Thank You, Michelle Bachmann
When I was young, I loftily dreamed of being President one day. It was a dream that had evolved from reading the biographies of leaders like Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy. The books were written in an heroic fashion - leaving out any real humanity - instead focusing on these Presidents' ability to inspire Americans long after their deaths. Nonetheless, these youthful impressions left their mark on me.
Of course adulthood has a way of brushing aside childhood dreams, bringing a measure of reality to our worlds. Which is as it should be. After all, if all of our childhood dreams were realized the world would be overpopulated with firemen, cowboys, professional athletes, dancers, diva singers, actresses and Presidents.
But, thanks to Rep. Michelle Bachmann from Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, I have decided to dust off my naive childhood dream and make it a reality. In fact, Ms. Bachmann has renewed my belief that entry into the hallowed halls of Congress is - once again - available to every American. After all, how couldn't it be if they let a NUT like her in?
In case you haven't heard, Representative Bachmann is doing her best impression of a child at a Mexican-themed birthday party, swinging wild accusations at a piniata that bears no resemblence to the truth. Specifically, Mrs. Bachmann has accused Huma Abedin, a decades-long aide to Hillary Clinton, of distant ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Never mind that she is married to a Jewish man. The Muslim Brotherhood is a world-wide organization whose primary goal is to to instill the Qur'an (the Islamic holy book) as the "sole reference point for ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community and state". I don't think it's too far off to say that some Christian Americans have the same goal, instead instilling the Holy Bible as a similar, sole reference point. But I digress.
Bachmann's baseless, unfounded accusations were met by almost universal disdain in Congress. The two most prominent members of her own party in the House and Senate, Rep. John Boehner and Senator John McCain, pleaded with her to stop, saying her statements were "false" and "dangerous". But, having regained the national spotlight she lost after withdrawing from the Republican Presidential primaries, Ms. Bachmann is not about to relinquish it now. When the sole Muslim member of Congress - fellow Minnesotan Congressman Keith Ellison - criticized Bachmann, he knew he was in for it. "I knew when I raised the issue of her unfounded accusations of disloyalty that sooner or later she was going to get around to accusing me." I find it intensely hypocritical that Bachmann didn't lob disloyalty accusations at Boehner and McCain. After all, their criticism of her was much harsher. Oh that's right, they're Christians.
So why all the fuss?
It's not terribly surprising that anti-Muslim hysteria in America hasn't died down too much in the more than ten years since 9/11. Yes, many Americans - in New York, Iraq and Afghanistan - have been killed by Muslim extremists. But I think there is more to it than that. I think Rep. Bachmann is trying desperately, narcissistically, to tap into some basic human emotions, and play them for all she's worth. But then again, she's not the first.
In 1950, a little known junior Senator from Wisconsin pulled out a sheet of paper prior to giving a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. On the paper, he said, were a list of Communists that he claimed had infiltrated the highest positions of our national government. His name was Joseph McCarthy. And so began an unrelenting three year period in American history in which much of the population was governed by fear. McCarthy too, swung wildly, damaging reputations and ruining lives, unjustly labeling many Americans as have Communist loyalties or sympathies.
Do you see any similarities?
This new millenium, like the 1950's and other times in American history, is full of uncertainty. We have a slumping economy, a growing immigrant population, a shrinking middle class and greater religious diversity than any time in our history. Ms. Bachmann is only doing what the worst of our national leaders have done going all the way back to the founding of the Republic. She is playing on our fears. She is preaching the politics of hate and division. She is doing this because she knows there is a segment of the population that thinks just like she does.
Thankfully, elected leaders like Ms. Bachmann don't have much staying power. Senator McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate, banished to the back row, and died of alcoholism a few short years after reaching the pinnacle of national power. President Richard Nixon, never known as a consensus-builder, was driven from the Presidency by his own criminal wrongdoing. I don't know what Ms. Bachmann's fate will be. But it is clear that she is already regarded as "crazy" by many reasonable thinking Americans. And if this is the worst that happens to her - that will be enough.
It's absolutely no surprise that our most revered leaders were loved primarily because they inspired hope. And this hope was not limited to just Americans who looked like they did, were from the same economic class or worshiped God in the same way. Such leaders believed there was room enough in the American experiment for everyone. They preached the gospel of hope, love and togetherness. These are not Ms. Bachmann's strong suits. She would quaintly believe that thousands of Asian-born immigrants didn't build our western railroads in the 1800's, that Irish immigrants didn't populate the sweatshops of the Industrial Revolution or that the entire agrarian economy of the Old South wasn't built upon slave labor. Yes, those examples might be extreme, but dear Michelle needs to understand and accept that America is not all White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. Never was.
