And now we get serious

It's hard to know what to think about the political life of our country.  I think it's all too easy for those of us who celebrated the results of the last major election cycle to be complacent, especially since it's hard to find any coherent or "compelling" narrative within the right-wing that might galvanize or spur us into action.  At the same time, it's easy to contemplate the relative fragility of our nation, economically, politically, socially, internationally, et cetera.  So while our preference would be for more aggressive policy-making, especially in the realms of energy, climate change, environmental protection, and especially civil rights, I think we also need to remember what is at stake this fall.  To be frank, the stakes are more Michele Bachmanns and John Larsons.  Last week, she claimed that Obama is turning America into a nation of slaves.  Meanwhile, Rep. Larson famously apologized to BP for being shaken-down by the Congress after they succeeded in (to quote Wait Wait) "turning the Gulf into the world's largest Jiffy Lube."  And a large win also means more wind in the sails of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and the gang.

The Republican Party, a party who have, in the aggregate, drifted so far from their founding principles that it's hard to think of today's Neo-Conservatives as true Eisenhower or Lincoln Republicans (a heritage they readily claim, by the way), is highly volatile.  Their Chairman, Michael Steele, is under siege - most recently for claiming that the war in Afghanistan was a war of Obama's choosing.  Many right-wing congressmen are torn between historical allegiances (to big banks, big oil, and big business) and the recent, and rather obvious, revelations of largess, excess, and appallingly little concern for the societies in which these companies operate (Rep. Larson?). 

So, as the Tea Party and the Grizzly Moms and the Restoring Honor Rally folks make more noise, I feel some concern about the things they're saying.  It is clearly easier to dismiss Glenn and Sean and Rush and Sarah and the rest, rather than listen to what they preach.  But then I read a column today that pulled-together a large collection of some particularly horrifying propaganda from some of the right-wing media and political leaders.

It was written by Tim Wise, who is an author, most recently of Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity.  And his blog post at the The Red Room is simply amazing.

Black Power's Gonna Get You Sucka: Right-Wing Paranoia and the Rhetoric of Modern Racism

Adjectives to describe my reaction to this article are at once plentiful and inadequate.  It's appalling and sobering and infuriating and depressing.  But, perhaps you'll find it inspiring?  Read, please.  Then share.