The Congressional Spectator
Political Psychosis
Madness takes its toll in the Senate health-care debate.
Even before the Senate voted on cloture, the Democrats’ health-care legislation was already delivering benefits in the form of a free mental-health screening delivered by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: If you oppose this bill, you’re a dangerous nut.
Such was the essence of Sunday’s floor speech in which the junior senator from Rhode Island quoted at length from Richard Hofstadter’s 1965 classic, The Paranoid Style in American Politics and offered it as a diagnosis of the health bill’s opponents.
Whitehouse paraphrased Hofstadter’s thesis, warning of “the dangers of an aggrieved right-wing minority with the power to create what [Hofstadter] called a political climate in which the rational pursuit of our well-being and safety would become impossible.”
This “aggrieved” minority, Whitehouse asserted, was responsible for the “malignant, vindictive passions” of those who opposed the health-care bill. He compared these opponents to the Nazi brownshirts responsible for Kristallnacht in Germany — “broken glass has sparkled in darkened streets” — as well as to the Jacobin rabble of revolutionary France and racial lynch mobs.
“Does that sound familiar…in this health debate?” Whitehouse asked.
Certainly this should sound familiar to conservatives, as Hofstadter’s psycho-political theory — derived from the work of Theodor Adorno — was analyzed and dismissed by William F. Buckley Jr. a half-century ago.
“If you dismiss a priori the possibility that there are rational grounds for resisting the Liberal view of things, one necessarily looks elsewhere than to reason for explanations,” Buckley wrote in his 1959 classic, Up From Liberalism. Buckley observed that “one needs no advanced degrees in clinical psychology and psychoanalytic theory in order to penetrate the fallacy of The Authoritarian Personality” — the most famous work of Adorno, a leader of what has become known as the Frankfurt School of political theory.
Adorno claimed to have proven scientifically that American conservatism was rooted in psychological maladjustment, fostering a tendency toward authoritarianism, which he asserted was the fundamental source of European fascism.
However, as Buckley explained, Adorno’s argument was a tautology based on the implicit presumption that all opposition to liberalism was illegitimate and therefore irrational. Adorno’s theory was “marvelously convenient” for liberals, Buckley said, and it has been recycled periodically ever since.
Hofstadter was among the most shrewd, persistent and opportunistic of Adorno’s disciples, applying his Freudian couch-trip method whenever the conservative menace erupted during the Cold War. In a 1954 essay, his chosen patients were “the most zealous followers of Senator McCarthy.” A decade later, on the eve of the 1964 presidential election, Hofstadter saw “angry minds at work…among extreme right-wingers…in the Goldwater movement.” This demonstrated, he said, “how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority.”
The fact that Goldwater got 27 million votes in 1964 could be taken as evidence that those “angry minds” were never a “small minority,” and Goldwater’s vote might have been larger had not Hofstadter and others so assiduously portrayed the Arizona Republican as a maniac warmonger. The subsequent disasters of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society — the political apogee of 20th-century liberalism — could also be viewed as vindicating the “extreme right-wingers” who voted against LBJ.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, and so it is that Americans opposed to the current liberal agenda were denounced in the Senate as an “aggrieved minority,” even when the most recent Rasmussen poll shows that 56 percent of registered voters are against the Democrats’ health care bill.
Senator Whitehouse attributed this anomalous state of affairs to Republicans who, he said, had “embarked on a desperate no-holds-barred mission of propaganda, obstruction and fear,” waging a “campaign of falsehood” seeking to “terrify the public” and “whip up concerns and anxiety about socialized medicine.”
To denounce fearmongering while simultaneously likening one’s opponents to the murderous rabble of 1938 Germany is a neat trick, as was Senator Whitehouse’s effort to blame Senate Republicans for having “ruined” Christmas by delaying passage of the health-care bill. Of course, it is Democrats who have pushed the bill toward a projected Christmas Eve roll-call vote in order to give President Obama a major legislative accomplishment to tout in his State of the Union Address next month.
Senator Whitehouse’s speech elicited a lengthy but relatively mild rebuke from Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl. “I wonder if my colleagues really believe that our position is animated by hatred,” Kyl said, enumerating his criticisms of the health-care bill before concluding, “We believe this bill will be bad for them and it will be bad for our country. Our Democratic colleagues have a different position. Neither their position nor ours is malignant, nor should they be expressed vindictively.”
Such is the state of affairs as we approach the first Christmas of the Hope and Change presidency. Democrats rush toward a vote on major legislation — more than 2,000 pages, its cost to taxpayers estimated at more than $2 trillion — before its contents can be read or analyzed, even while insisting that it is not they, but their opponents, who are in the grip of madness.
