Friday, August 17, 2012

And Kim Jong Un is a Champion of Individual Liberty

In his rollout speech last Saturday, Ryan got all philosophical about this place called "America":
But America is more than just a place…it’s an idea. It’s the only country founded on an idea....

This idea is founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination and government by consent of the governed.
"Consent of the governed"? Are you fucking shitting me?

Do I even need to point out to anyone that these are the people who are doing their damnedest to make sure broad segments of the governed never get the chance to consent?

Or that in their heart of hearts they believe (though only a few are honest stupid enough to admit it) that the governed shouldn't be allowed to decide on their state's representation in Washington?

Or that in Michigan, they've put entire cities, millions of the governed, under the dictatorial rule of unelected "managers"?

Or that all of the above is just nibbling around the edges? That their entire program, their raison d'etre, is a massive shift in power from democratically accountable institutions to plutocratic interests that answer to no one--an agenda in which the consent of the governed is no more than a niggling obstacle to be brushed away wherever possible?

"Consent of the governed"? I mean, forget about Hitch and Dawkins and that whole crew; if a Republican can utter the phrase "consent of the governed" without being instantaneously reduced to smoking ash by a lightning bolt of unmistakeably celestial origin, that's proof enough for me that There Is No God.

5 comments:

Victor said...

I'm actually surprised by all of this voter suppression effort.

It all seems kind of ham-handed, and over-the-top.

Hell, in the crucial states, between the Republican State Legislatures, Governors, and Secretaries of State, and electronic voting machines they could order, with the possibility of some phony recounts, why bother with trying to prevent people from voting?

As Stalin once said, "In any election, it's not the poeple who vote that count - it's the people who count the vote!"

I believe we've already seen this movie in Florida in 2000, and Ohio, Michigan, and New Mexico in 2004.
After Bush, McCain had to have been neck and neck with Obama for them to do what they did in the prior two elections, without having all-out feckin' riots in the streets.

This year is closer. I'm surprised they're not resorting to what worked before.

Having said all of that, voter suppression is evil and despicable, and only people desperate, knowing that their last chance for long-term power is about to disappear, would resort to that.

And, I'm sure there's worse coming if they DO win!
There's nothing that shouldn't be done to KEEP power, once you're cheated to get it!

BH said...

Well, Tom, it all depends on whom you mean by "the governed". If you define that to mean "such electorate as remains after we exclude those we deem unworthy or unreliable", then it all makes sense. The remainder of us would be not "the governed", but rather "the managed".

Libby Spencer said...

What BH said...

Tom Hilton said...

The governed vs. the managed...I like that. Yup, that's about it.

Victor said...

And then, we'd be mis-managed, at that.

These motherfeckers can't manage, either.

We'd be fired, laid-off, or, YIKES! - worse...

All they know, is to buy low, sell high, and get rid of people in between, all to maximize their profits.