We still don't understand how fringe conservatism went mainstream. - By David Greenberg - Slate Magazine

We still don't understand how fringe conservatism went mainstream. - By David Greenberg - Slate Magazine

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We still don't understand how fringe conservatism went mainstream. - By David Greenberg - Slate Magazine

Posted using ShareThis

There have always been lunatics in America's public forums...sigh....and probably always will be.

But of course, I am still worried and frightened about this current wave of horrific, virulent paranoia.

The interesting thing here is how we must take the "long view," and try to stand back and analyze these people, their methods, and their ideation in objective ways.

The other interesting thing is that though I personally still think they are lunatics, I also can understand where they come from and why their methods might resonate. And how effective those who manipulate those forces can be. ... Read More

And that's why they frighten me.


The Paranoid Style in American Politics
And Other Essays Richard Hofstadter
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/HOFPAX.html


"The distinguishing thing about the paranoid style is not that its exponents see conspiracies or plots here and there in history, but that they regard a 'vast' or 'gigantic' conspiracy as the motive force in historical events...The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of this conspiracy in apocalyptic terms--he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization."--from the book