Tango on the Cliff

The Post Mortem - Part III

[Prologue: My host/usher was horrified and dejected at the utter chaos that characterized the so-called ‘free, frank and brutal analysis of the defeat’. The once-proud Republican Party, also called the Grand Old Party (GOP), the party that gave America some of the finest and most accomplished Presidents (such as Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, even Ronald Reagan) was reduced to a conglomeration of vicious, warring, partisan cabals of parochial and extremist interests. Anyone who did not completely agree with any group’s narrow, extremist definition of a ‘real conservative’, was termed an enemy of America, or worse still, an enemy of the GOP. Any kind of reasoned analysis, a give-and-take of ideas and interests seemed completely out of reach for this group of ultra-partisan, puerile ideologues. They couldn’t reach a point of compromise even within themselves, far less be it for them to reach a compromise with Democrats. As a new American, I was also quite saddened to watch one of the most important pillars of a functioning democracy, namely a responsible and vibrant opposition party to check and balance the power of the ruling party, go into a state of certain decay and decline. I had seen the horrific consequences of a lack of a viable opposition party in India. I thought that I could share a perspective that might drive some sense into these juvenile delinquents…]

My host saw the pity in my eyes. There were no words spoken but he knew that I had something to say. He thought that whatever I had to say, couldn’t be worse than the spectacle unfolding before him. He silently drew another gun from his pocket, this was a real gun. He fired three rounds in the air and the loud booms had a deafening effect on the warring conservatives. There was a sudden silence and my host handed the microphone to me. And I, an obscure Indian American blogger of American political matters, addressed the august assembly of conservative bigwigs:

Friends, Americans, Conservatives, lend me your ears

For I come to praise the Conservatism, not to bury it.

You have gathered here to delve into the cosmic mystery of why Barack Obama won the reelection while the venture capital firm of Romney, Romney and Romney LLC lost it in spite of spending a billion dollars, most of which came from this very august gathering of conservatives. You have passed through the 5 stages of grief. ‘Denial’, where Karl Rove, the boy genius of the past decade, made a spectacle of himself by refusing to accept the call of his own ‘fair and balanced’ network. ‘Anger’, where a deranged Trump exhorted fellow Americans to reject this ‘travesty of democracy’. ‘Bargaining’, where solace was sought that Obama won by a much smaller margin, and phrases like, ‘if only a few more thousand conservatives had voted, we would have romped home’. Then depression and acceptance, where a thousand elegies have been written; of an America that is no more, poignant epitaphs of an ideology that alone took America to its greatness but has become passe in today’s contraceptive-crazed America. But now you are at the most important, 6th stage of grief, namely ‘blame’. The original researchers of the idea of the 5 stages of grief did not even think of this stage of because they were obviously not politicians. 

A thousand recriminations have been proffered, blaming the loss on everyone and everything, ranging from the various Romney’s that graced your nomination, through Chris Christie, through the Hispanics, the women, the anti-Christians, the pseudo-Christians, the gays, the illegal immigrants, the immigrants, the millenials, the freeloaders, the 47%, the ‘takers’ and all the way to the Electoral College, that very venerable institution that was considered a beacon of real American democracy in the 2000 election when Gore won the popular vote while ‘He who shall not be named’ won the electoral college. But through all this wailing, gnashing of teeth and hand-wringing, one constant theme has emerged. Every conservative pundit, huckster, political hustler and his uncle has been steadfast in upholding the maxim that the great ideology of ‘conservatism’ is hale and hearty and needs no change. Which means that if only more people agree and accept the so-called ‘conservatism’ than those who accept/agree with the other side, the Republicans will win the election.

Since most, if not all, of the people in this august gathering get their news from the ‘fair and balanced’ network, it is my duty to show you how the rest of the ‘unfair and unbalanced’ America saw the conservatism – the ideology that needs no change:

