Chicago Republicans

Every now and then I refer to urbandictionary.com to define some word or phrase that has entered our lexicon because, as a 42 year old, I have no idea what it means.  Similar to Wikipedia, this site allows users to add and edit content.  It is, more or less, self regulating.  It allows visitors to vote on a definition with thumbs up or down to indicate whether or not the masses agree with the noted meaning.  Last week I used this resource again and found their word-of-the-day to be Pullin a Palin.

Per this site, it means, "Try to get as much media coverage as you can as a Public Official...Then critisize those who factually check out your conduct, deeds and lack of intellectual capacity and hypocricy."  By the way, the misspellings of ‘criticize' and ‘hypocrisy' are not he fault of this blog's author.

This was followed by the word Palin which may mean, "An applicant lacking even basic job skills" or "adjective used to describe a person underqualified for a given task. Also used to denote an idiot, or small-town redneck."

Liberals, ever afraid of a true conservative at the ballot box, continue to attack at every corner.

I decided to check out if there were any negative posts about Obama and someone had posted Pullin an Obama.  It contained the following as a definition,

"Using your charisma to deceive others. AKA Player. Pullin an Obama - Telling people on one coast one thing and another coast something else. Telling people that you wont raise taxes on incomes, but then raising taxes on everything else so you still have to pay more. Telling everyone you are going to run things from the middle, but still putting in the most liberal and socialistic agenda ever. Saying you have no relations to people, but actually they are the ones that got you started. Making 4 million and only donating $4,000.00 to charity. Complaining about the previous president's spending and multiplying his debt by 4 in the first 100days of office. Forgetting that you are half white and focusing on the black side, because that is what will get you the power you hunger for. Saying you are a loyal and faithful American, but going overseas and telling them how sorry you are and awful America is."

I say, truer words never spoken!  Only a few people have voted on this definition, if everyone reading this blog visited www.urbandictionary.com and searched for Pullin an Obama and voted thumbs up, what a statement that would be!  Remember, thumbs up means you agree with the definition.  If the spirit moves you, look up Palin or Pullin a Palin and feel free to vote thumbs down.

Alright, let's begin with the disclaimers lest anyone think this blog will defend Hitler's regime in anyway, shape or form.  It doesn't.  This post does, however, expose a clever deception to cast aspersions on those with conservative views.

I'll illustrate by example.  A few years ago while visiting New York State with my then girlfriend, of the Democratic persuasion, we struck up a conversation with a bar tender.  My girlfriend loved to point out my right leaning tendencies (in jest, I think) and this encounter was no exception.  The bar tender immediately replied that she hated the Christian Reich (as opposed to Christian Right).   I witnessed conservative values being equated to the Nazi party as I had many times before.

Long before I converted to the right (I grew up in a Democratic household), I heard and read about Nazis being "right wing".  The comparisons, even at college, were brutal.  If you voted Republican, a professor declared in the classroom, you should remember that the Nazis were right wing too - clearly seething at Reagan's reelection.  Common sense told me something was wrong with that analysis but I couldn't put my finger on it.

One day, I made the connection.  The same professor explained the pre-eminence of communism and socialism to capitalism.  Hmmmm, I wonder if Obama was in my class.  Anyway, he enlightened us about the advanced political structures in Europe, how it would take the U.S. decades to catch up to our superior neighbors across the Atlantic, etc.  Well, he was correct in that, considering our current direction, it took about two decades.  It's odd to think of it now that Communism has failed absolutely and Europe and even China are converting from Socialism to Capitalism.  I guess we're still behind our "superiors".

He noted how the leftist policies of socialism and communism would work much better than the radically-right capitalism.  Then, like a lightning bolt, it hit me.  I'd read William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich years before.  The word itself, Nazi, is just the English phonetic sound of the abbreviation of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the official German name of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.  In fact, Nazis of the WW II era didn't call themselves Nazis but rather Nationalsozialisten, i.e. National Socialists.

Wait a minute - National SOCIALISTS.  Aren't socialists "left"?  If so, why do so many refer to the Nazis as being to the right of the political spectrum?  Well, in fairness, wouldn't you want to distance yourself from the Nationalsozialisten?  Regardless, is equating Nazis with the "right" this something that has just entered our jargon, something that has been accepted without inspection?

So, in case you hadn't thought about it before, remember that the Nazi party was/is a leftist organization - not right leaning.  In the future, don't be afraid to correct anyone who makes that mistake.

Sources:

Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia retrieved June 6, 2009 at http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560927/national_socialism.html

Encyclopedia Britannica Online retrieved June 6, 2009 at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405414/National-Socialism

Scroll down from this piece to a May 21, 2009 post entitled Liberal Mentality.  You'll find what appears to be a classified ad shaming hunters who kill prey for food.  It admonishes them for not purchasing meat at a grocery store as meat is, ". . . made there, where no animals are harmed."  While clearly an extreme example, this naiveté permeates the liberal mindset.  They proffer simple answers for complex problems which, when analyzed, offer little or no real solution.

The mean-hunter ad noted above reminded me of a 2006 documentary from the United Kingdom named Who Killed the Electric Car?  Narrated by Martin Sheen, this ninety minute movie explains the evils of fossil fuels and how big oil companies and U.S. Republicans instrumented the demise of the electric car.  The film often seems eerily reminiscent of JFK in its conspiratorial tone.  I checked and, as near as I could tell, Oliver Stone had no affiliation with this production but you cannot miss the influence.

When not reminding us that George W. Bush is a "big oil guy" the inventors and celebrities interviewed repeatedly declare that if only America would switch to the electric car we would all but eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels.  They innocently stated that by plugging our cars into electric sockets at home we are not using fossil fuels.  I remember the next day telling a friend how I became so frustrated I wanted to throw my slippers at the television.

Just how do these people think we generate electricity?  While power flowing from a wall would seem magical to a caveman surely the likes of Martin Sheen, David Letterman, Tom Hanks, Ralph Nader, Bill Clinton and others should know better.  Or, are they that indifferent towards the truth due to their political ideology?  Like the naïve classified ad poster it seemed to make them feel good bashing oil companies and George W. Bush while (thinking they were) telling us how to save the environment in the process.

The problem, of course, is that electric cars do consume fossil fuels, just not directly.  The electricity for your toaster, alarm clock, lights, air conditioning and countless other items comes from the burning of fossil fuels.  When you plug anything into an electrical socket you cause the burning of fossil fuels.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy, sources cited below, of all electricity generated in the United States during 2008 71% came from fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas.  20% was generated by nuclear power and 9% by hydroelectric and other renewable sources.

The electric car saves gasoline, no doubt about it.  However, by plugging it into a socket at home you're probably still burning fossil fuels to get that electricity; there's just no way around it.  This may not make liberals feel good, but, facts often have that effect on them.

Data Source:  U.S. Department of Energy

Office of Fossil Fuels - http://www.energy.gov/energysources/fossilfuels.htm

Energy Information Administration - http://www.eia.doe.gov