Sunday notes

I know it is Easter. I have always had a bit of a conflicted relationship with this date on the church calendar. I hope everyone has a nice day.

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Anyway, a few items caught my eye. One was this synopsis of right-wing rewrites to American history. As Steve Benen noted, how do we have a serious conversation with people who have decided that Alexander Hamilton was actually a small-government Tea Partier, or that Joe McCarthy was actually an American hero? How do you have a serious conversation with people who simply reject historical facts they don't like? How many right-wingers would believe that much of the ACA came from Republican ideas? That many Republicans actually supported the individual mandate? Or that Ronald Reagan actually raised taxes several times during his 8 years?

I have been told by a conservative friend that he was told that it was Republicans who pushed through the Civil Rights Act, and they did so against Democratic resistance. As we have noted, this is partially true, but also completely misleading.

As Benen noted, many of those on the right would simply refuse to accept those historical facts. How the hell can we talk about anything seriously?

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A FB friend noted that the media still refers to right wing violence as merely a potential, and seems to not put together the actual threats and actual violence from the far right wing. No, the Republicans are not responsible for all or any of these acts of terrorism, or threats of terrorism. But they do continue to fan these flames and then express annoyance when we call them on it. Is it too much to expect them to actually stop spreading or encouraging right wing anger? When people like Steve King refer to health care as a "cancer?", or Michele Bachmann accuses Pelosi for inciting the tea party idiots, or urges Americans to not fill out their census forms.

Facts don't matter to these people, nor do the potential dangers of fanning such anti-social anger. For people who claim to be more patriotic than the rest of us, their blatant disregard for social order or the principles of our country are quite shocking.

In a few years, look for the same people, btw, to push the lie that they actually supported healthcare reform against democratic resistance.

Anyway. Happy Easter. Or Happy Sunday. Or something.