The rest of the America saw conservatism as a belief system that boos a serving gay soldier for being gay and still wishing to serve this country in the battlefield. Rick, ‘the Old Testament’ Santorum then proceeded to excoriate the gay soldier for being gay and being a soldier and received a hearty applause from the ‘conservative’ base. As if that was not enough to showcase the ‘conservatism’, the Faux News anchorette defended the booing in some convoluted way. Ron, ‘the Libertarian’ Paul, gave his ‘Marie Antoinette’ policy as a counter to Obamacare where the society can let the uninsured peopledie if they haven’t bought a health insurance. That really showcased the compassionate side of the conservatism. Rush Limbaugh provided an example of the gentlemanly side of conservatism when he called Ms. Fluke a ‘slut’ for demanding to include the cost of contraception as part of health insurance. ‘El Rushbo’ was not satisfied with that show of a refined, gentlemanly conservative, so he demanded that Ms. Fluke should satisfy his prurient urges by letting him watch her put the contraceptives to use. The firebrand Ms. Conservative Coulter called Obamaa retard and proceeded to insult the mentally handicapped people. Richard Mourdock then declared that rape was God’s will, then clarified that rape was not God’s will but the conception as result of a rape is God’s will. Before that Todd Akin redefined medical science by claiming that legitimate women had a legitimate mechanism to shut down the reproductive system of their bodies in case they were being subjected to a legitimate rape. And he didn’t even apologize for this comment. 

My dear conservatives, I don’t know which conservatism you prescribed to America, but the non-Faux America, the rest of the ‘unfair and unbalanced’ America saw a conservatism defined by these and similar exchanges. In the 2012 election, the GOP offered the George W Bush economic policy, the Dick Cheney foreign policy, the Rick Santorum-Richard Mourdock social policy, the Joe Arpaio-Jan Brewer immigration policy, the Marie Antoinette healthcare policy, Donald Trump tax policy and Limbaugh-Coulter bipartisanship policy. And now you wonder why the majority in America did not see it as a prescription for liberty, justice and pursuit of happiness? 

Ever since Nov 5, 2008, the day after Obama’s first Presidential victory, the only agenda offered by GOP and its congressional caucus was simply to defeat Obama in 2012. The conservatives' sole objective for the past 4 years was not about creating jobs, improving the economy, reducing the debt, increasing the American standard of living, or anything else to address the horrendous condition that your last conservative president created. Instead your whole platform was to make Obama a "one term" president. And you, the conservatives, went around believing you had this in the bag - because you couldn’t fathom how ALL of America didn’t hate Obama as much as you did. 

And then on Nov 7^th of this year, the scales fell off your collective eyes. But not all the scales. Some are still obstinately clutching to your collective eyes. You have blamed everyone and everything for this loss, but you have left the most important cause of the defeat as a sacrosanct, immutable truth that is the Raison d'être of your existence. In today’s Tea Party-infested environment, the conservatism has become a hiss and a byword for the rest of the ‘unfair and unbalanced’ America. That talibanistic conservatism is what needs to be buried if you wish to become relevant in the American politics again. 

I began this monologue with a promise that I come here to praise conservatism, not to bury it. And I will stand by my word. Conservatism, as prescribed by the thoughtful conservatives, is a great philosophy. At its core it states that the Government is something that needs to be curtailed in terms of its power. A Government’s power to tax, to subject its own citizens to Orwellian surveillance and draconian laws that interfere with individual liberty must be curtailed by a participative democracy. And it states that the tax is a necessary evil that needs to be minimized because a Government will always find uses for more tax revenue, and most of the times it goes into bloating an inefficient bureaucracy. It states that social changes need to be moderated in order to preserve and nurture the cultural and historical core of a society. But not a single policy of GOP in 2012 came within a mile of being called conservative. On the contrary most of it was ‘fundamentalist’ and antithetical to the principles of real conservatism. 

If you truly introspect and follow the path of real conservatism instead of a Christian Talibanism, it won’t be long before the rest of the ‘unfair and unbalanced’ America comes back to your point of view. Maybe you should think seriously whether the Faux News, the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, O’ Reilly, Beck, Rove and their Godfather Ailes have the interest of America and conservatism at their heart or they are simply looking after their own financial interests. I can bet on it that Faux News has an internal study that predicts a precipitous drop in their TRP’s if and when a conservative actually wins the Presidency. So it is in their financial interest to keep stoking the hatred that gives them their precious TRP’s while the rest of the sane America keeps handing a drubbing to the GOP candidates, election after election….

By this time the warring conservatives had recovered from the shock of the gun fired in the air by my host. They all, in unison, drew their water guns and squirted me with a ferocity I hadn’t seen before. All the factions of the great conservative gathering joined hands and screamed in unison “throw out his dumb liberal. He is an enemy of America”.

I should have brought my great big liberal raincoat.

