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Take a good look at this image. It’s Live_Liberty’s Twitter page and he uses Obama painted in white as his avatar (image of himself, near the top left.) Apparently Pennsylvania’s Doug loves white skin and feels the need to paint Obama in the familiar color.
Twitter is a wonderful, social networking tool. I can see Doug is “connected” with USA’s Francisco D’Anconia, St. Cloud, Minnesota’s Leo Pusateri, Michigan’s Eric Ball (Michigan Tech, studying Chemical Engineering), San Francisco’s Stacy Joyce Kennedy, Texas’s Walker of Crags, and Virginia’s BowlmeOverVa. Francisco describes himself as:
[A] Member of the underground conservative resistance.
How deep does this network run? Turns out a lot of them know a lot of them, but to what extent can’t be figured out without really watching for a while.
I’ve been mulling this over, exchanging a few tweets, and testing the waters… I’ve decided these things bring them together:
1. They all failed civics class.
2. Many of them are sensationalists, looking for attention
3. They bleat and baaaah worse than the average Joe
4. Many of them worry about race and superiority
5. Some are f ‘ing nuts.
I feel like we’re already at war. Should we direct attention to the cause? It’s too bad these people don’t understand the importance of opportunity. We’re all in trouble if the middle and lower classes don’t have the opportunity to prosper.
Our government is trying to protect our ability to do just that… to prosper. It’s also trying to avoid another great depression. Another depression would mean both you and I would suffer no matter how resourceful or self-sustaining we are. We know from the 1930’s that everyone is tied together. We all would bottom out, except the extremely rich.
I love the idea that I can become rich. So let’s be clear: The government’s efforts aren’t a war on the rich but rather the creation of opportunity and a leveling of the playing field. The government isn’t trying to establish monetary “equality” where we all make the same amount of money and are told what jobs to do (Communism, which sucks, as the world knows). It’s trying to protect us from unfairness in the market. We have to be able to play.
The bottom line is that we are seeing moves to guarantee regulated Capitalism. Some will continue to fail and some will prosper. Hopefully it all is dependent on hard work, and we have safety nets for those that need it.
I would venture a guess that most of these “conservative” undergrounders would suffer if we fell into a depression. So, they fight against help for themselves.
I know we need Jeffersons to compromise with the Hamiltons. I am a Hamilton. Believe it or not, though, I also worry about too much governmental control. I haven’t seen a loss of our control, though, and I watch the bills as they are passed. I am still in control of the government. I believe that I lose more control if my opportunity to prosper declines.
If we take a look at the serious argument being brought forth by these “conservative resistence members”, we can see areas to address:
1. Personal liberty and safety, are we safe?
2. Regulated Capitalism vs. Socialism, what is the difference?
3. Racism, and what the average person can do about it
4. Fear and fear mongering. That tactic has been used so much it might be the cause of our decline. Those fighting for the “true America” won’t like what will happen when we boil over.
5. New social networking and how to connect, detect, and gain.
6. Hate is on the rise, and it shouldn’t be combated with more hate. It has to be dealt with, though.
7. Democracy involves our participation. What can the government do, and what is it not doing enough of…
etc.
A very large PR effort can combat this movement before it gets out of hand and people get sucked into the cult. Republicans probably can’t fix this on their own, and so Dems will have to get involved. Let’s work on this without causing a PR boon for these Republican extremists. Any good news about the government, stimulus package spending, economy and etc. are our best weapons. We can combat the alternative message without drawing a parallel to the other side.
Oh yes, and don’t forget to love your neighbor. Forget the hate. Christians ought to understand that as Jesus IS love.
The Constitution talks about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. I am most happy when everyone gets along.
updated 8/8/09 at 12:34
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@Brad Northenscold – Brad said: You [Holly] wrote: “I don’t want an equalization of outcomes.” I’ll repeat my contention that YOU will judge the success of the government’s efforts to equalize opportunities by measuring outcomes. (IF for no other reason than it’s a helluva lot easier than trying to define & measure opportunities.)
Thanks for making me be specific. I like your style. In that instance, by outcome I meant prosperity. I don’t want us all to be rich or all to be poor.
We can look at the average to see how well things are going. Unemployment in Minnesota is 8.2 %, foreclosures are terribly high, etc. If it were only me that made the mistake of putting my money in real estate, it would be easy and believable for you to say there is lot of opportunity. But it’s more than my feeling, it’s a lot of people’s experience.
Yes, we have laws regulating Capitalism, but in the last years before Obama (Clinton included) several laws were relaxed. Do you know what a NINA is? Does that SOUND like a good idea? Probably, there should have been better regulation protecting me, the homeowner.
Things are looking up though. Stimulus efforts have made a difference. Yes?
On to health care reform and we’ve really helped small businesses. But, personally, I don’t see a reduction in overall cost by adding Public Option… unless timely care makes THAT huge of a difference. I suppose going to the emergency room is a LOT MORE costly than the general practicioner who helps before problems get out of hand…