Arizona for everyone

Illustration by Carl Muecke

Outside of a few "elitist" blue enclaves, the United States is headed toward resembling the state we find revealed each week by journalists on Rogue's Arizona's Continuing Crisis. Let me count the ways:

• We're now a one-party nation, with the presidency, House, and Senate in the hands of hardcore right-wing Republicans. Soon the courts will be dominated by Federalist Society judges to validate whatever laws the GOP passes.

• We have a businessman as chief executive. Government is not a business and shouldn't be run like one, but here we are. In the case of America, it is fittingly a developer instead of an ice-cream chain CEO. Arizonans only know the language of developers, so this should be familiar ground. So should the lack of competence by a president with absolutely no public-sector experience and his contempt for it.

• Hostility to immigrants and white majoritarianism are driving policy and keeping the all-important base energized.

• The National Rifle Association is making policy with no Democrat in the White House to veto the madness. Hence, Donald Trump reversed a rule preventing gun purchases by the mentally ill. Can guns in bars and a national concealed-carry "right" be far behind?

• Ideology, rather than pragmatism, rules. As a result, taxes must always be cut, regulations must always be rolled back and minimal, government is the enemy and must be under-funded to a level to ensure its failure and produce the feedback loop proving its worthlessness. This has proved catastrophic for Arizona where, for example, infrastructure is decades behind needs. Nationally, we're still feeling the consequences of the Reagan and W tax and funding cuts. Now it's going to get really bad.

• The Democrats are powerless. Being in the minority sucks.

• Vote suppression is carried out to ensure the continued rule of the right, cloaked by the patina of democracy.

• The charter-school racket thrives. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a champion of this doomsday machine for public education. When the New York Times sought an place that exemplified the disasters that policies such as tax vouchers produce, it naturally focused on Arizona.

• Kleptocracy sets in. For decades, politically connected Arizonans — even legislators — have enriched themselves by various hustles: charter schools, private prisons, building freeways long after they were needed, and especially the Real Estate Industrial Complex. Legislation, back-scratching, and shadowy deals such as public-land swaps ensured this. Trump's America is enriching the president like the head of a banana republic — he's already in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution — and his crony capitalist gaggle, including ones such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with ties to Russia.

 • Science and knowledge are sidelined. Arizona has spent decades cutting funding to its universities. It eagerly embraced Palinism, where pointy-headed intellectuals were "elitists" trying to tell Real Americans how to live their lives. Rigorous study of Arizona's water situation and vulnerabilities to climate change can get a person kicked out of the state. Now it's national policy. Trump is a denier of mainstream science on climate. NOAA, one of the premier agencies keeping track of climate change, is already being defunded by Trump. It's a sign of what's to come. Trump doesn't read books.

 • "Enemies" must be identified and silenced or sidelined. Arizona doesn't like boat-rockers. Even newspaper columnists who hope to remain viable must stay within the invisible fence (for example, don't write about sprawl, water, or history). It's sunny! Why wouldn't you want to go hiking Camelback on a 110-degree summer day? Raising questions labels one an enemy of this paradise, a helpful way for those in power to divert attention from what's really going on. "Talton hates Arizona." Now, Trump-Bannon are doing this on a monumental scale to usher in their new authoritarianism.

• Republicans believe in "local control" as a matter of faith — except when they don't. Hence, the Legislature has passed a slew of bills to constrain blue cities. The Tempe ban on plastic bags was quickly quashed. This is coming to the blue enclaves as Washington will seek to withdraw funding for sanctuary cities and any place that defies the New Order.

The consequences for Arizona are self-evident (and refreshed every week on this site) — and the local media have been so savaged by cuts, we don't even have a real picture of how bad things are. For the United States, the repercussions will be infinitely greater, made more sinister by the treason committed by Trump and his band of quislings. The destruction will not be repaired in my lifetime.

 

Comments

[Cal Lash]

"The presidency of Ronald Reagan in the United States was marked by multiple scandals, resulting in the investigation, indictment, or conviction of over 138 administration officials, the largest number for any US president."

[Cal Lash]

Repbulicans ALL:
http://mostcorrupt.com/Most-Corrupt-Administrations.html

[Ruben Perez]

If you recall, there were a few of us who voted to "burn the house down".