About the Author
Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.
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Douver1| 12.21.09 @ 6:26AM
The DemocRATS are driving me mad. S.L.Turdurd,please tell me who is going to save my arse and assuage my fears.
Sheri| 12.21.09 @ 9:02AM
It is the liberals who are psychotic. They hate conservatives for no reason.
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 11:30AM
The American Spectator : Political Psychosis American Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 11:37AM
Whitehouse's Excoriation - Not For Nothing links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Carolynn | 12.21.09 @ 11:56AM
I saw this live on CSPAN and about 2hours later John Kyle addressed it put not with much outrage.
What is infuriating today is that Dr. Coburn is being smeared by the left for having said " We should pray someone can't make the vot." He was called out by Durbin as it meaning that he hoped Bryd could not make it. He was accused by Dana Milbank of WaPo for this comment with Harry Reids office saying he hoped someone drove off the icy road.
The Huffington Post has a big expose today claiming Coburn meant he wished Bryd would die. And Sen Whitehouse get's away with what he said and nobody cares. I have not hear one person on talk radio discuss this today.
We let the media do this to good men like Coburn because we say nothing.
ChuckD| 12.21.09 @ 1:25PM
Great article, Mr. McCain. I remember the day I read Buckley's "The Jeweler's Eye". I was twenty-two and until that time I had no idea there were actually sound, logical, and even superior arguments against liberalism. I read Time and Newsweek back then, so all I knew about conservative ideas were the straw man arguments these liberal rags and Looney tune leftists teachers made up about conservatives.
Curious still to me is how most people accept without much thought that it is conservatives who are the Nazis.
Mainly because Conservatives want to protect their kids from all the violence, drugs, and pornograhy the left holds in reverence because of their love affair with "free speech". As the late Mr. Buckley pointed out, all speech is not protected. You can't yell fire in a crowd when there is no fire.
Meanwhile liberals keep expanding the Federal government, creating bureaucracies, and passing laws that restrict behavior of all sorts, excepting those behaviors deemed by them to be protected by the first amendment. They make the Government bigger and more intrusive, and thereby reduce all our liberties. They have taken away most if not all of our personal property rights, our right to speak and think freely, our right to choose own doctor, and our right to be independent and even our right to fail at something. Wherever bailouts abound, responsibility diminishes.
Liberal are now hard at work trying to take away our right to protect ourselves and our right to worship. Christians will soon be forced to send their children to public schools so they can be indoctrinated by the more "scientific" educators who will teach them that there is no God and no real point in living.
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 2:39PM
Hot Air » Blog Archive » Senator: ObamaCare opponents all birthers and racists; Updat links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Tony in Central PA| 12.21.09 @ 4:38PM
The ideologically - fevered minds of the Administration and Supermajority at work. Our nation was never intended to have this kind of governance. All the these legislative " remedies " are really just efforts to consolidate their power and make America a one - party nation until she collapses. From the looks of our rapidly ballooning debt, we are now accelerating faster than ever toward that collapse.
Clay Barham| 12.21.09 @ 5:02PM
BE CONFIDANT!
Most people who argue politics get angry because they really do not have a handle on their subject, though a strong feeling. It is easier to gain confidence than you think. Just look at the roots to understand the whole tree. Answers or, better, questions, flow easily when the roots are clear. There are only two sides to a political argument. One side says community interests are more important than are individual interests, and the reverse is the other side, as cited on claysamerica.com. Look at this site and take the ten simple steps to have a clear and confidant vision from which all issues are easily grasped and discussed. Claysamerica.com
DaveS| 12.21.09 @ 5:27PM
Whitehouse is Queeg.
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.21.09 @ 6:38PM
Clay,
learn to spell and someone might take you seriously.
One misspelling... a typo ...three on the same word...bleeding gums ignorant.