The Post Mortem – Part II

[Prologue: As an obscure Indian American blogger of American Political matters (whose opinions have as much value as a bet on Romney victory post-Nov 6^th), I was invited to the post mortem session held by the prominent Republicans at a secluded estate somewhere on the East Coast. The convener of the PMS (Post Mortem Session – not to be confused with the other PMS, though all the Republican men displayed symptoms quite similar to the other PMS) circulated a one-pager with possible reasons of the defeat of Gov. Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee. The reasons included most of the rants of the Faux News paid commentators and similar blowhard right wing thinkers. After the prayers and the opening remarks, the convener opened the floor for a free, frank and brutal discussion to analyze the reasons of the defeat. And I sat down with a drink and popcorn to enjoy the show.]

As soon as the convener opened the floor for discussion, there was pandemonium as dozens of people started shouting at once. Newt, the icon of marital fidelity, grabbed the mike, snatching it from Santorum, the icon of Christianity. He screamed into the mike, “I told you morons that Romney, who lost to McCain, who was soundly beaten by Obama in 2008, was the wrong choice. This is what happens when you don’t nominate the greatest Republican since Reagan. Just look at the exit polls. Most of the real conservatives stayed home because Romney was a faux conservative. Romney is as conservative as Fox News is fair and balanced. Romney lost the vote of most of the young people. I would have gotten that vote for you. (At this, somebody in the audience shouted an incredulous “WHY?”). Newt ploughed on. “Because which young people wouldn’t want to have three wives instead of just one wife?” Newt wanted to continue his misogynist tirade much longer but just then some people pulled guns and shot Newt. 

I was quite taken aback at this but my usher reassured me. “Oh, these are just water-guns. We are Republicans so everybody wanted to bring their gun cabinets to this meeting. We decided that that would have been unwise. So the NRA (National Rifle Association) graciously supplied us with hundreds of water-guns. As you can see, it was a wise decision.”

Now Santorum, the social conservative, pulled the mike back from Newt and began his fire and brimstone routine. “This is what happens when you allow a closet pro-choice candidate to be nominated. Gov. Romney couldn’t fool our base. I had told you that there was hardly any difference between Romney and Obama. So our people didn’t want to vote for Romney who was a white Obama or Obama, who was a black Romney. So they stayed home. Next time you should nominate me. I am the real conservative. I will have Mourdock or Akin as my running mate and we will sweep the election.”

Again a bunch of people drew their NRA-supplied water-guns and squirted Santorum. These looked like billionaires or the Citizens in the ‘Citizens United’ part. They had wagered a lot of money on a Romney victory and they felt that but for the Jesus-freaks like Santorum, Akin and their Crusader friends, their man, Romney, the moderate would have swept the election. They were very upset with the Jesus-freaks and they showed their displeasure by squirting Santorum. The Tea Party and other associated groups were never going to take this high-handedness. They squirted back the billionaires with equal vigor and shouted slogans against the money-men, calling them Pharisees and other biblical villains. 

“If we hadn’t energized our base with well-timed comments from our great pro-life crusaders like Richard Mourdock or Todd Akin, your quarter-billionaire would have lost a few more states”, one of the Tea Party Crusaders shouted (he was actually wearing a T-shirt that declared him to be a ‘Tea Party Crusader’ with a picture of a Christian Cross stabbed into the bleeding heart of a liberal). One of the billionaires replied with contempt that if he and others hadn’t pumped in millions of dollars of their hard-earned money into the Romney campaign, the Democrats would have won even the two Dakotas. There was a renewed bout of furious water-gun barrage from both sides and a lot of people got drenched in the process.

The trickle-down people then joined the melee. Their leader, a bespectacled professorial-looking man shouted at both the groups and claimed that it was their economic theories that got them whatever votes they did. “We explained that Obama’s idea of raising taxes on the millionaires was anti-social, anti-Christ and anti-capitalist (!). We explained the fine points of the Keynesian and Miltonian economics, then fused them with Reaganomics and Mittnomics, and promised that this concoction would get America back working. That is why you folks won at least some states”. Both, the crusaders and the Pharisees, stopped their internecine water squirting for a few minutes, stared blankly in utter lack of comprehension and jointly fired their weapons at the economists and sent them scurrying for cover.