With the apathy I see on Facebook, puppies and babies only, along with the general behavior of the sheeple who make up the bulk of Arizona and America, I must admit I am enjoying the karma being delivered on a daily basis.

If you voted for Trump and you still do not get a job and on top of that you lose your healthcare, too bad, you are proof that Darwin was right.

[soleri]

The corollary to the right-wing capture of Arizona is that the damage is cumulative and irremediable. There's no return to "normal" in a state addicted to the candy of low taxes. Even if Democrats somehow win the legislature someday, it will be far too late to restore responsible government. Arizona is zonked on a Randian bender, unable to shake itself back into consciousness.

Trump is an order of magnitude worse than Doug Ducey. The contempt for empiricism, objective journalism, and science is the core of right-wing epistemology. It tells the low-information base that you don't need to really know anything so much as believe promiscuously in the power of certitude. They want rulers who are not inhibited or constrained by humility or hesitation. Anything goes when it comes to feeding the mass delusion that only "real Americans" know the score.

Trump's dubious mental health seems obvious enough, yet tens of millions voted for this ignorant man-child with the soul of a circus geek. Democracy is not going to survive this episode with the Crazy. Too many Americans now simply believe what they want to independent of corroboration and proof. Something is true or false now not by any standard of evidence but by affinity to one's tribe.

We are careening perilously close to capsizing the very raft of virtues that make democracy possible. One of those virtues is self-restraint. The presidential model is telling them that it no longer applies to him or, by extension, us. When a president communicates with crazy Tweets, a line has been crossed. "Normal" no longer applies to our republic or our expectations of one another. We are marooned in a sea of fantasy and "alternate facts".

[Ken Atherton]

Speaking of bread and circuses, this article scientifically calculates just how small Donald Trump's hands would be if they were black holes:

https://www.google.com/amp/gizmodo.com/how-tiny-would-donald-trumps-hands-be-if-they-were-blac-1792935293/amp

(Hint: very, very tiny!)

It turns out that on the scale of black holes, the mass difference between Donald Trump's hands and Marco Rubio's hands is negligible.

[Ken Atherton]

On a more serious note, it is my experience that conservatives and liberals overestimate the extremism, the monolithic nature, and the party solidarity of each other. This seems to reflect the different media universes they inhabit.

In my work as a political fundraiser (I'm not a Republican but I play one on the telephone), I am continually being told by conservatives that there are no real Democrats anymore, that the Democratic Party has been taken over by left-wing radicals.

They also constantly complain about the incohesion of the Republican Party, comparing it to the supposedly lockstep Democrats.

Repealing and replacing Obamacare has been at the core of the Republican agenda since Obama took office. Conservatives regularly ask me why Republicans haven't acted, complaining that the Republican Party is spineless. "They had eight years to come up with a plan!".

The real reason is simple: Republicans have fundamental political differences with each other about the proper role of government, both in kind and degree. But conservatives I talk to can't come to grips with the idea of factionalism in politics, so they resort to the idea that the party is spineless, especially the party leadership, and must be replaced because they are RINOs.

Recent coverage by the Washington Post tells a different story. Republicans have fundamental philosophical differences, about such things as refundable tax credits, Medicaid expansion, funding, and more.

At least three conservative Republican senators threaten to vote against the newly revealed bill because of the tax credits, calling it Obamacare Lite.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/conservative-groups-and-lawmakers-demanding-full-repeal-could-derail-obamacare-rollback/2017/03/02/0bf3f1a0-feaa-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?tid=a_inl-amp&utm_term=.e825aad61746

Another four moderate Republican Senators have announced that they will not vote for the bill because it reverses Medicaid expansion, and they are joined by a number of Republican governors.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/powerpost/new-details-emerge-on-gop-plans-to-repeal-and-replace-obamacare/2017/03/06/04751e3e-028f-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html

That's a possible seven no votes. Republicans only have 52 Senate seats plus the VP tie breaker.

Aside from that, the reconciliation bill, which allows Republicans in the Senate to pass it with a simple majority, must receive a CBO report specifying that it will not increase the deficit after ten years.

