Staff Blog
MUST READ: Gene Healy/Will Wilkinson on the Not-Ground Zero Not-Mosque: Is the GOP playing the Tea Partiers for saps, or do they believe their own horseshit?
Yes, this goddamn mosque faux-controversy is still making headlines. But let's move beyond the "issue" itself, because the "issue" is verifiably idiotic. Rather, let's talk motives.
A guy from the Washington Examiner, Gene Healy, argues that the right-wing rabble is being played by the Republican establishment. It's an interesting argument:
All this posturing is getting tiresome. The "mosque" controversy isn't about property rights or religious freedom. It's a bogus issue seized by the GOP establishment to distract the rank-and-file from the party's reluctance to shrink government.
From all the caterwauling, you'd think the Park51 group planned to fashion a mock Kaaba out of trade center ashes and mount it atop the wreckage. But you can't see Ground Zero from the Park51 site -- it's separated by two canyonlike city blocks, occupying the former site of a Burlington Coat Factory. "Hallowed ground," indeed.
…
You don't need to buy amateur theologian George W. Bush's line that Islam is "a religion of peace" to recognize that the Park51 controversy is a red herring. With Muslims making up 0.8 percent of the U.S. population, dhimmitude seems a more remote threat than national bankruptcy.
In a recent (pre-campaign?) appearance in Des Moines, Iowa, Newt Gingrich denounced Obama's "secular socialist machine," but, when asked, he declined to specify federal programs he would cut.
You see, cutting government is hard, and often unpopular. No surprise, then, that Boehner would rather play urban planner than embrace Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's "road map" for shrinking middle-class entitlements.
Faced with difficult choices, the alleged party of small government always retreats to the lazy politics of Kulturkampf. Hey, that guy's a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU! Ask me about my flag-burning amendment!
John Cornyn, R-Texas, head of GOP efforts to take back the Senate this fall, plans to make the Park51 "mosque" a major campaign issue. It's all too typical: Feed the rubes conservative identity politics, and, with luck, they'll be too distracted to notice you've grafted a Republican "K Street Project" atop the same old edifice of Big Government.
The establishment Right wants to play the Tea Party movement for suckers. It remains to be seen whether they'll play along.
Which brings us to Will Wilkinson, a fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute,who counters thusly:
I don’t find this believable. This idiotic foofaraw could be a distraction only if the GOP rank-and-file actually cared more about the size of government than the cultural politics of American identity. But they don’t. It’s not even close. American conservatism is a movement consumed by protecting and asserting a certain fabricated conception of the traditional American way of life against imaginary enemies.
…
I approve of what Gene’s trying to do here rhetorically, but the fact is that complaining about Muslims and keeping holy the memory of 9/11 and Ground Zero — the legitimizing altar of aggressive American imperialism — is a direct manifestation of contemporary conservatism’s essence. If it’s not the twitchily bellicose identity politics of self-righteous middle-class white Americans, it’s a distraction. Gene graciously lets the rank-and-file off the hook by blaming all this tiresome dim-witted chest-thumping on “the GOP establishment.” But I’m afraid in this case the establishment is just nervously along for the ride.
I lean toward Wilkinson's interpretation, based on the political and cognitive science research I've seen. Namely, modern conservatism, especially movement conservatism, is predominantly oriented with authoritarian values and the preservation of the existing social order, which is, let's face it, largely favorable to relatively well-to-do white folks (hence the undercurrent of racism in the Tea Party), who figure that since they made it, seemingly without government help, so can everybody else, and if they can't, that's too bad. The antipathy toward "big government" is, as Wilkinson alludes to, really just a manifestation of this broader perspective. So — and to boil several books on the subject down to a sentence — the movement conservatives’ obsession with Park51 is part and parcel of their supposed opposition to small government. It all comes from the same cognitive source (really, read Lakoff's books; he explains it much better than I can).
But Healy is right, too, at least to some degree: For the hapless, anti-intellectual GOP establishment, which is attempting to grab power despite the vacuity of its ideas, the scary Muslims certainly presents a good rallying cry two months before the elections, and plays on the fear of and loathing toward Barack Obama that many conservatives possess, as well as the sense that “their” country is changing, and not to their benefit, which is why they want it back.
