Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Literalism

Reading this about an Alabama official who won't lower the flag for Orlando because of the flag code really reminds me of a persistent strain of thought on the right: fundamental literalism.

These are people who can't read intent into anything.  Everything has to be exactly as the words say.  Bible says the world was created in six days?  It was six days.  Constitution says nothing about health care? We can't do health care.  You confuse automatic and semi-automatic weapons in a gun debate?  You are not qualified to speak about guns.

If you are a parent, you know this behavior.  It is the behavior of an angry tantrum thrown by a four year old.  And this makes sense, because the modern conservative movement is really nothing more than a sustained tantrum anyway.  This makes the GOP a group of people who are really just a bunch of 60 year old 4 year olds.

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