So, it is unclear to me what is going to pass, and when.

[Cal Lash]

Little hands, that's why Donald carries a Walther P5.
As he thinks he is Don Bond,
James insane step brother.

[Bradley Dranka]

One of the things you didn't mention, Rogue, was our ever-increasing materialism and how it's shaped the increasingly conservative mood.

We Americans have been co-opted into thinking more is always better. The corporate effort to supply this appetite for "more" has taken American business around the world searching for cheaper ways to do it. Obviously, the American public has embraced this "cheaper" at the expense of demanding that their goods be American-made.

This has resulted in high-paying American jobs disappearing wholesale--and has contributed to the idolization of a bombastic "Make America Great" messenger. He's cynically exploited the financial uncertainty of the middle class to build an unquestioning army for whom everything he says is the true gospel. "It's the economy, stupid" being taken to "a nod's as good as a wink--to a blind horse" level.

Therein lies trump's (small letters for a small man) attempts to marginalize the press and media he doesn't agree with: by marginalizing these media, he is trying to control the effect they have on public opinion--so that media such as his beloved fox news and breitbart news have more impact. Simply put, by attempting to diminish the power of the media outlets he doesn't like, trump is trying to control them by controlling their effect.

Rogue, the middle class who are trump's core supporters do not care about fair and balanced journalism or stewardship of the planet as much as they care about being fed their delusion that they can continue to have it all. They just refuse to accept that there will be finite limits on their freedoms, natural resources, and their heretofore benevolent climate--and they are adamant against accepting any accountability and responsibility for their actions.

You, Rogue, have experienced the effect of this firsthand over the water issue.

This, I believe, is the true essence of what trump means to them--and why America will eventually go down if the trumpaholics' mentality continues to guide this nation. Liberty and freedom demand accountability and responsibility in their exercise--or our society, however imperfect as it certainly has been, will devolve, however slowly, into anarchy.

[Bradley Dranka]

My cynicism in the above comment is related to something I began to notice with increasing frequency in the early 1990's: A materialism slowly speeding up and not questioning what the hidden costs were. People, it seemed to me, were becoming, on the whole, more selfish, self-serving, and unaccountable for their actions.

This has continued, in an ever increasing arc, ever since.

Just like hitler was the fulfillment of a large swath of German yearnings within the national psyche, trump is the realization of at least a plurality of our modern American desires, fears, and prejudices.

My cynicism also relates to Americans of all stripes recognizing this and understanding its implications.

Only then will we be able to address and remedy it.

I am relatively certain it will be a long time before trump's adherents see themselves for who they really are--and that is cause for great concern, to say the least.

[Ken Atherton]

News flash!

Infallible Google Home Robot says Obama planning a coup against President Donald Trump with the aid of the Communist Chinese Government:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ruskin147/status/838445095410106368/video/1

[Ken Atherton]

Here's a more general URL:

https://twitter.com/ruskin147/status/838445095410106368/video/1

Of special interest in the video is the extremely high-tech mobile phone (with base unit) seen sitting next to the Google Home Robot; thus proving that time travel (at least to the past) is possible.

[Ken Atherton]

I can't seem to get these to sound right in Chrome -- they're harsh and distorted. Copying the links into the YouTube app search field seems to produce the proper, warm sound, in my experience.

So, at the risk of being irrelevant:

https://youtu.be/lZgXs3bsMbo

https://youtu.be/7WLc6Zq4k0k

[Ken Atherton]

All of this can be yours:

https://youtu.be/98W9QuMq-2k

[Ken Buxton]

It feels like we're living in a Kurt Vonnegut novel.

[Jerry McKenzie]

Rule by glorified pawnbrokers. Our distopian future is here.

[blaxabbath]

Bradley-

"Only then will we be able to address and remedy it."

This, unfortunately, was 2008. This was when greed and Wall Street, who had bought all the influence in the world, sent the global economy into a spiral. This was the opportunity to change or system. This was the chance to correct it because, while the middle class had been dying for decades, in 2008 even the elite were losing their shirts.

But we screwed up and blew a historic opportunity.