Just then a burly man in a Sheriff’s hat grabbed the mike and shouted that Romney was not strong enough on the illegal immigrants’ issue. “Your man was doomed to failure because he hired illegal immigrants instead of hiring honest Americans to mow his lawns. He should have proposed the Arizona model of immigration reform and he would have swept the election. Every white man would have voted for him if only he was tougher on illegal aliens”.

At this, all the three previous groups squirted him with much water; even the economics people joined in the shooting. “Are you crazy? We, as Republicans, are even thinking of proposing an annual amnesty so that we can get some slice of the Hispanic votes. We may even get some Latinos if we spend a heck a lot on advertising on Latino channels. We are thinking of making Spanish the second language for the next Convention. And here this guy is mouthing off stupid macho stuff on immigration. I wish somebody would replace my water gun with a real one.” But some people in the three groups broke off from their erstwhile comrades and stood by the Sheriff and started shooting back at the rest of the Republicans. The microphone changed hands several times and the following phrases could be heard, in no particular order:

“Throw out the illegals, the Hispanics, the Mexicans,….”

“Romney was an idiot. Newt could have swept all three debates and Obama would have been toast…”

“Christie needs to be shot. Anybody who shows partisanship needs to be thrown out of the GOP…”

“Ban abortion 100%. This will bring back the whites to GOP…”

“Gay marriage is destroying the country. Ban it and watch the GOP rule for the next 100 years…”

“Abolish taxes on all people making 100,000 or more. They are the job creators. GOP needs to support all those making 100k or more…”

“Ban the 18^th amendment. We don’t want women voting if they vote Democrat all the time...”

“That was the 19^th amendment you idiot! 18^th amendment banned the prohibition…”

“18^th amendment WAS the prohibition you moron! 21^st amendment annulled the prohibition…”

“Throw out the intellectuals. They are the enemies of America…”

“Kick out the blacks – they are enemies of America…”

“Kick out the Spanish-speakers – they are enemies of America… send them to Spain”

“Kick out the women – they are enemies of America…”

““Kick out the people who don’t go to church – they are enemies of America…”

“Kick out California, New York and Ohio – they are enemies of America…”

“Kick out the Electoral College – they are enemies of America…don’t give them college tuition waivers”

“Kick out the scientists, teachers, engineers – they are enemies of America…”

After this the melee became so frightful that the only words that wafted over the din were, “…enemies of America… enemies of America… enemies of America…”.

My host looked on in horror and utter sadness at this sorry spectacle. A once great party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Eisenhower was reduced to this pathetic state. I could see utter desperation in his eyes and I thought that I needed to do something to drive some sense into these juvenile delinquents. America’s future depended on it.

To be continued…

The Post Mortem – Part I

The quiet, secluded estate on the Chesapeake shore included a huge mansion, a large hunting ground, a shooting range, a nine-hole Golf course, a small airstrip that could easily serve for landing the corporate jets of the Gulfstream variety. And there were several small servants’ quarters to service the needs of the rich and powerful people when their fancy took them to visit this idyllic vacation spot. And on the weekend following the great Republican debacle in the 2012 Presidential elections, all the high and mighty in the GOP and its sister concerns such as the Faux News, the right-wing talk show circuit, the conservative think-tanks, the billionaires, the pundits; they were all there to conduct a frank and brutal post-mortem of the defeat. They all arrived in limousines or in their Gulfstreams. The only odd man out was… you guessed it! A very obscure Indian American blogger of American political matters. 

As I entered the spacious hall where the Post Mortem Session (PMS?) was to be held, I perceived two large dartboards, about 10 feet in diameter and a smaller one about 5 feet in diameter. All the dartboards were so riddled with darts that I could scarcely make out the pictures that adorned the dartboards. After I looked carefully, I could make out the grumpy visage of Obama on one of them. The other one was obviously Romney and the smaller one was Chris Christy, the NJ Governor who praised Obama’s leadership the week before the election. My host, as he ushered me into the hall, picked up a couple of darts and in a fluid motion flung them simultaneously. The two darts easily found their marks – one on Obama and the other on the Christie dartboard. He looked at me triumphantly and remarked, “I have gotten good at this. I can shoot two darts at a time and can hit Christie and Obama at the same time. Now I am practicing throwing three darts”. I was quite taken aback at this. I could understand why the Republicans were throwing darts at an Obama dartboard (they have been doing it practically since the inauguration in 2009) but why Romney so soon after his defeat? And why Governor Christie, the hero of the Republican Convention? My usher guessed the cause of my perplexity and explained it thus, “Haven’t you read the National Review? Or the Weekly Standard? There are enough of us who feel that Romney’s campaign sucked big time and that snake Christie was responsible for at least 2-3 percentage points on the Election Day.” 

