Teabaggers unite in Washington D.C.

In the months and years following 9/11, there were many claims that the Bush administration was lying about various things. Some were valid (torture, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq) and others that were out-right crazy (the “truther” movement, for one.)

Thousands of so-called “patriots” from the Tea Party movement and other disgruntled protesters descended on Washington D.C.

Many, I’m sure, have legitimate gripes. They don’t like the cap & trade plan, for example. But from the TV coverage (of which I watched A LOT today) and the pictures I saw from the event, it seems to me that there was a huge contingent of ridiculously uninformed, dangerous and out-right hateful people out there.

Today I watched Glenn Beck carry on for 20 minutes about how the government is corrupt. All the while, pictures from the today’s rally on the Mall flashed behind him. There were images of speakers of protestors, some showing people with pictures of Obama dressed as Hitler and signs calling the health care reform bills eugenics.

Now I know what you’re thinking, was Glenn Beck cleverly using these pictures to illustrate some of the corruption he was ranting about?

Of course not.

The images were from a grassroots* rally opposed to said corruption. Curiously, Beck never specifically mentioned what this corruption actually is, but any reasonable viewer could see that he’s simply playing the us vs. them game.

Now this rally, which Beck claimed was in response to all the anger about the corruption in our government, was attended by many Republican lawmakers and comprised almost exclusively of their supporters.

Additionally, the rally featured speakers questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship, calling him a socialist, marxist and communist and saying proposed health care reform would condemn your grandmother to death.

Forget the sex scandals. Forget Jack Abramoff. Forget the weapons of mass destruction. The most heinous corruption within the Republican party is of the intellectual type.

Their claims are so obviously false, so obviously motivated by ignorance and hatred — be that racial, partisan or based merely on the fact that his middle name is Hussein — that they should be disavowed by every right-minded American, regardless of party affiliation. Instead, these loons not only get a free pass, but are embraced and encouraged by those in power.

The only way anything will get done, the only way we will ever have a civilized debate on anything, the only way change will ever be affected in any positive way, is if these lies are met with the truth.

Instead, Republican leaders use them for political gain. They use them to motivate an ignorant, frightened base. They use it to claim that they are fighting for America’s well-being, when what they’re really doing is encouraging fanaticism to further their own interests in power and wealth.

There are always going to be fringe elements at these protests, but in the case of the “Truthers” and the “Bush and Cheney are war criminals” crowds, they hold no credibility even among the protests in which they’re partaking.

In other words, they’re our crazy cousin who sits alone at the family reunion. Nobody talks to them because they’re batshit insane, but goddammit, we share a last name.

What’s frustrating is that the protests going on today seem to embrace and encourage their crazy cousins. If you’d believe the coverage (even that on Fox News and in the Wall Street Journal,) you might think that the reasonable, sane cousins are the ones sitting alone, while the crazy people are off playing horseshoes and having potato sack races.

How long, for example, did it take for Republican lawmakers to stop trying to pass a bogus bill obviously aimed at pandering to the birthers which would force presidential candidates to produce a birth certificate?

Why are right wing talking heads still using scare tactics calling Barack Obama a fascist, communist, Marxist or Nazi? Hateful terms used with absolutely no merit or facts to back them up, intended only to frighten people and force the most visceral of reactions out of people who don’t know any better?

Side note: It is terribly frustrating that these terms are used interchangeably, when they are typically conflicting ideologies. Historically speaking, one can’t be both a Nazi and a Communist. Again, it just proves how well these scare tactics work on the ignorant.

Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their ilk aren’t stupid people. I don’t think they actually believe that Barack Obama is a socialist. I don’t think they actually believe his health care reform plan is eugenics. What I do think is that they know how to paint a twisted, hateful picture that will frighten people who aren’t smart enough to understand the nuances of health care reform or tax policy.

Barack Obama is no more evil than George W. Bush is. Both men have their own idea of what is best for the country and they were both elected to enact those ideas. It is the opposition’s duty to oppose those policies and in a Democracy that works, they meet in the middle to effect change.

So for Glenn Beck to rail against corruption and then perpetuate the kind of intellectual corruption that is dividing our country like never before shows his true motivation.

He doesn’t have your best interests in mind. In fact, with regards to his biggest issue lately, health care reform, things he has said on camera in years past completely contradict his so-called belief that our country has the best health care in the nation. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg with him.

So what do we do?

First, we shouldn’t base our entire perception of the issues on the talking heads. Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann and their colleagues on both sides of the issue don’t know everything. Read real news from real sources and more importantly, understand where your news is coming from and what filter it is being presented through. If you are a Republican, watch MSNBC and read the New York Times, if you’re a Democrat, watch some Fox News and read the Washington Times.

It’s important to understand both sides of the issue, because no matter how sure you are that your view is the correct one, there’s a chance you just don’t have a full understanding of the facts.

Of course I know that this advice is falling on deaf ears. The whole reason political discourse has gotten to this point is because people only want to hear things in black and white.

We’ve got no room for Walter Kronkite any more, he just told us the facts and let us decide. Now, Bill O’Reilly screams talking points at us presented as “facts” and then tells us that if we don’t decide to agree with him we’re pinheads.

It’s frustrating, to be sure. We live in a scary time. All we can hope for is that those we elect aren’t as gullible and ignorant as many of those who are electing them.

* Sponsored by Fox News, FreedomWorks and a handful of other right-wing organizations.

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