How Paranoid Am I, Really?
One of the things I'll learn tonight is where I am on the paranoid scale with my Huckabee obsession. I readily admit that after sixteen years as somewhat of a rebellious outsider within the fundagelical community, I tend to score fairly high. If Huckabee even just squeaks out a win, then he's still viable and at least some of my paranoia is justified. If Romney beats him decisively, then I'll have to re-evaluate.
By the way, I received a very perceptive comment in response to yesterday's Huckabee rant. The gentleman's point was that there is a way Huckabee is better than most of the rest of the Republican field because he is not beholden to the other two wings of the Republican Party, the corporatists and the neocons. There's a reason he has little money and, therefore, almost no professional organization. His only chance is fundagelical zeal.
In fact, the Republican establishment is foaming at the mouth over Huckabee's rise to prominence. Witness what George Will, Robert Novak and The Club for Growth have said about him. They're scared that the fundagelicals might be getting tired of being the reliable Republican foot soldiers on election day and then getting little of what they want while the corporate types and neocons prosper. That was Chris Hedges' point in the piece I recommended yesterday.
If you haven't read Hedges' American Fascists (Free Press, 2006), it's well worth your time. What frightens Hedges (and me) is that the classic formula for fascism is corporatism, a militaristic foreign policy, combined with a mass movement organized around deep discontents amidst a time of economic crisis.
What the reader's comment got me to wondering was, if Huckabee is successful, will he turn out to be a genuine populist or will he form the fatal alliances with the corporate interests and the military-industrial complex in order to win and govern. By fatal, like Hedges, I mean fatal to American democracy.
Of course, by 8 p.m. tonight, this may all be academic, i.e., irrelevant.
By the way, I received a very perceptive comment in response to yesterday's Huckabee rant. The gentleman's point was that there is a way Huckabee is better than most of the rest of the Republican field because he is not beholden to the other two wings of the Republican Party, the corporatists and the neocons. There's a reason he has little money and, therefore, almost no professional organization. His only chance is fundagelical zeal.
In fact, the Republican establishment is foaming at the mouth over Huckabee's rise to prominence. Witness what George Will, Robert Novak and The Club for Growth have said about him. They're scared that the fundagelicals might be getting tired of being the reliable Republican foot soldiers on election day and then getting little of what they want while the corporate types and neocons prosper. That was Chris Hedges' point in the piece I recommended yesterday.
If you haven't read Hedges' American Fascists (Free Press, 2006), it's well worth your time. What frightens Hedges (and me) is that the classic formula for fascism is corporatism, a militaristic foreign policy, combined with a mass movement organized around deep discontents amidst a time of economic crisis.
What the reader's comment got me to wondering was, if Huckabee is successful, will he turn out to be a genuine populist or will he form the fatal alliances with the corporate interests and the military-industrial complex in order to win and govern. By fatal, like Hedges, I mean fatal to American democracy.
Of course, by 8 p.m. tonight, this may all be academic, i.e., irrelevant.
posted by RobertBurokerKemp | 8:25 AM
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