Just then I heard a commotion and looked around. A couple of people were physically carrying away a scrawny, tall, blond woman who was kicking and screaming. My usher’s face turned into a grimace. He commented, “She thinks it is unfair to blame Romney and believes that he was the best possible candidate. She wanted to erect a couple of dartboards of her own, with pictures of Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin but the Tea Party would have none of it”. Then my usher gave me a list of instructions – do’s and don’ts. They were mostly don’ts keeping with the spirit of the contemporary GOP. The only DO was that I was supposed to throw darts at the Obama dartboard every hour if I wished to continue to be a spectator to the PMS. In the spirit of investigative journalism I agreed to the list.

The session started with the prayers and a priest read some verses in the Bible and everybody joined the prayers. Next a Rabbi offered some Jewish prayers and a small but vociferous section of the audience joined in the Jewish prayers. Then the convener of the PMS got up and asked the audience, 

“OK. Now that the Judeo-Christian prayers are finished, do we have any other religions represented here? Any Hindus or Muslims or Buddhists or any other faiths?” Nobody came forward – and I surmised that there were probably no non-Jewish, non-Christian Republicans in the PMS (In fact, going by most of the exit polls, there were hardly any non-Jewish, non-Christian Republicans among American voters, but I kept my observations to myself as it was one of the don’ts in the list of instructions. “Do Not Open Your Mouth” was the explicit instruction in the list of don’ts.). 

Then the convener proposed to offer the prayers in Spanish and immediately there was loud murmur of approval among the audience. Then the rising Hispanic star on the firmament of the GOP, the ‘Great Brown Hope’, took the stage and offered prayers en Española. But I noticed that there were hardly any Hispanics in the PMS audience (In fact, going by most of the exit polls, there were hardly any Hispanic Republicans among American voters, but again I kept my observations to myself).

The convener began,

“We are here to find the reasons for our latest defeat. We don’t have much time as most of us have very busy schedules and millions or billions of dollars to earn or manage (or squander, I mused, again in silence as per the instructions) and we are staring into an abyss if the Democrats continue to win. I want to open the floor for suggestions as to how we can turn this defeat around in 2 years’ time for the next election cycle and more importantly, win the White House back in 2016. I have been talking to all the pundits from our network (he meant the Faux News Network, the fair and balanced boys fighting the good battle against the liberal and commie media sharks) and I have a list of reasons for our defeat. I have circulated a simple one pager with that list. Let’s start discussing each one in the order it appears on the list”.

My usher passed a sheet of paper to me. I will reproduce the list here for my millions of readers:

·         Mitt Romney – The candidate

·         Mitt Romney – The ex-MA Governor

·         Mitt Romney – The moderate

·         Mitt Romney – The nouveau conservative

·         Mitt Romney – Any other Mitt Romney that you may know or despise

·         The Romney Campaign

·         George Bush (the younger one. The older one also lost an election for us but that was too far back so we don’t care about it)

·         Chris Christie – the traitor (he wanted to come to the PMS but we declined)

·         Sandy – the hurricane

·         Non-Christians

·         Pseudo Christians – those who don’t go to church or go to some ungodly/satanic churches that are open to ‘gay marriage and abortion and contraception and Planned Parenthood and taxes on the rich people’ and still masquerade as Christians

·         The Women – the unmarried ones or the divorced ones or the lesbians or the single mothers or in other words, the feminists

·         Un-American people who believe in contraception, abortion, gay marriage, class warfare (that means taxing the rich people) or in other words those who don’t watch the Fox News

·         The Hispanics

·         The Latinos

·         The Spanish-speakers

·         Young People

In other words, all the un-American riffraff that still gets the right to vote and votes Democrat

(My note: I didn’t know that Hispanics and Latinos and Spanish-speakers were different sets of people at least to any major extent. But then I am just an obscure Indian American blogger of American political matters. What do I know?)

I could see that the night was going to be a long one. I poured myself a nice glass of wine and picked up a bag of popcorn and sat down for the long haul.

To be continued…