Jon Stewart Was Correct on Republicans’ Failure to Own What they Say They Believe in — regarding the 2013 Government Shutdown — Neo-Confederate Thinking Lacks the Old One’s Legitimate Claim to Martial Honor— and a Comment about Libertarianism’s Role in This Mess

© 2013 Peter Free

 

09 October 2013

 

 

You can tell a scalawag by the way it slithers

 

Republicans who shut the government down are trying to blame Democrats for the nation’s pain.  Republican Senator Ted Cruz, of fake filibuster fame, said:

 

This is [Democrat] Harry Reid’s shutdown.

 

The Daily Show last night showed a string of other Republican airheads parroting Cruz's evasion of responsibility.

 

That was too much for an exasperated Jon Stewart, who showed a clip of House Majority Leader John Boehner effectively admitting that he had reneged on a deal with Senator Reid (to avoid the shutdown) some months prior:

 

 

Look, you think ObamaCare’s a big enough threat to this country that you need to shut down the government over it?

 

Fine. Own it.

 

Don’t fart and point at the dog.

 

© 2013 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Malala Yousafzai, TheDailyShow.com (08 October 2013) (clip begins at 01:38 minutes into the video)

 

 

Comparing histories

 

Today’s Neo-Confederacy is remarkable for reviving the Old Confederacy’s obstinate lack of realism, during the Old South’s attempt to keep its reprehensible slavery system afloat during the 1860s.

 

What is different today is the Neo-Confederacy’s cowardice in metaphorically avoiding taking bullets for its misbegotten cause.  Thus, Cruz and folks’ evasion of responsibility for all things painful that they have intentionally initiated.

 

Where people once could point to the Confederate Gray as a symbol of martial honor — even if in defense of a morally indefensible culture — today’s Neo-Confederacy retains identical obstinacy and unrealism, but adds a pronounced yellow streak to its attempt to tear America down.

 

 

The moral? — Unrealism and malevolent cowardice are a contemptible combination

 

Unfortunately, Libertarianism trends that way, when the moral and environmental complexities — brought on by high human populations — overwhelm its customarily limited willingness to reason in regard to facts.