But I sincerely owe her my thanks. Only such lunacy as she has exhibited lately could have convinced me that a run for national office was no longer just a young boy's fantasy. But before I declare my candidacy for President, I better make clear to the American people that I believe the moon landing was faked, Area 51 is real, Elvis is still alive and aliens live among us.
Is that crazy enough for you?
In case you haven't heard, Representative Bachmann is doing her best impression of a child at a Mexican-themed birthday party, swinging wild accusations at a piniata that bears no resemblence to the truth. Specifically, Mrs. Bachmann has accused Huma Abedin, a decades-long aide to Hillary Clinton, of distant ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Never mind that she is married to a Jewish man. The Muslim Brotherhood is a world-wide organization whose primary goal is to to instill the Qur'an (the Islamic holy book) as the "sole reference point for ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community and state". I don't think it's too far off to say that some Christian Americans have the same goal, instead instilling the Holy Bible as a similar, sole reference point. But I digress.
Bachmann's baseless, unfounded accusations were met by almost universal disdain in Congress. The two most prominent members of her own party in the House and Senate, Rep. John Boehner and Senator John McCain, pleaded with her to stop, saying her statements were "false" and "dangerous". But, having regained the national spotlight she lost after withdrawing from the Republican Presidential primaries, Ms. Bachmann is not about to relinquish it now. When the sole Muslim member of Congress - fellow Minnesotan Congressman Keith Ellison - criticized Bachmann, he knew he was in for it. "I knew when I raised the issue of her unfounded accusations of disloyalty that sooner or later she was going to get around to accusing me." I find it intensely hypocritical that Bachmann didn't lob disloyalty accusations at Boehner and McCain. After all, their criticism of her was much harsher. Oh that's right, they're Christians.
So why all the fuss?
It's not terribly surprising that anti-Muslim hysteria in America hasn't died down too much in the more than ten years since 9/11. Yes, many Americans - in New York, Iraq and Afghanistan - have been killed by Muslim extremists. But I think there is more to it than that. I think Rep. Bachmann is trying desperately, narcissistically, to tap into some basic human emotions, and play them for all she's worth. But then again, she's not the first.
In 1950, a little known junior Senator from Wisconsin pulled out a sheet of paper prior to giving a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. On the paper, he said, were a list of Communists that he claimed had infiltrated the highest positions of our national government. His name was Joseph McCarthy. And so began an unrelenting three year period in American history in which much of the population was governed by fear. McCarthy too, swung wildly, damaging reputations and ruining lives, unjustly labeling many Americans as have Communist loyalties or sympathies.
Do you see any similarities?
This new millenium, like the 1950's and other times in American history, is full of uncertainty. We have a slumping economy, a growing immigrant population, a shrinking middle class and greater religious diversity than any time in our history. Ms. Bachmann is only doing what the worst of our national leaders have done going all the way back to the founding of the Republic. She is playing on our fears. She is preaching the politics of hate and division. She is doing this because she knows there is a segment of the population that thinks just like she does.
Thankfully, elected leaders like Ms. Bachmann don't have much staying power. Senator McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate, banished to the back row, and died of alcoholism a few short years after reaching the pinnacle of national power. President Richard Nixon, never known as a consensus-builder, was driven from the Presidency by his own criminal wrongdoing. I don't know what Ms. Bachmann's fate will be. But it is clear that she is already regarded as "crazy" by many reasonable thinking Americans. And if this is the worst that happens to her - that will be enough.
It's absolutely no surprise that our most revered leaders were loved primarily because they inspired hope. And this hope was not limited to just Americans who looked like they did, were from the same economic class or worshiped God in the same way. Such leaders believed there was room enough in the American experiment for everyone. They preached the gospel of hope, love and togetherness. These are not Ms. Bachmann's strong suits. She would quaintly believe that thousands of Asian-born immigrants didn't build our western railroads in the 1800's, that Irish immigrants didn't populate the sweatshops of the Industrial Revolution or that the entire agrarian economy of the Old South wasn't built upon slave labor. Yes, those examples might be extreme, but dear Michelle needs to understand and accept that America is not all White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. Never was.
But I sincerely owe her my thanks. Only such lunacy as she has exhibited lately could have convinced me that a run for national office was no longer just a young boy's fantasy. But before I declare my candidacy for President, I better make clear to the American people that I believe the moon landing was faked, Area 51 is real, Elvis is still alive and aliens live among us.
Is that crazy enough for you?
Just finished the book The Presidents Club. Recommend it as a summer read- it was 22 hours of listening (audiobook)-- so much to learn about the men who lead and continue to even after they lose the title of president!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of it - that sounds like my kind of read!
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