Via edroso, I give you a classic example of projection on steroids, Ben Shapiro. Read this, and then ask yourself why “batshit crazy” is not in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, because it bleeping well should be.
Speaking of which — Jeff Tiedrich of Smirking Chimp Tweeted this yesterday —
The premise for Breaking Batshit: a science fiction writer becomes increasingly convinced that Obama is an fascist dictator. #OrsonScottCard
— Jeff Tiedrich (@jefftiedrich) August 16, 2013
Made me laugh. Click here if you don’t get the Orson Scott Card joke.
Anne Laurie found an article by Ralh Benko titled, For The Republicans To Win, Libertarians And Conservatives Must Find Common Ground.
Benko’s brilliant idea? He wants libertarians and conservatives to rally under the banner of LGBT discrimination, because (Benko says) extending marriage and other rights to unstraight people violates religious freedom.
Whether or not one agrees with orthodox religious values … the adherents are legitimately, and constitutionally, entitled to have, to practice, and to press for the State to reflect their values. Libertarians and conservatives can disagree while taking a principled stand for the legitimacy, under the Constitution, of one another’s position. Even though many libertarians fully approve of gay marriage they can, with authenticity, also honor the First Amendment guarantee of “… no law …prohibiting the free exercise [of religion].â€
I’ll pause awhile to let that sink in. Yeah, definitely, standing up for discrimination against gays represents the path to victory in the 21st century. Not.
And once again, righties do like to pretend the establishment clause isn’t there, right before the free exercise clause. It’s so damn inconvenient.
For some reason I haven’t given up trying to understand how Libertarians think, so I’ve been looking into some of their sacred texts recently–Von Mises, Hayek, Ayn Rand. And I’m increasingly convinced that they’re just downright un-American. And I do use the term “un-American” advisedly, knowing its sordid history, but really what do you say about people who preach the horrors of collectivism in a country whose real motto is E PLURIBUS UNUM? Whose Constitution begins “We the People”?
If they were really consistent in their philosophy, and if they understood American history as well as they think they do, Libertarians should reject the Constitution altogether rather than splitting hairs over what it does and doesn’t permit. It’s not a coincidence that Patrick Henry, one of their greatest heroes, was a staunch anti-federalist during the debates over the Constitution.
And then you’ve got The Road to Serfdom, which I’ve been trying to make sense of. The Anti-Capitalist Mentality was easily dispensed with, since it’s just deranged garbage, but The Road to Serfdom is at least a little more subtle.
The problem is that I’ve read about half the book, and Hayek still hasn’t really said anything. Basically he attributes all the horrors of Nazism to–you guessed it–collectivism, and he tells you he’s arrived at this conclusion after close observation and rigorous analysis, and then he keeps saying it over and over in different ways.
No details, and he doesn’t get into anything else whatsoever that might have had anything to do with the rise of Nazism like, I don’t know, maybe the defeat of Germany in WWI and the terms of the Versailles treaty? I guess that kind of thing isn’t necessary once you’ve figured out that collectivism is the root of all evil.
I mean, Paul Ryan is known to be a fan of both Ayn Rand and the Green Bay Packers, which just doesn’t make sense. If he really hated collectivism, he should hate the NFL with a passion.
Libertarianism, at least to me, is a word meant to disguise certain traits of basic human nature. Traits that most of us outgrow somewhere in our teen years – if not, ideally, before.
Saying, “I’m a Libertarian,” sounds so much nicer than saying, “I’m a greedy, selfish, hedonistic sociopath, who likes pot (and some pharmaceuticals), but who wouldn’t like my precious ass being ass shot in a war.”
But Benko might be on to something.
Like Libertarians, Christians who follow “The Prosperity Gospel,” are greedy, selfish, hedonistic – within the confines of their ‘religious’ beliefs (you don’t get a “quiver-full,” unless one, or both, of the parties involved, likes to schtupp!) – sociopaths.
A Libertarian, being, basically a Libertine, shouldn’t be anti-gay.
But, like our Conservative Christians, our Libertarians, on top of wanting to pull the ladder up after they’ve climbed up a few rungs, hate the thought of someone, anyone, having a good time, somewhere, anywhere – especially without their approval.
And Ben Shapiro is finally where he belongs – in the (not-so) Breitbart basement outhouse – which is the only place lower than Tucker Carlson’s in a skyscraper made up of outhouses.
“Trickle-down,” at it finest!
(Not-so) Breitbart’s site, has the most useless and stinkiest sh*t on the planet.
LOL!!!
Sometimes I think people on the Right read the Establishment clause with the interpretation that Congress is powerless to stop the establishment of a state religion. It “shall make no law” with respect to an establishment of religion, so if the righties want to go ahead and declare their religion is The One, then they are free to do so.
(Yeah, I do have to stop trying to make sense of the way they think, it is bad for my brain. But I so want to believe there is method behind their madness… it feels better than admitting the awful truth that they are just insane.)
Meanwhile, could I interest you in my new religion that considers conservatives and libertarians as a form of spiritually immature human who should be kept in special containment areas where they can be assisted toward Enlightenment by limited access to material possessions and frequent exposure to cruel mockery? I demand that I be able to have the government reflect my religious values and will feel oppressed until the relocations of Righties to Kansas have begun.
C U N D Gulag and biggerbox – I’m with both of you!
The argument by Benko is that Libertarians should support candidates who are sponsors of the religious social agenda (which has a fierce minority following) even if it violates the Libertarian principle of minimal governmental interference in personal business (like sex) because otherwise liberals and moderates of tolerance constitute a clear majority.
Specically, it means they want Libertarians to endorse Frothy after a nasty campaign when Rand Paul strikes out. The tea leaves.. as Benko reads them… is that a frothy religious candidate will prevail in the primaries and get crushed in the general election if there is even a slight schism in the GOP party.
He’s right.
Damn, my religion says to discriminate severely against dumb people, so no more gubmint money to go to any Republican in name or action!
Great comments today with special shouts to biggerbox and CU! Bigger box at first glance it looked like you said “frequent exposure to cruel monkey” and I really liked that idea…but mockery works too. Damned old dyslexic eyes.
And as for the Shapiro thing…wow that really should have come with a better warning and a disclaimer about how the Maha blog is NOT responsible when the reader starts flopping on the floor.
I wonder if Shapiro learned all that wisdom on his own? My mistake was treating the Mickey Mouse Club as just entertainment. How was I to know it was an educational primer for shaping my own reality.
And Benko is pure word salad. Saying something while saying nothing just to make it appear like you’re saying something. One of these days his lips are gonna get worn out and he’s gonna have a brand new asshole. Like no choice is a choice?
If you’ all really want to read something stupid read Shapiro’s open letter to American Jews, summary: Most of you have money so you should be republicans! I mean really shouldn’t there be a rule that you have to be at least thirty five to be a political pundit, what can this boy of privilege know about anything?