Reactionary Analogue to the SLA?
Posted by: duckandgather on: April 16, 2009
These people explain to us that politics in America follows 40-year cycles, that oscillate between political Left and Right. 1968 was the turning point of the previous cycle. 2008 was the most recent turning point.
The cycle that lasted from 1968 to 2008 was dominated by the Right. The previous one (1928-1968) was Left-dominted. The one we are just now starting is also Left in nature.
What happened to the vanquished Left in the early years of the last cycle — i.e from 1968-1973? Well, some of these “sore losers” Lefties didn’t take losing very well. One paradigm example was the ultra-Left SLA. Between 1968-1973, the SLA took to robbing banks and blowing up stuff.
This was the group to which Sarah Palin was referring when she said Obama was “pallin’ around with terrorists”.
Fast forward 40 years. Yesterday, my mother-in-law attended one of those reactionary “Tea Party” protests — this one was in the Bay Area. Those nationwide protests made me think the following: If there are thousands of 65-year-olds across the nation who feel indignant enough about that Obama fellow to go out and stomp around with placards, there must be a much smaller radical, reactionary fringe that is really pissed off.
So what sort of group will turn out to be the reactionary analogue to the SLA?
I tell you. My spider sense is tingling. I just have this bad, foreboding feeling about Obama’s safety. I just don’t think this country could survive his assassination if it happens in the next year or two.
I am heartened by stories saying that well-placed people are highly aware of this threat.
These are interesting times.
3 Responses to "Reactionary Analogue to the SLA?"
April 22, 2009 at 6:49 am
Thanks Matt. Excellent analysis as always. You’re probably right about my Left-leaning bias given what I’m about to write: I don’t disagree with your assessment that, thus far, Obama has seemed like a sort of “Bush II”. i.e. A “kinder, gentler” Bush.
But here is where my Lefty belief comes in. I believe that Obama has behaved this way for the very same reason that last June, after he vanquished Hillary, his campaign suddenly lurched to the Right, grasping for a mythical political Center.
I believe Obama “gets” the problems with, you name it: Corporations, unquestioned support of Israel, American Empire, peak oil and oil addiction, and even using failed, corrupt bankers to regulate the failed, corrupt banks.
Bu if he truly “gets” all of this, why is he behaving this way? My Lefty bias answers thus: Washington is a bed of snakes that is 75 years in the making (i.e. since FDR). Just like 9/11 “justified” bombing bystanders, torturing folks, and trying to scare all of us, I believe that some other kind of shocking event will be needed for Obama to drop his civilian clothes, come out of the phone booth, and show his “true colors”.
Hey, I’m not the only one who think Obama has “game” that he hasn’t showed yet. Check out Israel. Their incursion into Gaza in January was all about getting that business done before Obama took office. Israel knows that no matter how many times Obama kisses the ass of AIPAC or wears a yarmulke, deep down that black dude supports a Palestinian state.
Bush, on the other hand, the grandson of Prescott, son of George, scion of the first family of the military industrial complex, was another breed altogether.
That Obama can remind us of Bush says, to me, a lot more about the hidden, corrupt plumbing of Washington than it does about Obama.
[...] couple of months ago, I asked who would become the Reactionary Analogue to the SLA? The basic idea here is that the political Right is now on the outside of American politics, after [...]
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April 21, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I like you’re mother-in-law
Peter your lefty bias is showing clearly thru most of what you write. And before you jump on me, I hate Fox News and all the neo-cons, and most especially Bush Jr. – but YOU are so desperate for a savior, you are willing to oVerlook virtually all that is happening in the USA so that you can worship at the cult of Obama.
You should be smarter than that Peter. You read the book – hell, you wrote a brilliant extension to it. Do you really not understand how we get to the point where the People and the Corporations do battle ? Do you really think Obama is some kind of 4 or 8 year vacation break ?
I have seen absolutely NOTHING from Obama – and I mean not a single, tiny shred of evidence that he is anything other than Bush part II. Except of course, the gigantic, unprecedented financial boondoggle after another TARP TARF PPIP, absolutely guaranteed to completely destroy us, you and me, the People.
You are right about one thing – the revolution, the battle of the People just started these last few days. And like all big events the media and the govt) completely and totally misses the point. The Tea Parties ARE NOT ABOUT TAXES, and they are not reactionary. They are a last ditch attempt buy the People of this country to try to keep the Corporations and their lackeys, the political whores from destroying this country by handing over MORE trillions of dollars from OUR pockets to that of the Corps, even AFTER they have ALREADY trillions of other dollars and any hope most people ever had of a decent, peaceful retirement. They are not about taxes, they are not about right wingers (the SC Republican faced a solid 5 minutes straight of booing and catcalling when he took the stage at that Tea Party).
Scorecard : Iraq – yup, still there Afghanistan – worse than Bush, increasing troops, Guantanamo – yup still there, and the prisoners say worse now than under Bush, govt spending – yup far far worse than Bush – spending $4trillion this year, taking in 1.5 trillion and on and on and on.
For god’s sake, for Pete’s sake
wake up. Obama isn’t your savior, he’s just another in a very long line of politicians determined to destroy your ability to live a decent, peaceful life.