Baraka_Guru

This is interesting. We get the same pattern we've been seeing since the beginning of the Obama administration, this elitism vs. populism. Pelosi is some kind of west coast liberal poster child, Obama is some kind of Chicago backroom politico, etc., etc. They're destroying America with their strong-arming of anti-American values, the republic is at risk, they're out of touch with the American people, blah, blah, blah.

I never really analyzed it, but I always felt the general perception of Pelosi was a bit fabricated. Post-Bush Republicans have done nothing constructive except where they wish to simultaneously mislead and pander to the public with cheap populist rhetoric. "Pelosi must go because she is a complete failure." "Obama is a complete failure, so we must take back the House."

But to get there you must create narratives that people will not only buy but will relate to others around them. Since Republicans have nothing to go on after Bush self-destructed what was left of Republican integrity, they must fill the vacuous void with something that will build a bridge between a mythical Reagan and the next presidential election. So they raise Reagan's spirit and seek to infuse it into a Republican hopeful, all the while they fight the Democrats, keeping them at bay using any method necessary. Fiction works well.

And so here on TFP, the question of "real American values" has come up. What sort of fictions have the Republicans been telling about that concept? Aren't real American values simply living free, working hard, and following your dreams? I'm pretty sure Pelosi and Obama are the epitome of that.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot