Dear Louise and Thom,

Amen to both of you.

Yes: the vengeful psychopaths and sociopaths have taken over America and the apparatus of the government.

People cheer while Children/Family and Elder care beneficiaries are serviced by fewer and fewer employees; prison guards lose their 'public' jobs, but can serve new private prison masters (for less money and fewer benefits). Why do (middle class) people vote against their own best interests?? It's been theorized that they envision themselves joining the elite. Here's another theory:

Class warfare, hmmmm. Why are middle class people willing to support and vote for candidates who do not serve their best interests? Why would someone who knows they will soon (if not already) depend on social security or Medicare or unemployment benefits to subsist, put on ridiculous headware, raise an inane sign (usually with misspellings), and wildly cheer candidates whose dogma is diametrically opposed to those social policies? An interesting answer was presented the other day on the Crooks & Liars blog. The entire article can be found at http://crooksandliars.com/tina-dupuy/last-place-aversion-why-middle-class-pe but the condensed version is this:

It’s usually assumed that the reason Americans specifically don’t want to see taxes raised on the rich is because, in spite of driving a defunct GM brand four-door, they think of themselves as the “soon-to-be rich.” But a paper published in the National Journal of Economic Research in July suggests otherwise. They offer that it’s not hoping to be on top that makes us not want the wealthier to be taxed more – it’s the fear of being at the bottom. It’s referred to as “last-place aversion.”
http://crooksandliars.com/tina-dupuy/last-place-aversion-why-middle-class-pe

Thom Hartmann, you need to fight harder for us progressives. Prepare better and stop letting bullies like Seaton Motley push you around. His arguments are easy to parry.

They're the first cousins of the German people that Hitler hypnotized in the years prior to world war one. They are either people who have made a lifestyle of being angry and blaming others even when there's no problem to blame on the "others," or they very angry for completely personal reasons. They key is that they must be ready and willing to blame all of their personal problems on "them," (which could be black people, Mexicans, American teachers, American government employees, or whoever- they're not particular about who they get mad at). Well, actually, they are particular in one sense: they will NEVER blame the rich people who sent their job overseas, never blame the rich people who foreclosed on their house, never blame the rich people who charge them 29% interest on their credit cards, and never blame the rich people who have screwed them in other ways. No sir, even though it really is the rich people who did all of those things to them, they only blame the people the rich people tell them to blame. They blame the nigras, the wetbacks, and the big government. The latter is sort of interesting, because the only protection that we have from the super-rich people IS the government. If and when the government completely stops protecting us from the super-rich, we will have two choices: be slaves, or have a revolution.

I'll repeat my refrain: when the poor southern crackers and the just-as-ignorant northerner republicans and tea partiers realize that the rich have been leading them around by the nose while stealing everything from them, they're going to be... irritated. And these are people who have been very carefully trained to view all problems as being solved by violence.

You know, at first blush, the rich people who are running this destroy-the-middle-class-and-steal-the-poor-peoples'-last penny program, look smart. But I sure wouldn't want to be them when the crap hits the fan... In fact, even now one of the fastest-growing businesses in America is the business of protecting rich people from the poor people they stole all that money from. What a way to live: always looking over their shoulder for someone who wants to harm or kill them, having to live in gated communities (even if they don't want to live in gated communities, they HAVE to, because they're scared of the people they have harmed), always worried about their families' safety. There's an old saying: Uneasy rests the head that wears the crown, and it was never more true than now. I feel sorry for those people who, for all of their education and all of their airs of superiority, never learned that there is always a cost for harming others, and there is no way to avoid that cost.

I would rather be poor, than to pay the many costs that the super-rich pay.

Far too many on the political right wing in America use Ayn Rand's psychopathic philosophy (Objectivism) as their playbook which is ironic, given Ayn Rand was pro-choice and a devout atheist. According the the philosophy, fictionally expounded in "Atlas Shrugged" (and confirmed in face-to-face interviews), Ayn Rand considers that most people are worthless and the government is irredeemably evil. The rest follows.

The one word answer to your question is Republicans.

To t-bird: It's a fantastic experience whenever I come across another USAF pilot who thinks. You must be even older than I. The t-birds were out of the inventory when I was a phantom flier back in VN days. Thanks for making me a believer in the possibility that there are other progressive "Nam" vets. I know but a few!

For a government employee to make a comment that "government doesn't create jobs," and then brag about laying off 15,000 fellow government workers is extra hypocritical in Scott's case given his involvement in the biggest Medicare fraud in US history. Leeching off the tax payers has helped create his massive wealth and if he really can't see this about himself, then yes, he has a serious neurological disorder .......psychopathy!

Palindromedary: How about we get rid of their big screen televisions and give them a book to read called ....The Grapes of Wrath!

I am one of the unfortunates that live under the reign of terror. We are fighting back but our state dynamics are very depressing. Our Government hides from us and avoids crowds, Governor Skelator doesn't care if he is a one term Governor. One term is all he needs to gain the riches holding office brings. Those who can afford to pay or better buy their office with corporate sponsors will guarantee their retirement. Meanwhile back at the ranch the cowboys are contracted and privatized, and the treasury is depleted by giving cash back rewards to the elite who financed the crook to begin with. I am thankful and supportive of PINK SLIP RICK and their efforts to chase Skelator like Scooby Doo and his crew at every public event; where they can reach him as he slinks around like one of the Pythons that have invaded our Everglades.

My take is our Corporate media is complicit in creating a state of Mass Hysteria and the culture of Empire. By choking free speech, faux news reporting, and developing programing that promotes their corporate agendas the majority of our nation is drinking their Coolaid. Two weeks before Troy Davis was MURDERED the debate brought the death penalty into the public eye and unfortunately it was made to be heroic. Fast forward to none other than Clarence Thomas. I imagine him dressing up into the robe of Caesar and having a party with the other emperors, Scalia, Roberts, Alito and Kennedy joining in for a thumbs down for Mr.Troy Davis, who deserved more investigation to uncover the truth. Our Supreme Court contains more hubris than the coliseum can hold as evident from the Liberty Tv News who highlighted the corporate sponsored justices, and the un justice Scalia bragging that his role in Bush vs Gore was because he could do it and no one should question him, demonstrating absolute power corrupts absolutely. This mass media and its low information audience attempt to take our country hostage just like the Tea baggers and Republicans do in Congress.

What is truly sad is some of us are cheering murder, killing the sick and poor, and marginalizing anyone who doesn't fit their narrow view of an ideal American. Governor Skelator is a leader in the pack on the race to the bottom. His view and the radical right's ideals are promoted and funded by the DeVos Family and others who profit at the expense of the middle class and below. Here in Orlando we are hoping Alan Grayson will be our HE MAN and he will conquer evil and return some democracy to one of the Reddest states in the Nation.

I suggest that Messrs. Santorum and Perry consider a much more DIRECT method of ridding society of the "predators" or "takers" - or whatever pejorative the comfortable choose to condemn the needy - the homeless, those unable to function and earn a living, the lame, etc. Take a page from Vlad Dracula - 15th Century inspiration for the entertainment version.

He decided to round up all the beggars he could find - the lame, the halt and the homeless - and invited them to a grand feast. Once they were good and drunk (and had eaten a lovely meal), he set fire to the hall, immolating every last one of them.

We're not very far away from VLAD when people will APPLAUD at the notion of letting someone die who doesn't have health insurance, or being put to death on death row.

Maybe Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged has been dumped in favor of more effective methods a la VLAD.

My extensive collection of scientific, historical and genealogical data illustrates this wicked generation under discussion was spawned of occult heresies, employment of vile witchcrafts, unnatural rites and practices, lengthy journeys into mysticisms for obtaining powers, insider thievery of the Treasury, massive networked patent and trademark lies, and the spilling of innocent blood.

Do snakes hatch out of snake eggs? My biology book says, "yes."

Further, with the Eugenics Society of 1907, they decided amongst themselves that inbreeding would keep money in the family, which fuels their belief they are best qualified to lead others.

Is robbing the graves of Indian Chiefs for a Society called "Skull & Bones," or stealing the ashes of Steve McQueen for a yacht decoration within the range of anyone's expertise in diagnosing this condition? My ancestor the Chief was poisoned by their predecessors. Why is the Skull and Crossbones used on POISONS, not just pirate flags? In fact, someone should see if there is still a skull inside Grant's tomb.

"Psychopath" is too soft a word for their case. It is called Scottish Rite, whereby our "subjects" evolved into a functionally insane faction of the cult.

The insane faction has existed here in the financial community since at least 1890:

1890: Commenced business in U.S.: Caledonian Insurance Co of Edinburgh, U.S. Branch, 555 Asylum Street, Hartford, CT

1890: The Lincoln National Bank, Washington, DC chartered

The Pre-scott Bush State produced the Scott Walker hybrid. As for Rick Scott, he's just another Dick.

QED

XXXXX

Here in Kansas (Brownbackistan), we are seeing similar dynamics. Brownback is a fundamentalist/Catholic and close friend of Rick Perry, and you can see what kind of Republitopia they are building in Texas: a post-modern feudal state. They have a mindset that goes back to Madison and Hamilton, Machiavelli, and even Plato. Republicanism is about elite rule, and in America it has been about managed democracy, which became ever more managerial in the past thirty years as we behold the new corporate regime.

The bottom line is that republicanism is anti-populism. Any group like the tea party, working with Republican dogma, is being duped. Middle class people will always be squashed by right-wing policies, and if you give them too much rope they'll hang you while praising God.

What we are seeing now is the rise of governor-dictators. They aren't above cheating in elections -- the ends justify the means -- and they have no concern for science, "social justice," or government. They just want to privatize everything, which means make a profit off of you. And Bush showed us that the American dream is now world conquest by hook or crook. And here come the fundamentalists-in-tow, hoping the GOP will "obey God." Maybe they will...in the same way Hitler did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0_zA6xTco

You give me hope Alan. A reasonable person in Kansas. I did not think this was possible. It appears you know exactly what you are dealing with.

Be armed and aware, there was a conclusive complacency in 1980 that asserted until it was too late to change tack effectively that Ronald Reagan was too radical to win. These people seem psycho to rational people but there nothing rational about the subsets.

Consider the 20% of Americans that believe the rapture will occur in their lifetime; who hold down jobs, raise their kids, or the other 20% not sure of the when but sure nonetheless it will occur. The first group is categorically maladaptive and the 2nd just needs a critical mass of momentum and to paraphrase the ending of the following article, Indeed, the tribulation will be upon us.

Why the Antichrist Matters in Politics, NYT 2011-09-25