Instead of scraping the old way and moving forward to -- for lack of a less dramatic phrase -- a new era, we doubled-down on the old way. We took our smoking, steaming, broken down on the side of the road Chevy that finally ate it because we'd been flooring it for 50 years without regard for changing any of the fluid or routine maintenance, and said, "Nah! We can fix it!" And so we just took a "Great Recession" and bailed out everyone who caused the crisis and made sure they got their bonuses. And then we talked big about how this wouldn't happen again -- and then we passed legislation that empowered the same culprits and reduced competition in the banking industry. Brilliant.

And then we threw money at 'shovel-ready projects', which was a nice band-aid but wasn't a solution to either our economic or infrastructure woes. And it was not coupled with any sort of plan (besides typical swiss-cheese Buy American clauses) to maintain US manufacturing jobs.

And then we sacrificed a Democrat majority for a health care plan that can easily be undermined by the simplicity of axing the mandate. This was the compromise -- the insurance companies had to scale back a bit and the middle class got a pile of garbage stamped, "Democrats don't need Single Payer. But at least we aren't the GOP!"

And 9 years later we've still got an economy on pins and needles. One where the fed is tentative to raise rates from historic lows and the Boomers, who are on pace to retire now, are looking for any get-rich-quick scheme that will shield them from the harsh realities of inadequate savings and a long slow economic recovery.

There is no addressing and there is no remedying. The pro status quo response to 2008 was an event horizon. Single payer is dead for good. Corporate influence is here to stay. And, frankly, there aren't enough scraps to go around so, regardless of what we all say on the internet, the fact of the matter is that we don't have the available resources to see the good in the world that we all propose.

[AZ Ranteur]

But, as Arizona goes, the nation won't necessarily follow because Arizona still shoots itself in the foot with the brain drain here. There is another addition to the AZ brain drain that isn't cool to talk any more - the incredible amount of subverted sexism here. When hiring managers are straight, white men who meet others on the golf course while their wives "take care of the home" it's hard for others to be seen as "a good fit for the company".

I, along with two colleagues, lost my job. My two colleagues almost immediately got multiple interviews and job offers. As a senior technology professional with 20 years of experience and an Ivy league degree, I'm finding it hard to even get an initial screening interview for positions where I meet every requirement. What's the difference between me and my colleagues- they are men and I'm a woman in infrastructure technology. I have even seen a job posted by an HR recruiter stating, "Our ideal candidate would be a guy who..." guess I'm already not qualified.

After 3 months of almost nothing here I started to look elsewhere. I applied for a VP role within one of the largest investment banks in the world (NYC) and within two days got an interview and then a second a day later. Funny how that works, huh? Phoenix/Arizona can't build a diverse knowledge economy if the people who can build that can't find jobs.

I know it's a taboo topic and we're not allowed to say this anymore, but the idea that the ideal candidate is still seen as the straight, white male still exists in the land of sunshine and championship golf (played by men who network). That's not an anti-male position, it's an acknowledgement that great teams are comprised of talented people with different life experiences. So the brain drain continues...

[Cal Lash]

AZ RANTEUR,in this part of the world only white males are allowed in the Temples Intersanctum unless U R a young white virgin to be sacrificed on a Jeffs prayer breeding bed. May U find employment in harmony with your skills and talents elsewhere.

[LISA ANDERSON]

I agree! The AZ Republic (except for Bland, Montini, Roberts, and Valdez) is just pages of advertising. And there are few true investigative reporters on TV. With open school boundaries it's harder for parents to get to know other parents in order to organize protests or impact school boards. It takes hard work to stay informed and it's time consuming. Unfortunately many people are "too busy" or aren't interested. Or don't vote. I feel hopeful that Arpaio is out--maybe that will help show voters that changes can happen. I do wonder if the Repubs themselves were so fed up with the old publicity hound that THEY voted for Penzone.

[Bradley Dranka]

blaxabbath,

I understand and agree with what you've said about the "house of cards" that is our financial system.

I was speaking more to the inherent intolerance, bigotry, and idea that we Americans can somehow continue to have it all without consequences for this passive-aggressive mindset--and how we as a nation will NOT see this mindless materialism for the yoke it is on our nation.

