- Stay Connected
Connect With Us
Don’t Count On Anything This Election Cycle
08/28/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Today, Glenn Beck held a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, and despite what many people are trying to say, there were, perhaps, fifty thousand people there to actually see Beck and Sarah Palin. The majority of the people there were there as tourists. According to one eyewitness, beyond the end of the Vietnam Memorial, the majority of people were there to just see the normal touristy stuff.
In a sense, the entire thing is very realistically problematic for the Republican Party. Despite the fact that many generic ballot polls are showing Republicans sweeping the House and maybe the Senate in November, they probably will not because, in a very real way, there are three Parties functioning in this election and not two. The Tea Party Republicans seem to be not as likely to come out and vote for a Mainstream Republican candidate, and vice versa. In other words, many Mainstream Republicans will balk at voting for Sharron Angle, Rand Paul and Joe Miller while many Tea Party Republicans may balk at coming out to vote for Carly Fiorino and Mark Kirk.
Much of the furor that is going on over the Tea Party is fueled by billionaires David and Charles Koch. Their father founded the John Birch Society, which has been seen as nothing but a conspiracy laden group for the last fifty years. Their ideology borders on being pure anarchist, but they rarely ever say that. Much of what gets espoused is not about keeping the community of the United States intact, but rather making sure that the government fails and that the rich become very rich and everyone else is poor. But, I digress.
The Beck rally is actually something of a wonderful and ironic example of what the Tea Party is in reality. Rather than being a huge rally, it is just a loud voice in the see of babble. The Tea Party is the loudest voice in the room, but that does not mean it is nearly the majority, or even a fraction of a majority.
Right now, Tea Party candidates have only managed to win big in certain areas, and mostly in the South and South West. Meanwhile, in many places up North and along the West Coast, the Tea Party candidates are not winning, and sometimes not even showing up.
In Kentucky, the Republicans are actually at risk of losing a seat as Rand Paul pushes this neo-anarchist belief that the government should get out of everything, including mine safety because ‘who would work at an unsafe mine?’ Well, the people who have two choices- an unsafe mine or starvation. In Nevada, Sharron Angle is at risk of losing big because of crazy ideas like privatizing Social Security. What she never says is that this would end up obliterating Social Security and the safety net that many people require in older age, and for many on disability. People who would be starving to death without it. In Alaska, Joe Miller is busy pushing the idea of ending unemployment insurance.
People have been pushing this idea that the Republicans are going to win and win big in November, but the reality is not so simple. The generic ballots might be saying that they will, but the generic ballot polls are probably misleading.
There is an old caveat to polling about Congress. Everyone hates Congress, but they love their Congressional Delegation. Asking about the generic ballot is wonderful, but when you get into the actual races, it is a lot less certain. Somewhere between the Tea Party, the Social Conservatives and the Mainline Republicans all being at each others’ throats, I would not lay odds on anything at this point. A lot of how the Midterm Elections play out depends not upon the polls, but upon the Republican Party being able to unify, and that seems elusive at best.
7 Responses to Don’t Count On Anything This Election Cycle
Leave a Reply
Socialize
For A Gay Friendly Get Away
blog advertising is good for you
Now Trending
Ohio Republicans Bring Back Attack On Planned Parenthood
Maggie Gyllenhaal Enjoys Sharing Sex Toys With Friends
Bank of America to Reimburse Gay Couples for Higher Health-Care Taxes
Senator Lautenberg Calls For National Law Requiring Anti-Bullying Policies In All Colleges
Christian School Pulls Ohio Man's Alum Page After They Find Out He's Gay
Maddow Exposes FOX's Latest Manufactured Scandal
Conventional Wisdom Wrong Again
Islamists Hijacking Conflict In Syria, Bolstering Al-Assad
National Prayer Breakfast Ignores David Kato's Death, Vigil Called For New York City
Adam Lambert: Music Comes First, Then Fashion
Rad Geek
October 13, 2010 at 6:56 pm
You write: “Rand Paul pushes this neo-anarchist belief that the government should get out of everything,”
We anarchists don’t believe that “government should get out of everything.” We believe that government should cease to exist, and take capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and all other forms of class oppression straight to hell with it. Rand Paul is as much of an anarchist as any other “limited government” conservative Republican, which is to say, not at all: he wants to trim some parts of government here and there, while leaving in place all the violent functions of government that prop up existing forms of oppression (in particular government militaries, government police, government prisons, and government borders; he is especially fond of government border laws and using government to attack Latino immigrants). Anarchism is an entirely different, far more radical proposition.
You write: “… including mine safety because ‘who would work at an unsafe mine?’ Well, the people who have two choices- an unsafe mine or starvation.”
I certainly have no wish to speak for Rand Paul. But speaking on behalf of anarchists, (“neo-” or otherwise), I will say that the traditional anarchist approach to this question is to give people more choices — in particular, not setting up a political apparatus and hope that workers will somehow be able to control it more effectively than corporate lobbyists; but rather organizing grassroots mutual aid networks and fighting, rank-and-file unions that allow mine-workers to effectively stand up to the bosses — so that they do not have to depend on the mercy of the bosses or the solicitude of politically-appointed bureaucrats to gain a safe and humane livelihood for themselves.
Bridgette P. LaVictoire
October 13, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Trust me, I understand the differences. I also know that Rand Paul is about as non-anarchist as they come.
Rad Geek
October 13, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Fair enough. But then why describe Rand Paul’s beliefs, or the beliefs of other “small-government” conservatives, as “neo-anarchist,” when their beliefs and goals are exactly the opposite of what anarchists propose?
Bridgette P. LaVictoire
October 13, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Most probably because I slipped and should have said ‘psudo-anarchist’. Occasionally my brain goes a bit off kilter on me.
John S
August 29, 2010 at 6:45 am
From your lips to Gods ears. I hope your right.
Bill
August 29, 2010 at 2:01 pm
You have no idea. But keep telling yourself that it was just 50,000 and the rest were tourist. Just wait till November.
The funny thing if this was some far left march the news would be proclaiming a million people. But since it was looked at as some right winged event you have people minimizing it with the ridiculous 87,000 count. To funny.
Bridgette P. LaVictoire
August 29, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Bill, Bill, Bill. . .I hate to break it to you, but the only people who seem to be doing any kind of fibbing are you and yours. Still, go ahead and tell yourself that you’re bigger than anyone else. I don’t think you actually read what I said either. All you did was discount what i said because you, somehow, believe that there were more people there than actually were.