on Airforce One and flew directly over The Quilt.

The truth is this; Reagan could have made a huge difference, but he didn't. The reason? During those years, AIDS mostly affected gay men, blacks, prostitutes and IV drug users, exactly the people Reagan would love to have seen wiped from the face of the Earth. In his eyes, AIDS was a welcome 'solution' to a social problem, and he probably agreed with the religious right that the epidemic was punishment from God.

So yes, I blame Reagan. He was a miserable failure as president and as a human being. He's personally responsible for millions of preventable deaths.

Ron Reagan the son, was not

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 19:23 — Sally (not verified)

Ron Reagan the son, was not and is not gay
That is a urban myth. He spent time as
a dancer. Who knows who started that but it
was wrong. But you are correct RW Reagan
pretended AIDS did not exist and wrist
waved the subject away.

Since books on the Reagan

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 21:47 — JamesR (not verified)

Since books on the Reagan era are being recommended, how about "America What Went Wrong" by Bartlett and Steel, a short summary of how the manufacturing infrastructure of the United States was destroyed under Ronald Reagan. We didn't retool and revitalize our rust belt industries - as Europe did - but we simply allowed gangsters and thieves to loot their assets and destroy them. Reagan's presidency was a time of economic corruption, leveraged buyouts, S+L crisis, etc. just like the end of the Bush administration.

His presidential campaign

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 22:08 — Anonymous (not verified)

His presidential campaign was financed by Wall St. He immediately declared war on the middle class by firing the air traffic controllers and sent a message to corporate America saying do anything you see fit to your work force and my administration has your back. And he also sent a message to the middle class saying obey your masters or you'll wind up in the street. The entrenched wealth is so powerful and in such control today, as the middle class is crumbling as we speak. The goal of his Wall St. handlers has come to fruition in present day America.

Can these politicians be

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 23:00 — Anonymous (not verified)

Can these politicians be sued for dereliction of duty? They got what they ran for government: taxes for the wealthy. Mission accomplished and now they're going to sit on their hands and run out the clock.

It would be useful if

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 23:42 — Anonymous (not verified)

It would be useful if someone who, like this writer , dissects the bloody right so well, could also exercise his pen on ideas for how these extremists can be beaten and the government taken back from them. Yes it feels good to read these excoriations but they do no good beyond that. We need to find some understanding of why these folks are so effective with their nonsense, while we lose elections we ought to win.It may be that the great mass of voters are ignorant, but I doubt they are stupid. We are not connecting with them and they are getting the politicians they believe they want, and the politicians are acting as they should thereby.

"Can these politicians be

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 02:31 — jahf (not verified)

"Can these politicians be sued for dereliction of duty?"

Only if the people can stand to take the responsibility and punishment for dereliction of duty and culpable negligence in electing said corrupt politicians to office.

nice2blucky has it right.

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 03:10 — AnyMoose (not verified)

nice2blucky has it right. Progressive organizations and unions have to draw a line and make the Democrats our party with no corporate money or if the Democrats fail to clean up, make a Green/Labor party and dump the Democrats en masse. Members of the DFA, MoveOn, AFL-CIO, et.al., quit giving unconditional support to Democrats. Get together with the other organizations. Set a timeline. Stick to it.

Why do I have to see all of

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 08:09 — Anonymous (not verified)

Why do I have to see all of the facebook entries before I see anyone else s?

If the propaganda doesn't

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 08:11 — Anonymous (not verified)

If the propaganda doesn't work, the establishment has other options. The electronic voting machines have untraceable votes with secret "proprietary" software. The voting machine companies are controlled by those with strong corporate and Republican connections.

Maybe the other side could

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 08:49 — acme (not verified)

Maybe the other side could profit from watching the Republicans "throw red meat to the base". What we get is insults while the people we elected lose the farm in "bipartisan negotiations" and "move to the center", except that seems to mean move right rather than left, which is where they would need to go to get to the middle..
Sticking to your position, even if your position is a warm and fuzzy fantasy designed to further enrich the rich, seems to yield political benefits, while insisting on singing Kumbaya with a bunch of thugs who are picking your pocket, in a word, doesn't.

Having grown up in

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 09:02 — Anonymous (not verified)

Having grown up in California, and having witnessed Raygun's governorship there, I learned to despise the man. He threatened to shove a baseball bat up the rear end of the University of California Chancellor, for crissakes (Clark Kerr). Can you imagine any other politician saying something like that and getting away with it? No: because he already had wrapped himself in teflon then!

Non of this would be

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 10:11 — mysterioso (not verified)

Non of this would be possible if it weren't for the concerted effort to under-educate the American child. You don't hear the republicans complaining that 40 percent of high school graduates read on a 7th grade level. You don't hear republicans complaining that 20 percent of high school graduates can't find the United States on a map of the world. You don't hear republicans complaining about the fact that less and less kids have a chance to go to college each year. These things are what republicans count on to build their ignorant base. The mindless, the illiterate, the drooling-sports junkie-I've never read a book-six pack-bible thumping-god spewing-wife beating-beehive hair do-citizens of the good ole US of A.

mysterioso 2/10/11-1011:

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 12:05 — Anonymous (not verified)

mysterioso 2/10/11-1011: Probably the best comment here-to the point.Radical improvement to our school curriculum seems necessary to overcome what is being learned,or not!

To: Daniel Geery (Denial

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 15:15 — Jim (not verified)

To: Daniel Geery

(Denial Geery)

NITROUS OXIDE!

A Paraphase. hahhahahahah. Right.

http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10246

This article is as much an

Sun, 02/13/2011 - 11:15 — Victor Mascolo (not verified)

This article is as much an indictment of the capacity of the American people for self-government, as it is of Reagan personally. The man's popularity, then as well as now, was not limited to the Right Wing. Remember the "Reagan Democrats?" When the Left Wing intelligentia mocks Reagan it mocks the electorate that gave him two landslide victories in the past, and widely remembers him with respect to this day. Which leads us to the question: If average citizens are incapable of choosing decent leadership for themselves why not take the franchise away from us?

Reagan was a thug and a

Sun, 02/13/2011 - 22:59 — Anonymous (not verified)

Reagan was a thug and a liar. Homelessness grew enormously under Reagan, with 25% of that population Vietnam Veterans. He supported the Contras who rode through villages in Nicaragua machine gunning dead civilians and kidnapping young boys to serve against their will in their "freedom fighting"movement. He disgusts me. Thank God he is dead. Now if we can only climb out of the mess he left us.

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A Rich Fantasy Life

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