[Cal Lash]

Lisa, the few good investigative REPORTERS in Arizona have gone underground.
I know a number of Republicans that supported and voted for Penzone. Like Pierce, Arpaio had became a huge embarrassment and a very expensive one.
Will be interesting to see what the County Board of Supervisors, the County Attorney and the MCSO Arpaio faithful will let Penzone accomplish. AND if Paul gets to liberal the boys at the state house will put a stop to him.

[Bradley Dranka]

blaxabbath,

Another part of my "only then can we address it" comment related to the idea that somehow all of these high-paying middle class blue collar jobs will magically appear. This idea is interwoven with our materialistic consumerism and our appetite for more of everything.

Automation, cost-cutting, and globalization (which allows us our cheap foreign-made goods) have made those jobs of yesteryear disappear--along with their high wages.

Americans need to learn to live with less, but that is something we as a society seem unwilling to embrace because it is heresy to the capitalist religion.

The longer we kick THAT realization down the road by continuing our delusion that we can have it all, the more shocking and upsetting the day will be that there are limits to what we can do, have, and exploit.

[Mark in Scottsdale]

Blax, I like a lot of your posts.

As someone who invests in the stock market and real estate, okay, yes, I certainly can appreciate and did benefit from the fact that the government was laser-focused on a Wall Street recovery, but one has to wonder if more of an employment-driven focus on actual citizens beyond the silly 99 weeks of unemployment (like paying more unemployment without creating any economic opportunities was going to do anything but kick people's cans 99 weeks down the road) had been achieved, perhaps the recovery might have been different or possibly better.

Because for the vast majority of Americans, who had little to no free cash to take advantage of cheap stocks and houses, there wasn't a lot of hope or structural change or options provided over the last 8-10 years beyond just "well, keep waiting, I guess."

I'm still waiting for an infrastructure push. I'm a conservative and I would have and do support infrastructure spending to create jobs and fixing our failing bridges, etc., but it's never really been as big a priority for anyone as I had hoped over the last decade.

I do wonder about how in the Depression, millions of Americans packed up and went looking for work or a better life, whilst this time around, so many people just stayed put and suffered. I *do* think greater mobility might be a boon to a lot of struggling Americans, but that's more of a sociological question to ponder so I won't get too far off track here.

[Bradley Dranka]

blaxabbath,

I re-read your response, and something jumped out at me..."And, frankly, there aren't enough scraps to go around so, regardless of what we all say on the internet, the fact of the matter is that we don't have the available resources to see the good in the world that we all propose."

Many conservatives have been howling about our foreign aid and support of the U.N.--and they want us to completely disengage from both. They fail to see the 800 lb. gorilla in the room--China.

That should be a wake-up call for America to increase its engagement overseas; instead, we are looking at an "America First" protectionism, foreign aid cutbacks, and a military build-up. These will prove counter-productive.

If we pull back our foreign aid, which, let's face it, is a "bribe" to grease the way to insinuate our interests (corporate, military, intelligence) into another country, China will step in. In fact the Chinese are spreading their largesse around the globe to do the same thing. I give Trump credit for understanding the Chinese threat.

This should be a clarion call to our leaders to greater engage the larger world; Instead, Trump is proposing cutting foreign aid to pay for his military build-up. He's thinking that becoming a bigger bully will cow the Chinese, but I believe the Chinese will wear that down with the million drops of water by increasing their foreign aid and gaining influence and position with nations "on the fence."

If we allow that to happen, THAT will spell the end of the American century.

[Bradley Dranka]

I find it interesting that there are no far-right Republican and tea party voices of dissent and counterpoint to this particular article and comments. From past columns, I know they read this blog.

I would love to see their take on the points made so far, but it seems they've nothing to say on trump's behalf. But, maybe, even they see how indefensible trump's indecorous, intemperate, and inept conduct truly is.

[Cal Lash]

Brad, there's no response as those folks U mention, are silently happy that Hitler and Goebbels are back.
IMHO opinion most of these folks are a waste of my valuable time as its like trying to convince a wall to move by mental levitation.

