Rachel Maddow & HuffPo's Mike Lux On Rightwing Extremism/Sociopathy Being The GOP's Mainstream

[Turborama]

Run time: 10:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tHl1Trlm1U   Posted on YouTube: September 12, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 14, 2009 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 1356

 
He hit the nail on the head at the end. This profile of the sociopath fits perfectly: http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html">Profile of the Sociopath

The full piece with an extra 2 minutes: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/32806961#32806961

No transcript as yet, but here's Lux's Huffington Post article they mention...

Calhoun Conservatism Raises Its Ugly Head

Mike Lux

One of the people I spent the most time discussing in my book on the history of the American political debate, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came To Be, was a man named John C. Calhoun. I went so far as to call him the founder of modern conservatism, and the events of this year, including Joe Wilson's offensive outburst on the floor of Congress, Wednesday night, have added strong evidence to my argument.

Although discussions about the relative power of the states and the federal government had been around since the days of the Articles of Confederation in the 1780s, Calhoun was the South Carolina politician who fused a particularly extreme view of states' rights with a patriarchal and violent conservatism. Calhoun argued that states could come and go into and out of the Union, whenever they wanted to; that they could secede from the Union at any time and for any reason; and that even if they stayed in the Union they could nullify any law they wanted, again at any time and for any reason.

He was also violently opposed to the idea of democracy itself, say that they growing population of the North had no power whatsoever over slavery or any other thing the southern states chose to do, and in fact believed that the Bill or Rights only applied to what the federal government couldn't do--that the states were free to eliminate freedom of speech and religion and other civil liberties. (In fact, most southern states had done exactly that by the time of the Civil War.)

Calhoun was ready to start a Civil War in 1832, when he and Andrew Jackson disagreed over a policy that would hurt Calhoun's beloved plantation economy. He resigned as Jackson's vice president, and encouraged the state to secede and raise an army right then and there. It was a protégé of Calhoun who beat abolitionist Charles Sumner almost to death with a cane on the floor of the Senate in 1856, and protégés of Calhoun who led South Carolina to be the first state to secede from the Union in 1861 after Lincoln's election, and be the first state to fire on Union soldiers at Ft. Sumter.

Calhoun's states' rights theories were used to justify Jim Crow in the South and oppose integration after the Civil War all the way into the 1960s. Today, we are seeing Calhoun Conservatism spreading throughout the Republican party and the right wing movement. Joe Wilson's thuggishness on Wednesday night and the conservative movement's embrace of his action yesterday are just the latest examples. Some highlights from the last year:

• John McCain picks a vice presidential candidate whose husband was a seven-year member of a far right secessionist party with ties to the racist, neo-confederacy movement. Palin had gone to at least one of the party's conventions herself, and had done a warm welcoming video for their most recent convention, telling them she shared their values.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/calhoun-conservatism-rais_b_283480.html

[ScottLand]

1. Scary times.

It was the South Carolina secession that kicked off the Civil War. Funny how some people can think they're being patriotic while pushing to secede.

[mwb970]

3. I was wondering about that myself.

The flag-wavers called us unpatriotic when we objected to the Iraq War and the many cheney/bush lies. Now these same flag-waving people want to fracking secede from the union. Is that not the ultimate unpatriotic act?

:shrug:

What I see on the right is people who hate America and want it destroyed. South Carolina seems to be Ground Zero for conservative insanity, as it has been for decades if not centuries.

[ScottLand]

4. Bingo.

But if they don't see the stupidity of the death panels, etc., pointing out that they're contradicting themselves won't make sense to them either.

[democracy1st]

2. thanks turbo great job posting the videos

[hootinholler]

5. The unrecers are out today n/t

[dgibby]

6. Thanks so much for posting.

Living in SC, I found this discussion most interesting and wanted to see it again, but was unable to find the video.

Looks like we've exported the secessionist movement to quite a few other states, not the least of which are Texas and Alaska. Many states are signing on the the 10th'ers movement. I'm beginning to think that Russian professor who is predicting the break up of the US may not be so far off base after all.

Too bad we can't bottle Teh Crazy and sell it. Sure would help our economy here!:crazy: :silly: :rofl:

[mwb970]

7. Didn't someone talk about "two Americas" for a while?

It looks like that is literally coming true! Of course, only one of the Americas will be able to keep that name once the breakup occurs. Like when Pink Floyd broke up and they argued forever about which remnant got to call itself by that name.

[zanne]

8. They hate having to let go of their power.

For eight years, they were like Archie Bunker singing "Guys like us, they had it made". Now they're living in a country that not only has a Democrat as a president, but a black man at that. They don't hate the federal government when it goes their way, but they can't accept the idea that their leader is a black Democrat.

Young children sometimes behave this way; it's called a temper tantrum.