Nightmare in Amerika, and the Lesson for Canada

At first sight it couldn't be a more depressing sight, or more of a nightmare.

Team Mitch McConnell and his ghastly Republican tea baggers, seizing control of Congress, and promising to bring change to America.

Which has some progressives in that country wondering whether it's the end of irony.

Or the beginning of fascism. 

We’re seeing a powerful and continuing nationalism. We’re seeing supremacy of the military. We’re seeing the identification of “enemies” and scapegoats as a unifying cause. We’re seeing a controlled mass media. We’re seeing an obsession with national security. We’re seeing an obsession with crime and punishment. 

We’re seeing corporate power being protected. We’re seeing labor power being suppressed. We’re seeing disdain for human rights. We’re seeing disdain for intellectuals and the arts. We’re seeing rampant cronyism and corruption. We’re seeing a fraudulent electoral system.

Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late... Fascism. That’s what we’re seeing, as the final chapter of American democracy is being written.

Naturally, the right-wing media is exultant...



And of course here in Canada, our RepubliCons are celebrating wildly:

Good news for Canadian jobs & economy: it looks like the new US Senate will have the 60+ votes needed to ensure that Keystone XL is approved
— Jason Kenney ن (@kenneyjason) November 5, 2014

Because they know that the tea bagger Congress is sure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Especially now that the climate change denier James Inhofe will be in charge of the Senate Environment Committee. 

And like Kenney he prefers to get his facts from the Bible rather than from science:

Inhofe refuted climate change science in 2012 by citing the Bible. “[T]he Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.’ My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”

And that certainly is outrageous. But if I were the Cons I wouldn't be celebrating too soon.

Because Obama might still veto the pipeline, and with climate change becoming ever more threatening, and the U.S. overflowing with oil, might still snatch a legacy out of the jaws of defeat.

Secondly, if the tea baggers go wild, as even Ari Fleischer, Bush's former flak, fears they might. 



A conservative ideology will be a winning ideology if it’s presented in a manner that unifies and uplifts. Competition is healthy in all things, and that includes presidential politics. There is nothing wrong with a good ideological battle to vet and settle intra-party differences. But if Republicans engage in that fight in a manner that alienates large portions of a general electorate that will be out in full force in 2016, this week’s victory is sure to be fleeting.

And the Harper Cons are seen to be too chummy with those right-wing maniacs, it will cost them the votes of many Canadians. 

Who will be staring at that American horror show with their eyes wide open. And wondering whether it's still safe to live here.

And whether we'll be beheaded or bombed in our beds...



Which should just about finish off Great Strong Closet Leader.

But in the meantime, there is one very serious lesson we can learn from what just happened in the crazy neighbour's house next door.

The election result was determined as much by those who DID vote, as by those who DIDN'T. 

Older voters helped propel Republicans to sweeping victories Tuesday in Senate and gubernatorial races nationwide, according to exit polls from NBC News. The disparity between the under-30 and over-60 was the widest it's been in a decade, those polls found. The seniors comprised 37 percent of the electorate; young people made up 12 percent.

The old voted, the young didn't. The same thing could happen here. So our side needs to be prepared to carpet bomb both groups, and convince them both to change their bad habits.

Or we'll all end up in the same bad place...



And if we do that, scare both groups into paying attention. I think this latest Made in America nightmare could actually prove quite helpful.

By making the Cons look even more like tea baggers. If that's possible eh?

And reminding us that they're both CRAZY.

So it will be a horror show.

But it will have a happy ending...



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