Go back to daily kos
gearjammer| 12.21.09 @ 6:45PM
Where have you gone Lincoln Chaffee, our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you. This jerk Whitehouse is a clear example that there are worse things in life than a Rino from Rhode Island. I could call Linc's office and somebody would actually talk to me and treat me with respect. This jerk is the worse kind of sneering, out of control elitist. Yeah another " elite" who fails to display one laudable virtue or quality. He may be family treed all the way back to the Mavflower. What a travesty it is for such a one to be one of just 100 in such a seat of power. His is a vindictive, perverse, lying little crap head lawyer who is hell bent on ruling with his pals in academia, the trial bar, show biz, and the unions. His criminal negligence cost a little girl named Rivera her life. She was a key witness in a murder trial involving the " latin kings ". The creep Sheldon was our AG and was prosecuting the case but failed to provide this little girl , the key witness, adequate protection pre -trial. She was murderd by them. Shelly of course skated. The state's great newspaper covered for him, as did the totally propaganda for dems tv stations. He beat Chaffee by a thousand votes. Chaffee was a pacifist in political campaigning , as well as foreign policy. He needed to hit this hideous monster, he needed to go street fighter against him-but he was a total wimp. Had Linc wacked this punk he'd have gained some respect. Alot of hard men and some women in Rhode Island would have come out and put him over the top. I know all of you here hate him, but he always said when asked about switching parties that he ran and was elected as a Republican and he was duty bound to serve as such. Whitehouse is a deadly snake, and he attacks honest, decent Americans. Corruption and lying are important, as much as ideology in politics. Nelson probably is authentically a conservative more than Linc Chaffee could ever be, but he was bought by a bribe. Lincoln has an ounce or two of integrity. He would have hung with Snowe and Collins. So too, people like Gordon Smith and Dewine. Bad Rinos as well. Good riddance, thin the herd and all of that. GOOD GRIEF.
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 7:37PM
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Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 7:38PM
The American Spectator : Political Psychosis capital university links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Lazy Jack | 12.21.09 @ 8:01PM
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
-Joseph Geobbels
'Nuff Said
Lazy Jack
www.thanksforthelaughs.wordpress.com
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 8:33PM
Cold Fury » The Paranoid Style in the US Senate links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Liberal Reader| 12.21.09 @ 10:02PM
Buckley didn't get Adorno right.
Whitehouse may have gone too far in his rhetorical flourishes. I'm always opposed to calling anyone Nazis who aren't Nazis.
But the substance of his critique is pretty accurate.
Ray| 12.22.09 @ 12:21PM
Accurate? So, 52 percent of the population who oppose this bill are the victims of an "aggrieved right-wing minority" and we oppose this monstrosity of legislation are doing so because of "malignant, vindictive passions" and not a genuine concern for the over-reach of government into our private lives? Yea, right!! That's about as 'accurate" as last year's weather forecast.
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 11:34PM
The American Spectator : Political Psychosis | americantoday links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 12.22.09 @ 1:30AM
Are Mortgage Refinance and Debt Consolidation Compatible … | Mortgage Finance Wisdom links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Brian| 12.22.09 @ 2:27AM
I don't mind being called names by creepy leftist senators. What I hate is my taxs funding the creepy leftists on PBS/NPR who call me much worse names. And the Repub party that keeps voting to fund them to its own hurt.
Sam| 12.22.09 @ 3:42AM
Oooooooh! Here come the liberals, marching out from Washington to expand the government and control us.
Give me a break. I respect individualism, perserverance, and initiative- traits that make up the best conservatives. All of you are fake. Just whining and whining about how bad everything is for you...like liberals.
Here's a message from moderates/independents:
Quit your whining and try to get something done for a change. Libs/Cons spend most of their time running their mouths in bitter, partisan conflicts that make the bulk of news stories.
We moderates/independents stay out of the limelight and then play a pivotal role during every election. We will vote the liberals straight back out of power if they really get out of control. The U.S. has endured countless hardships and challenges since it was founded. If you think a few crazy libs will threaten that in the near future, then you're deluded
Die Fledermaus| 12.22.09 @ 5:44PM
Oh come on Sam. You "moderate/independents" just stick you fingers in the wind every two years and then pat yourself on the back for knowing which way its blowing.
Big f'ing deal. All you guys to is jump in where ever the crowd is going regardless of the cliff ahead.
Case in point - President Obama. Before that - Ross Perot (looky here Larry, I have charts and graphs) got you guys all teary-eyed. Before that I'm sure it was jumping on that white-haired what's-his-name running in 1980.
But based on how hard you are patting your own back for being so smart I'm sure you were a Ron Paul mouth-foamer.
Pingback| 12.22.09 @ 5:19AM
The American Spectator : Political Psychosis Argent by about links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 12.22.09 @ 8:08AM
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Bob Belvedere | 12.22.09 @ 8:24AM
Quoted from and Linked to at:
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE IS VILE
-----
It's Time To ROC 'N' ROLL:
Restore Our Constitution & Restore Our Lost Liberties
scythe| 12.22.09 @ 11:13AM
WFB Jr. is an unmitigated ash--le. Anyone who supported Papa Doc Barack revealed their stupidity for all their "vaunted" intelligence. His reputation, as far as I am concerned, has been shredded. He has laboured all these years in the shadow of his famous father and saw a chance to "better" himself by taking a different position than his father surely would have. Tellingly the pipsqueak waited until after Sr.'s death to make his move. Again. What an AH.
Pingback| 12.22.09 @ 12:07PM
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