Okay. I kept to myself all summer and didn't speak out about the total idiocy in Washington over the debt ceiling debate. I didn't comment on the total irrationality of the stock market as I wondered if anyone not already retired would reach that nirvana as equities tumbled and 401-k's went deeper underwater than a home in Las Vegas or Florida. But this weekend ended it for me.
The accepted wisdom is that the "right" or "conservative" movement is against big government and for individual freedom. The 10th Amendment, States' Rights, should reign supreme over the insidious creep of the federal government with its regulations and money squandering. If you believe this, I have a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan to sell you.
Case in point: censorship. Take a look at this link: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/the-neverending-campaign-to-ban-slaughterhouse-five/243525/#slide1
The list of books being banned at the bottom of the article is illuminating. Even a pathetic (my opinion---apologies to Bella's many fans) work like Twilight gets attention from those who would dictate our tastes.
Even more absurd is a school board banning Sherlock Holmes!!! Can you believe this:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/08/sherlock-holmes-banned-reading-lists-being-anti-mormon/41243/ What small government???
But the most glaring hypocrisy of the right is their stand on marriage. Newly-minted presidential candidate Rick Perry has been represented as the ultimate states' rights conservative. Once he even suggested secession as a solution to the over-reach of the federal government. Gotta wonder about that---it sure didn't work out in 1861. Now Perry, Michele Bachmann, and others of their ilk have trumpeted their support of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), ramrodded through by the homophobic Congress under Newt Gingrich and signed into law by Bubba Clinton. The current administration, much to their credit, has suspended the legal defense of this act as federal over-reach. Isn't it curious that the same argument is being used by the right to over-turn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), claiming it violates the 10th Amendment?? And DOMA doesn't?? What's the definition of "hypocrisy"?
