Doubling Down?

I am one of those folks who never really thought of Grover Norquist as being the face of evil.  At least not evil in the Hellfire and Brimstone sense. And I don't think that Paul Krugman really think's he's evil either. But, Norquist and his ilk, despite having backed away from the deregulation fiasco--and none have yet acknowledged their policy advisements were in any way, shape, or form irresponsible or disastrous--do still represent a dire threat to our economic future. 


He isn't evil. He's just educated beyond his means of comprehension. Which is true for a good many of the Ivory Tower Elite who make up the NeoConservative "movement." Impractical idealists who are insulated from the effects of the very policies that they endorse, and insulated from the people that these policies affect. He is "evil" only in the petty, mundane, and all too common variety of selfish arrogance that allows folks who have never really had to struggle or work for that matter, to figure that they've managed this because they're so much brighter than everyone, and then figure that they can experiment with peoples' lives.

Insulated and unaffected, they don't see real consequence to the policies that they've endorsed, and thus, they really can't see where these policies will lead us. It is all theory and idealism, and if they are evil, it is a petty, blind, and banal ignorance of cause of effect sort of evil. They aren't dumb, they're just not bright enough to connect their policies with effects on real human beings. Just numbers, just theories.

Which, indeed can bare a great deal of sorrow in the world, and that they are ignorant to consequences doesn't absolve them of responsibility, but I can't call them Evil. Just a lot dumber than advertised.

Even Grover Norquist has backed away from the policy suggestions he gave the last Administration in order to dull his visibility, because the sad thing is, I think that many are beginning to realize exactly how wrong they were, but their ego won't let them leave it alone. Instead, you've got AEI fellows advising the Tea Party, to give them further deniability.

And until we take their toys away from them, these Boy and Girl Children will play until they break the economy, and the nation. And it is up to us to strip them of their fictional raiment of "small government" and "personal responsibility" while at the same time driving up our budget for nearly a generation,  and supporting policies that violate our privacy, and infringe on citizens' freedom of religion, and actively supporting policies that will bankrupt our childrens' futures. 



Crossposted to The Motley Moose.