The ultra conservative right wing kicked off the Values Voter Summit today in DC promising to “take the country back” from – well, anyone who’s not an ultra right wing conservative. If the world didn’t seem filled with so many hot headed gun toting neocons today, I might look at this as a great comedic opportunity. Already, ultra right celebrities like Carrie Prejean are taking the stage to show off the blinged out crosses they bear for the One True Cause. But, after reading (and admittedly laughing here and there) the breakout session schedule, the VVS is simply deluded. The session descriptions read crazier than the character list from Crispin Hellion Glover’s movie What Is It? and have me asking a similar question – what exactly is a values voter?
With titles such as “True Tolerance: Countering the Homosexual Agenda In Public Schools” and “Thugocracy – Fighting The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy,” I can only guess that attendees will be treated to eye popping “truths” that have all of the validity of the following video:
The speakers this year include such luminaries as Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Baldwin. I’m waiting with baited breath that Joe Wilson will make a surprise guest appearance and lead attendees in a chorus of “you lie!” as they worship at the altar of Limbaugh.
It’s laughable, but this pageant of the absurd is a showcase of the same “values” that the hard core right trumpets on a daily basis to whip up an angry disenfranchised mob that feels the world’s problems the fault of the “pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way,” etc. Again, the ills of society are solely the fault of those not on the ultra right.
One need only read the briefs on the breakout session schedule to get the full picture:
OBAMACARE: RATIONING YOUR LIFE AWAY: “Long lines, refusal of care, months waiting for needed surgeries, rationing of treatments, mandates in support of abortion. These are all results of the health care plan currently being debated and placed in the United States, affecting all aspects of your life from your family decisions, to your paycheck to your tax bill. Is it the role of the federal government to provide womb to tomb healthcare? What about personal choice?”
Personal choice is a funny way of putting it. Is it a personal choice to get laid off from a job that provides healthcare, only to not be able to find a job that provides health care in this economy? Haven’t we already been waiting in long lines in the emergency room? Haven’t we already had to ration our treatments and prescriptions? How many people have insurance companies refused to cover care for because of shady “pre-existing conditions?”
THE NEW MASCULINITY: “Feminism has wreaked havoc on marriage, women, children and men. It is time to redress the disorder it has wrought and that must start with getting the principles and ideals for a new “masculinism” right. Such a “masculinism” will have its dovetailing counterpart in a new “feminism” for they mutually define each other and, in nature, are meant to be complementary.”
Of course they’re talking about “family values” here. Women leaving the home to vote or work, men sharing their feelings openly, allowing your children to wear colors other than pink and blue to identify their gender – all part of the feminist (sorry, feminazi) agenda. Gender equality killed John Wayne and now it’s coming for you.
ACTIVISM AND CONSERVATISM: FIT TO A TEA (PARTY): “On April 15th, hundreds of thousands of citizens gathered in more than 800 cities to voice their opposition to out of control spending at all levels of government. Organized in all 50 states by Americans from all walks of life, these “tea parties” were a true grassroots protest of irresponsible fiscal policies and intrusive government. The mainstream media could not explain the phenomenon that anyone would be fed up with Washington, D.C. now that the liberals in charge. We will tell you how it happened, why it is still happening and how you can organize your own.”
I’m curious to see what Sarah Palin has to say about the claims of two million attendees showing up to the final tea party rally in Washington, since she doesn’t like it when people “make stuff up.” That said, the description is an obvious fallacy, since nothing about tea parties has grass roots and the irresponsible fiscal policies were in full swing while Obama was in college. The intrusive government the extreme right complains about is the “socialist” boogyman that no one on the extreme right can define. The real intrusive stuff such as preventative detentions, warrentless wiretapping and massive amounts of government surveillance directed at ordinary citizens isn’t labeled as “intrusive” and is in fact, sanctioned and applauded by the extreme right. As long as the ultra right can keep its assault rifles, they don’t mind a camera in every home – at least the homes of those not in the “party.”
The problem with values voters is that the country they want to “take back” never existed for the majority of Americans. It’s the myth of Leave It To Beaver suburbia – where mom has dinner ready for dad after a hard days work, where junior is captain of the football team and sally plays hopscotch on the patio. Anyone and everyone else – the poor, the jobless, non-Christians, non-whites, gays, the ACLU – simply don’t exist in that world, are to be shunned because they failed at “personal responsibility,” or are evil others who will be defeated somewhere when junior goes off on his four year tour of duty.
The values I see here – racism, classism, homophobia, intolerance – are values that need to be done away with, not paraded with a stars and stripes veil over them.
Aaron Cynic is a zine writer, internet radio host, blogger, musician, and project organizer from Chicago. He mainly publishes a zine called Diatribe, but has published a few other one shot zines. Aaron has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications. His radio show appears Sunday nights at 8pm on Punk and Beans Radio. You can reach Aaron by emailing aaron @ diatribemedia dot com.
How is it a “value” when there is exclusion rather than inclusion??
That’s the question, isn’t it? The “values” hard core conservatives purport to have many times are little more than smokescreens for an elitist and exclusionary worldview. Peace and prosperity are fine, so long as they’re the ones who are most prosperous. If it comes at the expense of others, that’s just the way the world is supposed to work.
I’m confused still. It’s freedom if we are all conforming to their standards and following their lack of reason and logic that they insist is reason and logic. If they say that it’s raining and it’s not by looking outside or even standing outside – it’s raining. What they say is the truth after all. I think the problems are ignorance and naivete. It’s very hard to change attitudes if not impossible. It’s better to ignore these people because progress won’t be made with them. They see the country through their own lense and it won’t change easily. Religon is the hang up, I think.
Michelle, you make some interesting points, but I think the issue now is they’ve become harder to ignore. The VVS featured people who have decision making power within the government, within big business, within big media. They’re slowly transforming the national debate into a “good vs evil” culture war where no matter what they say – reason and logic aside – is the “good” side. And because they’re the loudest people in the room and plenty of other folks are hurting right now, people are getting suckered into believing it.
“What the thinker thinks, the prover proves”
[...] GO TO FULL STORY [...]