[Cal Lash]

I have not been a myth believer since at nine when I laughed at Jonah and the Whale. And I think its a myth that you can convince Trump brown shirts that they might be wrong. So I have posted a good article here on the Military's current Mythology, The "Surge".
https://warisboring.com/stop-believing-in-the-many-myths-of-the-iraq-surge-6d865a53dc9b#.ewlzqwc4l

[Bradley Dranka]

Cal, I completely agree with you; I just wanted to point out the virtually complete indefensibility of trump's immoral agenda and behavior.

The most telling sign of that the silence of trump's supporters....

[Cal Lash]

How about this for a Myth?
California not Texas secedes from the US.
https://www.wired.com/2017/03/want-gut-emission-rules-prepare-war-california/

Also see front pages story: In favor of density. LA voters reject prop S. and Maryjane wins big,
That's gotta make senile Sessions even more angry.

[Cal Lash]

Arizona Republicans continuing war with California.
http://www.hcn.org/articles/republicans-push-to-split-the-ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email

[Rogue Columnist]

New comment on "Phoenix 101: the great hotels" that urbanists might want to respond to.

[Hattie]

Until they lose their health care. Even those who don't give a damn about others will notice that!

[Bradley Dranka]

seSSions and bannonazi...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/magazine/jeff-sessions-stephen-bannon-justice-department.html?_r=1

[Ken Atherton]

Meanwhile, Trent Lott worries that the Republican inability to decisively repeal Obamacare may result in Republicans losing both houses of Congress in 2018:

https://www.google.com/amp/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58c42025e4b054a0ea6b040b/amp

[Ken Atherton]

Note also the cyclical nature of American politics in recent years. Republicans had control of both houses of Congress and the White House from 2003 through 2006. They had a larger Senate majority then (55 seats) than they do now (52 seats).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/109th_United_States_Congress

Not only did the world not end, but by 2009 Democrats had not only gained control of both houses of Congress, but also the White House; and they briefly held a Senate supermajority, if you include independents caucusing with the Democrats.

One thing I agree with Trent Lott about: many conservative members of the Republican base (and Trump supporters) do not understand the procedural limitations imposed on Republicans in the Senate by the minority Democrats filibuster. They already view Republicans (especially the leadership) as feckless. Trent Lott himself was (unsuccessfully) challenged in a Republican primary by Tea Party types because Senate procedural limitations prevented the House from fulfilling its promises and they misinterpreted this as a sellout. Loss of morale among the faithful is a very real possibility. Many potential donors at the grassroots level have taken a wait and see attitude.

The only solution that will satisfy them is for Republican leadership in the Senate to invoke the nuclear option vis a vis legislation: something that has never been done and that current Republican leadership shows absolutely no inclination to undertake, assuming that it is even procedurally possible. (The Senate majority leader would need to declare the rule change ending the filibuster as a means of preventing bills from being brought to the Senate floor for a vote; then when this decision was contested, the dispute would need to be resolved by a simple majority vote. Many Republican Senate veterans do not support such a course, so even a simple majority is unlikely.)

[Ken Atherton]

Sorry: "senior moment" at work. By "Trent Lott" I meant Trent Franks, the ultraconservative Arizona member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

[Ken Atherton]

Re AZ Ranteur:

Margaret Hance
Rose Mofford
Jan Brewer
Janet Napolitano

Et al.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Women_in_Arizona_politics

NYC is the finance capital of the United States. Phoenix is not. Technology infrastructure is furthermore a specialized niche within the banking industry. You didn't say what positions your colleagues held or applied for.

On the other hand, you may be right: women hold only 11 percent of executive positions at Silicon Valley firms. Why should Arizona be particularly progressive in that regard?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/women-hold-just-11-of-executive-positions-at-silicon-valley-tech-companies-2015-1

[Ken Atherton]

Oil Market In Disarray As Investors Misunderstand What's Driving It

http://seekingalpha.com/article/4054341-oil-market-disarray-investors-misunderstand-driving

Is Kenneth Deffeyes wrong?

[Bradley Dranka]

Another comparison of AZ and the US is the idea of "dissenters" being the "enemy" and the resurfacing of the 1960's "America--love it or leave it" sentiment toward dissent so prevalent toward me on social media by those who despise my ideas about fairness and inclusion.

