Gloom, doom, and "brutalism".

  I must confess that I am as cynical as they come, and I trust no one. It's sad to admit to such a thing, but I basically hold a very unfavorable view of humans.

 But hey, I am a criminal defense attorney in a major city, and I preside over family law cases, so I have earned my cynical stripes. My question to the GOP is this: What's your excuse?

You are a major political party in what is supposed to be the most optimistic and hopeful country in the world, and yet, it's all "doom and gloom" with you guys. I could throw in "fear" in there as well.

I recently read an article  by David Brooks in the New York Times were he wrote about the "brutalism" of Ted Cruz, a man who I consider to be typical of the leading politicians on the right these days.

"In 1997, Michael Wayne Haley was arrested after stealing a calculator from Walmart. This was a crime that merited a maximum two-year prison term. But prosecutors incorrectly applied a habitual offender law. Neither the judge nor the defense lawyer caught the error and Haley was sentenced to 16 years. 

 

Eventually, the mistake came to light and Haley tried to fix it. Ted Cruz was solicitor general of Texas at the time. Instead of just letting Haley go for time served, Cruz took the case to the Supreme Court to keep Haley in prison for the full 16 years.

 

Some justices were skeptical. “Is there some rule that you can’t confess error in your state?” Justice Anthony Kennedy asked. The court system did finally let Haley out of prison, after six years.

 

The case reveals something interesting about Cruz’s character. Ted Cruz is now running strongly among evangelical voters, especially in Iowa. But in his career and public presentation Cruz is a stranger to most of what would generally be considered the Christian virtues: humility, mercy, compassion and grace. Cruz’s behavior in the Haley case is almost the dictionary definition of pharisaism: an overzealous application of the letter of the law in a way that violates the spirit of the law, as well as fairness and mercy.

 

Traditionally, candidates who have attracted strong evangelical support have in part emphasized the need to lend a helping hand to the economically stressed and the least fortunate among us. Such candidates include George W. Bush, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.

 

But Cruz’s speeches are marked by what you might call pagan brutalism. There is not a hint of compassion, gentleness and mercy. Instead, his speeches are marked by a long list of enemies, and vows to crush, shred, destroy, bomb them. When he is speaking in a church the contrast between the setting and the emotional tone he sets is jarring.

 

Cruz lays down an atmosphere of apocalyptic fear. America is heading off “the cliff to oblivion.” After one Democratic debate he said, “We’re seeing our freedoms taken away every day, and last night was an audition for who would wear the jackboot most vigorously.”                   

 

As the Republican strategist Curt Anderson observed in Politico, there’s no variation in Cruz’s rhetorical tone. As is the wont of inauthentic speakers, everything is described as a maximum existential threat." [Source]

 

But it's not just Ted Cruz. Watch the next republican debate and try to find a sense of optimism among the people on stage. You won't be able to do it. It will be all fire and brimstone, gloom and doom. America, if you let them tell it, is going to hell in a hand-basket, and getting their fast.

 

Watch Donald Trump and his brown shirt thugs get physical with someone at one of his campaign stops for just exercising their right to free speech. Or watch him single out some poor cameraman or reporter for derision from the crowd for just doing their job and earning in a year what he makes in an hour. Watch Chris Christie bully people for asking simple questions at one of his previous town hall meetings.  

 

This is the GOP way: Meaner, angrier, and louder than those soft, kumbaya singing, hand holding, dems.  It's become the party of John Wayne, and  not a moment too soon for their base of angry Americans looking for someone to blame for all of their anger. We will be tough, mean, and heartless, because that is what is needed to keep the America we love and cherish safe.

 

I am still trying to figure out what the hell they are all so angry about. And I am curious to know that if having someone from the majority population in the White House will cool some of that anger. I suspect that it will, because looking at it objectively, there is absolutely nothing for them to be angry about.

 

Let's "Make America Great Again!" If it will make you all less angry I am all for it.