Done

The Republican Party is banding together, right now, to end insurance benefits, throwing millions of people to the dogs, and at the same time, without a blink of conscience, moving to stop all legislation unless very wealthy people get tax breaks forever, all while blathering absurdly and falsely about fiscal responsibility. The only conservative philosophy they hold is the philosophy of the con.

None of this is news.

For my part, the conversation with the opposition is over. 

When you elect to argue with a con man, you always lose. Without even basic regard for truth or an ability to agree on basic facts or on a social contract, you merely confer legitimacy on the grifter by treating him as a reasonable person by engaging in some sort of political discussion, a discussion which presumes, incorrectly, that both parties are interested in coming to a mutual agreement and understanding of what is true.

It was the regard for the truth and fairness on the part of everyone to the left of John Wayne- an actor at least capable of feeling guilt - that was very specifically exploited by the orchestrated campaign to discredit climate science - by presenting both sides as reasonable, it created a false equivalency, a balance with the thumb on the scale. 

This strategy is being used for virtually every argument in American political life. For the con man, the foot in the door, the beginning of the con, is always a victory. He doesn't need to prevail every time. He plays a percentage game. And he is backed by enormous huge and powerful companies, who give him the stake and take a cut.

The non-fascist wing of American politics - a substantial majority of the public, by the way, including a large number of registered Republicans, keeps getting rolled because it presumes, correctly, that most people are decent enough, and, incorrectly, that because the right is made of people they are also decent enough.

I don't know what the GOP is except an organization of grifters, working for contemporary grotesques of oil barons and their privileged personal associates. I am, for example, indifferent to the election of Lisa Murkowski vs. Joe Miller in Alaska.  That Miller is a out and out thug would have also made him a less effective tool. Only a few people can look at Miller and see a decent guy - Murkowski can get up and harm the American people every day she goes into work, and still appear to be a good person.

Until they magically grow an ear for truth, or something other than the most obvious forms and exclusive forms of their own group self-interest, I have nothing to say, and no time, for the sideshow barkers that call themselves conservatives. 

PS. I fear I slight side-show barkers. They have the excuse of needing to feed themselves.