Right-Wingers Aren't Stupid — They're Just Betting That You're Ignorant

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on March 11, 2009, Printed on May 27, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/131137/right-wingers_aren%27t_stupid_%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9D_they%27re_just_betting_that_you%27re_ignorant

A lot of liberal commentary about the opposition to Obama’s stimulus plan goes something like this: ‘Gosh, could it really be the case that conservatives are so dogmatic that they’d sacrifice a shot at economic recovery to adhere to their ideological predilections?’

The obvious answer is yes, of course they would, because the smarter ones understand that if the administration succeeds it’ll spell big trouble for the anti-governmentalism — always part of the American creed — that Reagan rode to popularity in the 1980s. With America becoming more diverse, and less religious, what would they have left with which to rally the troops without it?

(In fact, my own view — call it a little conspiracy theory — is that no group of otherwise successful individuals could possibly be as inept as the members of the Bush administration were, and to some degree their mismanagement was a stage show designed to prove once and for all that government was, in fact, the problem.)

But that raises a question: is obstructing the Obama administration’s efforts to kick-start the economy political suicide? Will the GOP forever be branded as “Republican’ts”? I'm not so sure.

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.

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