Want to see a specific example of how toxic the polarized political climate presently is in the United States? There is a video from a Republican from Missouri, Eric Greitens, who ran for the Senate last year, in which he "joked" to viewers about obtaining what he called ‘RINO hunting permits.’ Just in case you don't know, RINO stands for "Republicans In Name Only," which is to say Republicans who, in some form or other, have dissented and/or have not simply towed the popular Republican party line. In other words, Republicans who are not in lock step with the majority of the party.
In this day and age, when we not only see mass shootings making headlines on a regular basis, but in fact have seen politically-inspired violence, from January 6th to the attempted kidnapping of a sitting governor to last year's attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband to even mass shootings with an outright political bent to them (like the Congressional baseball game in 2017, or the mass shooting where U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords specifically was targeted), this kind of "joking" ad seems the height of irresponsibility.
Yet, it might have worked. Granted, luckily, Greitens lost the election. For some reason, Trump seemed to have difficulty bringing himself around to actually supporting Greitens. Still, Greitens might have won, and was considered a serious candidate with a real chance. These are the kinds of candidates who seem to be getting more and more consideration to gain access into the marbled halls of power in Washington these days.
It also betrays the increasingly totalitarian strand of politics that seems to be outright bleeding through among Republicans, specifically, these days. And let's face it: in recent decades, Democrats tend to follow Republicans in trends, particularly since the days of Bill Clinton. For now, Democrats appear to be a more moderate choice. But how much longer before the Democrats begin to go along with this kind of mentality, which Republicans largely have yielded to? After all, Democrats may have made a public show of expressing some hesitations towards certain measures, yet most Democrats (at least in national offices) have gone right along in favor of things like privatization and deregulation (both of which Republicans have long championed, particularly since the Reagan administration), NAFTA, the PATRIOT Act, and the invasion of Iraq, just to name a few. And let us also remember that the modern, largely privatized prison system - under which we have more people behind bars than any other nation in the world - was established during the Clinton years, and that Obama suspended habeas corpus, a constitutionally protected right. So let us remember that, frankly, both parties need to be watched and scrutinized intensely, that we need to hold the feet to the fire for all our public officials. We need to remember that, in fact, they are public servants, not our overlords or rulers by divine right.
This is why I reject the glorification of certain political leaders. Whether it's Donald Trump or George W. Bush or Sarah Palin, or any number of other nationally prominent figures on the Republican side, or Bill and/or Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden among the Democrats, this is a dangerous game. They all are supposed to be serving our best interests, not their own. And they are all supposed to protect and defend the Constitution, not modify it for their own convenience, or that of their party, or even the government. Our rights have been consistently attacked by every administration, regardless of which party is in power, for some time now. It seems to me that we should hardly be engaging in romanticizing "our guy" whenever a member of the party that is closest to our own political affiliation obtains power. That is a dangerous mindset, but it is one that both sides in our national political divide appear to be giving in to doing, and increasingly blatantly, at that.
I am not sure where, specifically, this absurd and blatantly irresponsible video by Greitens fits in with all of this, other than being yet another example of this scary trend towards increased totalitarianism in this country. But the fact that a man like that - and he apparently subscribes to the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory that many white nationalists believe in - can come so close to winning a national office after being responsible for such an outrageous add as this is not a good sign. Frankly, when a major candidate to a national office "jokes" with viewers about obtaining "hunting permits" specifically targeting political dissenters, fascism really does not seem all that far off. A turn to fascism already seems to be well underway, frankly. And this is just one of the most blatant signs of this unfortunate, and perhaps someday tragic, political turn for this country.
GOP Senate candidate tells voters to get ‘RINO hunting permits’ in campaign ad By Callie Patteson June 20, 2022:
https://nypost.com/2022/06/20/gop-senate-candidate-tells-voters-to-get-rino-hunting-permits/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons&fbclid=IwAR2xjTYYovUnhw3AIPk1UADwlbmrDO1hDzQNAnNaT1VyLR-7o-mJ83ECjtY
President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law published by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), December 31, 2011:
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/president-obama-signs-indefinite-detention-bill-law
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