There is the one bit of conventional wisdom coagulating around Romney’s Veep selection that is absolutely true. We face a stark — really an existential — choice this November.
There are any number of ways to characterize the two branches that split from that decision, but for me it boils down to a commitment to the idea of society — that we exist as both individuals and as members of groups, with all the enhancement and constraint of experience that comes with such associations. One side honors that concept; the other derides it.
All this is to say go read Benjamin Hale’s very thoughtful piece up at The New York Times‘ The Stone blog.
Hale offers a much more measured argument than anything I find myself capable of composing right now, channeling his inner John Rawls to provide a framework for understanding just how literally anti-social Ryan and Romney are. His restraint makes his conclusion all the more potent:
The question of fairness has widespread application throughout our political discourse. It affects taxation, health care, education, social safety nets and so on. The veil of opulence would have us screen for fairness by asking what the most fortunate among us are willing to bear. The veil of ignorance would have us screen for fairness by asking what any of us would be willing to bear, if it were the case that we, or the ones we love, might be born into difficult circumstances or, despite our hard work, blindsided by misfortune. Society is in place to correct for the injustices of the universe, to ensure that our lives can run smoothly despite the stuff that is far out of our control: not to hand us what we need, but to give us the opportunity to pursue life, liberty and happiness. The veil of ignorance helps us see that. The veil of opulence keeps us in the dark.
Do go read the whole thing.
The modern Republican Party can’t be reformed, I think; it can only be unmade, till not one brick stands on the next.
Factio Grandaeva Delenda Est.
Image: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Potsdamer Platz,1914.
El Cid
One of our two major political parties and its associated forces act literally — and I mean the literally type of literally — like comic book supervillains in their aim to harm as many people as possible and to destroy the planet’s ecologies so as to make money and cackle at their suffering.
Really. We really do have a party which aims to act and run the country like comic book and movie supervillain plotters. In reality. Not hyperbole. Literally. The things they have done and wish to do are that evil. That bad.
But real. Not fiction. Not comic books, or movies, or TV, but real. They really do these things and aim to do even worse.
jl
The dynamic is very bizarre for the GOP. As I said before, if you listen to Obama’s and Biden’s stump speeches for last several months, and it is as if they were written for a Ryan and Romney ticket.
As I said a few days ago, its like a fighter lunging into what has been an effective, finely honed roundhouse punch.
And BTW, we should call it the Ryan and Romeny ticket. We need buttons: Ryan for Regent and Romney for Punkident.
Now, the rabid idiot wingnuts are are going to use Ryan as a quasi sexual political fetish object and spank Willard every time he tries to run away from Ryan’s proposals.
The wingnuts are such stupid deranged loons, no on will be able to explain to them that this is a not a swift thing to do because Obama and Biden and all the Democrats will be doing the same thing.
You can never tell what will happen in politics, and this is a high risk election simply because of the existence of the GOP ticket composed of two cheesy chickenshit douchebags like Romney and Ryan.
But could be trainwreck for GOP, but if luck holds out, Romney will be a contemptible laughingstock by election day.
The GOP wanted all con all the time, and I hope they get what they deserve.
NotMax
@El Cid
Comic books, movies and TV aren’t real?
Somehow I suspect 27% of the American public would disagree.
While peripherally on the subject of comic book villainy:
If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier… just so long as I’m the dictator.
– – George W. Bush, 2001
A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there’s no question about it.
– – George W. Bush, 2000
A dictatorship would be a lot easier.
– – George W. Bush, 1998
JenJen
Thanks for linking to that Hale piece, Tom. Most thought-provoking thing I’ve read today.
Patrick Thompson
Carthaginian peace?
AA+ Bonds
I ain’t a Rawlsian and I ain’t a liberal, but Tom is right on that Ryan as a dogmatic Randist presents an existential threat to liberal democracy if allowed a position of executive power
If y’all want to preserve this system or ever improve it, it is crucial that you end the political future of Ryan and anyone like him
There is no determinist guarantee of improvement – fascism lurks in the wings, always, as long as capital has power
Please, for all that is good, end Ryan’s career
AA+ Bonds
I also want to thank Tom for caring about thinking and shit, damn, nice job
Valdivia
Great piece Tom, thanks for the link.
AA+ Bonds
@El Cid:
I would suggest, that the threat may be at least as great from PNAC types who consider themselves comic-book superheroes, doers of good who overestimate their own powers
There is a reason so many nerds end up as Randists
Cacti
For this reason, I actually consider Ryan worse than Willard.
Willard was raised inside a bubble of wealth and privilege. He doesn’t understand the cares of ordinary people because he’s never wanted for anything in his entire life.
Ryan on the other hand lost his father when he was a teenager, and used Social Security survivors benefits to pay his way through college. Yet he would happily deny that opportunity to anyone who came after him.
Ryan is the quintessential “I’ve got mine, fuck you” story.
suzanne
I have run out of words in my vocabulary to describe the utter horror that is the Romney/Ryan ticket, so I’ll just say that Kirchner is one of my favorite painters and be happy about that.
Rob in CT
Note that many Conservatives reject this. “Life isn’t fair!” is a very, very common way of putting it.