In both cases, I think there's an overestimation of the difference between the conservative elite and the rabble — the assumption being that the elites know better, but they're either using this issue to gain power (Healy) or being dragged along with the current (Wilkinson). Certainly, in the case of charlatans like Gingrich and opportunists like Pawlenty, they're right. My sense, though, is that the establishment has been so co-opted by the rabble, either because they're dependent on them to energize campaigns (Cornyn, Boehner), or because they've been thrust into the spotlight by these groups (Palin, DeMint, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, etc.) and really believe this shit.
So maybe it's not an either/or. Maybe it's both.
Your thoughts?
Howard Dean is now AGAINST the mosque http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/18/dean …in addition to Harry Reid, most NY liberals, and the 9/11 families.
Mosque controversy gets even crazier: Michael Bloomberg accuses Nancy Pelosi of being Un-American! “Is Nancy Pelosi Un-American? Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s bombshell accusation against the House speaker”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437541772521952.html?mod=asia_opinion
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG ACCUSES NANCY PELOSI OF BEING UN-AMERICAN The Associated Press reported last month: “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood.” The Washington Post’s reporter Greg Sargent swung into action and obtained these comments from Nancy Pelosi’s office: “I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that ‘We agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.’ . . .” Therefore, since Nancy Pelosi wants transparency about the mosque funding, but Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate the mosque, Bloomberg is accusing Pelosi of being un-American!!!!!
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG ACCUSES NANCY PELOSI OF BEING UN-AMERICAN The Associated Press reported last month: “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood.” The Washington Post’s reporter Greg Sargent swung into action and obtained these comments from Nancy Pelosi’s office: “I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that ‘We agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.’ . . .” Therefore, since Nancy Pelosi wants transparency about the mosque funding, but Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate the mosque, Bloomberg is accusing Pelosi of being un-American!!!!!
Thanks to the upcoming World Basketball Festival, we now get a “USA” Air Jordan 2010 Team. It seems as if more people like the Air Jordan 2010 Team than the original Air Jordan 2010 because of the windowless side panels. I’m not one of those people who likes the team better; I think the original
Nike Shoes 2010 Shoes looks much better.Since this jordan Shoes Team is made for the USA team, the colorway should be clear. White can be seen on the side panels, toe, shoe laces, tongue, part of the midsole and the entire outsole. Navy blue covers the toe, heel, inner lining and above the midsole. Red accents appear on the tongue, toe, heel, lace panels and the midsole. The sneaker is constructed of perforated white leather with larger perforations placed on the side panels.
“…modern conservatism, especially movement conservatism, is predominantly oriented with authoritarian values and the preservation of the existing social order, which is, let’s face it, largely favorable to relatively well-to-do white folks (hence the undercurrent of racism in the Tea Party), who figure that since they made it, seemingly without government help, so can everybody else, and if they can’t, that’s too bad.” Sort of, not really. The GOP is a coalition of different interests like the democratic party. Generally, the GOP is dominated by the cultural conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and national security conservatives…depending on the times, the emphasis may be more significant in one area relative to the others.
Billman – if it is such a faux controversy, why is the former DNC chairman, Howard Dean, and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, against the ground zero mosque?
People believe all kinds of horseshit, apparently.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/19/obama_muslim_poll
John – so you’re saying Howard Dean and Harry Reid are horse s h i t believers? That’s very mean-spirited and insensitive.
STOP THE MOSQUE! http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=mjGJPPRD3u0&vq=medium
[...] else gives a shit what he thinks — to weigh in on this not-mosque at not-Ground Zero nontroversy we and everyone else have been following for a little while. And, as always seems to happen with Santorum, a guy [...]
[...] Jeffrey Billman пишет: Namely, modern conservatism, especially movement conservatism, is predominantly oriented with authoritarian values and the preservation of the existing social order, which is, let’s face it, largely favorable to relatively well-to-do white folks ….. LGBTQ, Mind/Body, Museums/Exhibits, Music, Classical, Folk/World, Jazz/Blues, Rock/Pop, Open Mic, Karaoke, Performance, Performing Arts, Cabaret, Dance, Opera, Theater, Readings/Book Signings, Repertory Film, Shopping/Style … [...]