We see this intolerance and paranoia in trump's idea of a (my take: democratic)
"state within a state" in the federal government.

This is simply a device spicer and trump use to demonize as "the enemy" anyone that opposes them. It is also employed to fire up their trumpy-dumpty storm troopers so that whatever trump does is less-questioned by them--because it is psychologically linked to "eliminating" the "threat" the "enemy" poses. We see this in the language and hyperbole surrounding trump's immigration and travel executive fiats. While the US security apparatus has been extraordinarily effective at preventing and thwarting foreign-origin terror attacks post 9/11, for trump anything less than theolocide (the killing of a religion) is insufficient because the religion is the "enemy."

In the same way, because the previous administration showed tolerance, its suspected allies are the "enemy," and must be "eliminated," because, in trump's mind, everyone should take an "oath" to him (as mr. seig heil demanded)--or their "loyalty" is suspect.

I experienced this often firsthand in Arizona. I kept the "good old boys" attempted intimidation at bay by letting them know I was a coiled spring that would snap on them at a moments' notice. By NO stretch did I feel I was less of a patriot or worthy of America's freedoms because I was a socialist liberal who believed everyone was equal and deserving of citizenship.

[Bradley Dranka]

As a corollary to the above, and not wanting the above to be overly long, I have come to a conclusion about many on the far-right and their "macho" definition (delusion) of what it is to "be a man."

In his online article (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/12/my-message-for-evangelicals-stop-being-candy-assed-christians.html), "My message for Evangelical Christians: stop being silly, little wimps," Larry Alex Taunton (I love the word "taunt" in the name) says, "A generation ago pop star Bonnie Tyler famously asked: “Where have all the good men gone?” 
Since then, the situation has only gotten worse, Bonnie.  As C.S. Lewis noted, men in the English-speaking world have largely been emasculated, and men in the Church are seldom an exception to this decades-long trend," and, "My father, a career soldier, had a phrase he liked to employ whenever he saw a man behave in a manner that was less than manly.  He would say something like, “That was candy-assed.”  Of course, my father didn’t invent the idiom, but in his use of it you didn’t need further explanation.  You knew exactly what he was talking about."

This was much the attitude in "macho city" Arizona, especially toward social change advocates who believe in social justice, fairness, and equality.

I also learned that the only language the bullies and bad-asses was an iron-fisted, take-no-prisoners, in-your-face style of talking. While a conversation could be civil and diplomatic, an implacable posture and "stare down" intensity in one's eyes were more often than not necessary. This was simply because the conservatives in Arizona were over-testosteroned, with a "wild West mentality of "High Noon."

This machismo informs the conservatives views of liberals as wimpy, namby-pamby "snowflakes" who are always "giving in" and diluting our "uhhhmuuhhrricuhhns" freedom to be macho, bullying, and dictatorial to the rest of the world.

I am a foot-up-your-heinie liberal who understands that communicating with the bullies and bad-asses means employing their language to the point of outdoing them because the only thing they respect is strength--and the willingness to employ it.

At the end of the day, the only way of getting any potential cooperation with the macho conservatives is to get their respect: Implacability and mental toughness is about the only thing that resonates with their testosterone-addled aggressive brains.

[Ken Atherton]

But Bradley, the whole op-ed boils down to this:

"Huckabee wasn’t asking Piper or other Christians to die for their faith. He wasn’t asking them to take to the streets and destroy property as protestors on the Left have recently done in such places as Ferguson and Berkeley. He was asking them to do nothing more than eat a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries for Jesus. Has any protest in history been easier or tastier?"

Taunton was criticizing an evangelical named Piper, whom Taunton called young and well-intentioned, for refusing to support Huckabee's call to solidarity, because Piper criticized Huckabee's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day as "divisive".

Taunton simply said, in effect, that Piper lacked the courage of his convictions. Reading the Taunton op-ed you linked to, I don't see anything "far right", or anything trying to silence Piper's dissenting voice. I see what seems to be someone frustrated with the apparent spread of political correctness into the evangelical movement.

The terms far right and far left get abused by both liberals and conservatives these days.

To me, far left would be Leninists, Maoists, and some militant anarchists. With the exception of the latter, there is no far left to speak of in this country these days.

