"Nigger" Used By Angry Vicious Mob

Today marks one of those rarest moments in national government when historic legislation, saved heroically from the jaws of ignorance, could be achieved. For a hundred years, a political battle has been fought in the United States to gain universal healthcare, and now we are on the precipice of a monumental breakthrough. It comes down to a clutch of conservative democrats who are still on the fence because they are fixated on a conjecture: that the new system could somehow advance their bête noire, abortion rights.

Rendering this moment all the more intense, hundreds of reactionaries, many affiliated with the Tea Party movement, have gathered outside the Capitol, jeering and hurling racist and anti-gay epithets at Democratic Representatives. One black lawmaker, Emanuel Cleaver, was spit on. James E. Clyburn, Majority Whip, had this to say:

“I have heard things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to get off the back of the bus."

Rep. Barney Frank was “heckled with anti-gay chants.” (Washington Post, ref. below)

This is not just a few oddballs in an otherwise decent gathering. This is a tinderbox of fury eager to erupt:

“At one point, when Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) wanted to walk across the street to an office building, he was ushered into a car by his security detail and driven a couple hundred feet through the screaming crowd.” (Washington Post)


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032002556.html?nav=hcmodule


This ugly vitriol reveals the sick face of the impediment to reform. A puerile mob scary to anyone who believes in intelligent discourse and deplores fuehrer-quality furor. Crowds like this are the reason we need more and better education on the perils of agglomerate rage. The prevalence of Tea Party hatemongers, the dregs of citizenry, is a symptom of the illness of dumbed-down dogma that has blighted this land far too long.

But the most garish symptom of all is the Republican Party itself. With goosestep GOP conformity, down to the last member of Congress, they have refused support. Not a single yea vote. So much for individualism and self-expression.

Not only that, they have ceaseless worked to torpedo the bill, maligning it and its supporters with the most vehement rhetoric. "This is not over. They do not have the votes yet. We've got to keep working to make sure that they never, ever, ever, ever get the votes to pass this bill," says Minority Leader John A Beohner (R-Ohio).

Republicans even stoked the vile herd of Tea Party protesters:

“Saturday evening, more than a handful of House Republicans held an impromptu rally on the Capitol steps. Using a megaphone, the lawmakers urged on the crowd. Shortly after 6 p.m., Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) dared Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to come out onto the House steps and address the more than 1,000 people who were gathered at the foot of the Capitol, prompting a loud and angry chant of "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy." (Washington Post)


Long ago, the philosopher Plato said in The Republic that a city-state was like a human soul, with different factions reflecting different traits. Carrying this metaphor to the present, the blind GOP represents that part of the mind which turns childish as catastrophe looms, blaming everyone else and fuming with red cheeks--all the while serving the shadowy interests of the rich and greedy, and denying that eight years of George W Bush tunneled us into a terrible mess.

The Democrats, led by Obama, represent the rational part of the mind, accompanied by its most noble passions. The goal is fairness and equality. To end the suffering of millions who currently have no access to healthcare. If the bill passes, the result will be flawed, but it is our only chance to break out of the stagnant muck of partisanship crippling the USA.