Wednesday, July 01, 2015

From the Mobile Press-Register

I'm going to copy and paste this article by Clete Wetli from today's Mobile Press-Register.  But you can click here and read it on the newspaper's web site.  It's definitely worth reading.
In the aftermath of Charleston, McKinney, and the Baltimore riots, America is finally realizing the true damage caused by far right religious conservatives and the Republican Party who have spent decades fueling and manipulating the hatred of angry white men.
They are angry they lost the "War of Northern Aggression". They are angry that some people get help from the government. They are angry that 'Mericuh has a black President. They are angry that people have sex for recreation instead of procreation. They are angry that gays are ruining their third marriage. Heck, they are angry that lawn darts were recalled and that women think they should be paid the same as men... in the army! 
The angry white men are just outraged that poor people may be getting government subsidized cheese and, now, the internet... those cheddar-eating lazy bums and their Obama-phones! (Well, except for the fact that government subsidized cell phones were spawned during the Reagan Administration... it's still Obama's fault!)
They are so angry that Obama just got to say the "n-word" publicly and they can't. They are angry that they have to be politically correct and angry that they don't really know what that means. They are angry that they just can't fly their confederate flags without having to explain it to a bunch of college educated lefties who don't know squat about heritage or that "Gone With The Wind" was actually a documentary.
They are angry when they have to talk about global warming when it just snowed last January.
All this anger started bubbling into a boil as a reaction to the counterculture of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll that began in the 1960's and 1970's. By the 1980's, conservatives were sure that America was doomed to moral bankruptcy and that it could only be saved by channeling the political energy of angry white men.
Thus, the myth of "the welfare queen". Thus, the myth of rampant government waste, fraud, and abuse. Thus, the myth that the government is coming for your guns.
Perhaps, the biggest myth of all is that American Exceptionalism is somehow guaranteed by prayer in schools or giving tax breaks to "job creators" on Wall Street, rather than creating a level economic playing field that facilitates upward financial mobility.
Yet, the angry white men are finally reaping what they have sown. Even in Alabama, Governor Bentley has begun to realize that the state needs federal dollars to survive. Bentley has even figured out that the people of Alabama need healthcare, but he hasn't quite figured out how to expand Medicaid and blame Obama simultaneously.
The angry white men are realizing that their beloved Republican Party is dying off and that there is a pronounced insanity in screaming, "Get your government hands off my Medicare!" Yes, the angry white men are even starting to consider whether having guns in church and at the ball park is really such a great idea after all.
Perhaps, South Carolina Senator and Presidential long-shot contender, Lindsey Graham said it best for the Republicans when he opined, ""The demographics race we're losing badly, we're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term."
Good. The rest of America is getting tired of dealing with angry white men and their obsession with racism and class division. It's long past time to elevate the debate about our nation's problems above the very low bar that seems to be set by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter.
It'll be a wonderful day in America when the last angry white guy cries, "I've fallen and I can't get up."


About the writerClete Wetli is a liberal, political activist and works as the Executive Director for First Stop, Inc. His opinions are solely his own and not representative of First Stop, Inc. or the Madison County Democratic Party. He can be reached at decaturclete@gmail.com.

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