Why do we keep enabling this insanity?

[lihan161051]

Over the past month or so, I've been watching Rick Santorum make long strides into extremist-theocratic territory, first with his extreme position on abortion, then with his increasingly bizarre pronouncements on contraception, public school education, and prenatal testing. There is little doubt anywhere that he is one of the most extreme right-

Comments

[nyyki]

This is not uncommon for primary races, though we haven't seen it in our lifetimes to this extreme degree. Primary races tend to the extreme as candidates try to pull as many votes in the baseline group as possible. I don't think any of the remaining candidates have enough electability to free us from the current reigning idealogue, even Ron Paul, who I mostly agree with. When it comes to the general election, none of them will be able to gain the support of independent voters, especially Santorum and Gingrich. (And after what I learned last year about LDS, Romney is just as scary to me as Santorum) So in reality this little extremist drama is not going to go much of anywhere -- the reality is that the religious zealots are more strident because they're losing membership quickly. So they're generating a crisis to try to scare their victims back into the pews. And it has nothing to do with the faith, and everything to do with their corrupted power base.

[lihan161051]

One hopes, anyway ..

If the real-world situation hasn't radically changed in ways that aren't yet visible, he's just an outlier. And yes, they're losing membership, which is making the leaders more strident, but is also more than likely contributing to a perceived escalation of stakes for the remaining followers. Even if the real-world consequences are only a further shift toward terrorism tactics, I'm still concerned, even if it only makes the existing marginalized factions harder targets. These people respond to defeat in only two ways -- retreat underground to regroup, or playing apocalypse if they're cornered -- and there are still plenty of them out there ..

[lihan161051]

And I'm nervous about the possibility of other tactics/strategies in the works that haven't made the news yet, that might be behind his feeling bold enough to do something that would otherwise be this obviously stupid. Mainly because the number and volume of his extreme statements go far beyond anything I've heard in politics in my lifetime .. which admittedly is a small sample, but given major social shifts in the 1968-1973 era, in the *current* climate, the extremity of those positions now is pretty unprecedented, and it seems to me like he believes he's talking to people who want those positions like he think he'll get votes out of them at the very least.

It's a psychology/cognitive based concern, rather than a historical one. I want to know what's *behind* this escalation of his and what's going on in his head and what he knows that we don't, yet ..

[nyyki]

Because, as I heard used on Usenet recently, "he's as crazy as an outhouse rat." The man isn't playing with even half a deck. to paraphrase Reason magazine, it's as sad state of affairs when the president is such a poor example of a leader that people like this can get serious consideration as his opponent. The Democrats should be horsewhipped for such a poor showing.(and remember, I feel both parties should be tried for treason and hung)

[mmoneurere]

It also worries me that Santorum is basically providing ideological cover for a candidate who gets some supposedly-progressive support despite opposing anti-discrimination and worker-safety laws (along with environmental protections, a right to organize, reproductive freedom, access to healthcare...) because he also sometimes takes a right position for a wrong reason.