Jeffrey D. Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University Shreveport. If you're an elected official, political operative or anyone else upset at his views, don't go bothering LSUS or LSU System officials about that because these are his own views solely. This publishes five days weekly with the exception of 7 holidays. Also check out his Louisiana Legislature Log especially during legislative sessions (in "Louisiana Politics Blog Roll" below).
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23.2.17
Temper tantrums remind why left lost all power
In case anyone had forgotten what propelled the
reelection of Republican Congressional majorities and the GOP capturing of the
White House three months ago, activity
at a town hall meeting in Metairie for Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy provided
a reminder.
Political opponents of Cassidy converged at the
location, strategically arriving early enough to pack the venue. During the
event, they filibustered against Cassidy’s issue preferences and others imputed
from GOP Pres. Donald Trump,
rudely shouting down attempts to explain when those veered from their party
line. In all, it replicated a pattern seen at a handful of other such meetings
involving politicians in prominent positions of reforming the excesses of the
former Pres. Barack
Obama era – in Cassidy’s case, by his sponsorship of a reasonable
alternative to the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).
Recognize that little in the way of reason or
intellect marked the screed launched by the militants. This reflects the state
of liberalism in America today, that has seen over the past half century constant
erosion of its validity, as history and analysis increasingly demonstrates its
bankruptcy. Only raw emotion remains, where liberalism as an ideology now
centers on invalid assertions repeated often and forcefully enough will grant its
views legitimacy, despite what we have learned by experiencing liberalism in
action – as its rejection at all levels of government culminating in last year’s
elections demonstrated.
Further, this protesting reflects top-down
organizing, as opposed to the conservative TEA Party movement of eight years
ago. Then, as even leftist
house organs were forced to admit, immediate discontent over the sharp
leftward turn policy took under Obama produced a spontaneous backlash that over
time promoted a highly decentralized network of policy entrepreneurs coming to
the front to coordinate. By contrast, Obama’s
community organizing arm has played a prominent role in encouraging the showmanship
at events like town hall meetings, Democrat
operatives have bragged about their roles in staging these confrontations,
and a
number of other leftist groups have built cadres that they can activate on a
moment’s notice to stage protests these days.
It might be over the top to argue that a
significant number of agitators who show up at a meeting like Cassidy’s are “professional”
protesters – likely most are constituents. But it’s certain that they received
instructions for mobilization from centralized sources – in Cassidy’s case,
shown by the fact that hardly any protesters appeared at his other town hall
meetings at different locations within hours of the Metairie event. It’s too
coincidental to think all the aggrieved in south Louisiana independently chose
to converge at one place; this screams tactics of jamming one place to block
out Cassidy supporters and increase intimidation of him.
But Cassidy has an unflappable nature and
throughout refused to take their bait, rejecting their uninformed allegations
and premises. The physician also made an exact diagnosis of the situation in
his remarks afterwards: “I assume they’re Americans that care about our country
that feel differently about Trump than
most folks in Louisiana do, but they’re coming out with their
constitutionally protected right to assemble and speak” (emphasis added).
Just so. They represent the true One Percent, who if
they just emote long enough and passionately enough can avoid realizing all of
that cannot make up for the factual and logical deficiencies in their worldviews.
In no way do they represent a majority of Louisianans, nor even a majority in
America (such as on Trump’s immigrant
orders and Obamacare).
They may think they can masquerade as such, through zealously making their
distinctly minority view appear more prevalent than it is, but election results
don’t lie.
However, in one respect Cassidy’s summation erred.
Unfortunately, the Metairie meeting also cloned the most disturbing aspect of
these efforts – a strategy that deploys emotive rhetoric designed to deflect
and drown out opposing views. This comes from acknowledgment by those spewing
it that they cannot win the argument, so they must prevent any countering to their
polemics. In that sense, they do not respect the Constitution because they seek
to deny others from exercising the same rights that they abuse.
It’s precisely this arrogant, ignorant lecturing,
led for so long by an insufferable but charismatic Obama whose cult of
personality alone staved off complete rejection by the nation’s majority years
ago, that has decimated Democrats. Over the past eight years that attitude cost
the left all levers of power, reducing its standard-bearing party nationally to
a rump
organization with governing power isolated in urban enclaves and a few states.
In Louisiana, it has merely an accidental governor, controls no other
state-level institutions, and only some of its largest cities.
Politics by temper tantrum cannot win elections,
but undoubtedly the left will continue this because that’s all it knows,
repelling those interested in making policy for the common good whose votes it
needs for its agenda to become relevant again. Meanwhile, enjoy watching the
One Percenters engage in therapy, raging against a world they simply cannot understand.
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