I’ve said this for decades now, and it’s so obvious that I don’t think I ever wrote about it — but it’s getting so prevalent now that I wonder why I don’t hear more people talking about it.
Divide and conquer.
‘Cos that’s what the right wing, and by extension, the Republicans, are all about.
The right spends a great deal of their time telling us who to blame for our ills (of course, it’s never them). They spend a lot of time chanting about giving power to the states, states’ rights, local government, and the like. Of course, that isn’t because they truly think that better decisions come from local government, but because by turning one small area against another small area they can conquer. This poisonous tactic, by necessity, requires demonizing someone: minority groups, the federal government… and naturally gives rise to hate groups. Bigots. Anti-government idiots who claim that the government is too big (except when that government is sending them checks).
The insanity happening in Arizona — where they’ve passed a law that allows the police to stop any brown person on the street and demand citizenship papers, like Mussolini’s brown shirts — has resulted in the talk of a “boycott” of the state… by another state. How does California boycott Arizona? Is the result of all this right wing bullshit finally going to be a new civil war? Will California seal its border or establish a blockade of Arizona?
The founders envisioned a federation of states, bound under a set of laws. The right wing has, ever since, worked tirelessly to ensure that doesn’t happen: a patchwork of rules, encouraging states to do their own thing, pitting them against each other. That’s why I hate the idea of pursuing same-sex marriage on a state-by-state basis, and that’s why “compassionate conservatives” love to say “it should be up to the states.” Divide and conquer, folks. Plain and simple.
