The Atlanic: "Ted Cruz, Leninist"

[© tweed]

making a point that I've made a few times, and first found in Chomsky's 2010 work Hopes and Prospects.  in that work Chomsky noted how the contemporary GOP scarcely resembles a traditional political party, has few connections to the general population and is committed to internal discipline.  I'd go further and regard the new strain of the GOP as Stalinist, summed up in the old adage "if the party and the facts disagree, so much the worse for the facts."  when you have the means of churning out information in an authoritative manner at your disposal, you can create your own reality.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/ted-cruz-leninist/280074/

[Lief 🗽]

(...and you wonder why people like me are Democratic hacks when this is the alternative.)

Also I was hoping this article would argue that Cruz is a Cuban-Canadian Marxist sleeper agent.

[Indy Texas]

If Ted Cruz is Lenin, who gets to be Trotsky, Stalin and Karensky?

[All Along The Watchtower]

The Republican Party is controlled by a relatively small number of right-wing ideologues and demagogues who trace their (anti-) intellectual roots to the John Birch Society era of the  late 50s and early 60s. They are a Cold War relic that, now that the Soviet Bloc has been vanquished, are turning on what's left of the liberal welfare state and other aspects of the liberal intellectual Establishment at home.

[The Free North]

making a point that I've made a few times, and first found in Chomsky's 2010 work Hopes and Prospects.  in that work Chomsky noted how the contemporary GOP scarcely resembles a traditional political party, has few connections to the general population and is committed to internal discipline.  I'd go further and regard the new strain of the GOP as Stalinist, summed up in the old adage "if the party and the facts disagree, so much the worse for the facts."  when you have the means of churning out information in an authoritative manner at your disposal, you can create your own reality.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/ted-cruz-leninist/280074/

Ideologically, there nothing alike, but I think the article has some good points in terms of party structure and isolation.

[Beezer]

I served with Lenin. I knew Lenin. Lenin was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Lenin.

[© tweed]

I served with Lenin. I knew Lenin. Lenin was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Lenin.

+1

[opebo]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

[© tweed]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

that's a spiritual connection, not a material connection as you would see with a labor party, for instance.

[Lambsbread]

Good article.

[opebo]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

that's a spiritual connection, not a material connection as you would see with a labor party, for instance.

Well, the GOP kills poors, blacks, Latinos, gays, etc., which is precisely the 'material action' desired by the male whites.

[Badger]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

that's a spiritual connection, not a material connection as you would see with a labor party, for instance.

Well, the GOP kills poors, blacks, Latinos, gays, etc., which is precisely the 'material action' desired by the male whites.

This would be offensive if opebo hadn't been pulling the clear "schtick" for years.

Still, good article.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

that's a spiritual connection, not a material connection as you would see with a labor party, for instance.

I think it's been quite obvious for some time that a 'material' connection isn't necessary if the 'spiritual' one is strong-enough.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Worth noting that the John Birch Society and other "movement conservatives" studied and mimicked the techniques of Communist organizers.

[© tweed]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

that's a spiritual connection, not a material connection as you would see with a labor party, for instance.

I think it's been quite obvious for some time that a 'material' connection isn't necessary if the 'spiritual' one is strong-enough.

fine, but when the two come into conflict the material often trumps.  not that anecdotes are conclusive, but I have a union relative or three who rails against ns & their handouts yet have remained straight-ticket (D)s all their lives.

[Vosem]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

I'll let the second half of that statement slide and just say that it's far more than half of white people, and at least a quarter of Hispanics.

[opebo]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

I'll let the second half of that statement slide and just say that it's far more than half of white people, and at least a quarter of Hispanics.

Well come on buddy, you mean far more than half of white voters, and at least a quarter of Hispanic voters.   Not people in general, just voters.

[Vosem]

...the contemporary GOP... has few connections to the general population

Seriously?  About half of white people, and certainly a large majority of white males identify very strongly with the racism, xenophobia, fear, hatred, psychosis, and genocidal agenda of the GOP.

I'll let the second half of that statement slide and just say that it's far more than half of white people, and at least a quarter of Hispanics.

Well come on buddy, you mean far more than half of white voters, and at least a quarter of Hispanic voters.   Not people in general, just voters.

No, I adjusted. Otherwise both numbers would've been higher