Far right includes neo-Nazis, Christian Identity gun nuts sitting on their compounds in Idaho or Montana waiting for the race war to start, and de facto fascists who want to abridge the constitutional right of free speech so that their political critics can be imprisoned for treason or otherwise intimidated into silence by the power of the State.

These are illustrative, not exhaustive definitions. But let's not get carried away. Calling someone a wienie in an op-ed is not the same thing as getting in their face, trying to intimidate with body language or facial expressions, or shouting someone down.

[Bradley Dranka]

Ken, you missed the entire point of my comment...I wasn't talking about what he wanted the people to do, I was pointing out to the idea he expounded upon that men were supposed to be macho--and how much of what I experienced both in Arizona and in online forums was related to that. And, yes, in some of the gyms and in the workplaces I was in Arizona, a "hostile" body language was necessary for respect. I experienced it.

I've been called a variety of effeminate epithets online because I espoused something other than an indifferent, cold, and heartless view of the poor, indigent, and minorities, and the LGBTQ communities. Too much of what I've seen of conservatism is hung up on this dated, archaic form of machismo. I can be the most confrontational and unyielding person out there if I want to be--and it seems to me that for most of the far-right--wingers, that's about the only thing they respect.

It seems they bring that militaristic attitude to their computer--and I am up to meeting it head-on.

[Concern Troll]

So much hope, and so little will come to fruition.

The disaster of national healthcare in America will continue for years. The collapse of the ACA is now baked in the cake, and the inability of the Republican Party to "come up with something better" is now obvious. Hope those suckers who voted for Trump enjoy their lack of healthcare, especially in the Old and New South.

Of course, it will take a while, like everything does, to percolate down into the consciousness of America.

Meanwhile the giant distraction machine continues it's daily assault on reality from both sides.

The most important part of the current R agenda is to get a new Supreme Court Justice in place, then they will begin to run roughshod over a lot of what needs to happen to make the Bannon agenda into an operating structure.

The EPA- neutered, move away from any CAFO or any other bad neighbor- it will get worse.

The financial markets are going to be fully rigged again, oh well.

Deportations- going to happen en masse right after the midterms elections begin, have to reward the base!

America is going to be run like a business, which means it will cut a lot of losses- so get used to it- complete with Arizona style government- Jon aced that one.

Dysfunctional and corrupt, yup.

10 million plus leaving America is going to leave quite a hole in our demographic donut. LoL. As I predicted before...

And once again everyone thinks the ballot will matter- I keep waiting for that magic day in Arizona, as the Dem party just keeps on sagging into irrelevance and minority concerns.

Sorry, don't care about minorities when my own struggles to maintain a decent lifestyle come first- even if the R bezzle is directly responsible for the decline of the middle class- that is what the older white voter just said loud and clear.

Dem message is about trannies and illegals having all kinds of rights? Uh, utter failure. Trannies have the right to live their lives, as long as it does not bother the folks in Sun City, and illegals have no rights.

So, ultimately, the politics of ugly have won for the next 8 years, and America at the end of the Trump years will be vastly different.

Look at our legislature, think back twentyfive years to the promises of the R party and see the immense ruin.

As for education, it is totally bifurcated between education with money available to teach to well mannered children in a calm setting after the big sort of putting lower class children into their own special ghettos.

And the gap grows baby, and instead of a White Brahmin culture on the top dominated by the East Coast Elite, you get a White Selfish Elite dominated by the heartland, with no helping hand by government.

So you get the Calvin Begay type folks selling out their folks to get their bit of gold, and a cruel competition for survival for the bottom 60%, 30% now middle class, and the top 10% getting all the spoils of the society.

The only real fear to those on top right now is real national socialism, because it would wreck the system as it stands.

Trump has co-opted it for a while, but that nasty, wide, and deep impulse is a corrective to dysfunctional government.

A decade or two of Arizona style government may indeed respawn real progressive political movements.

[Ruben Perez]

Good stuff Troll.

What you said, but increase the negative outcomes times 3.

Women are getting riled up, but the herd is for the most part still asleep.

[Cal Lash]

Sleeping sheep.