Could Conservative delusions be Dangerous?

[DiscoBerry]

I have been thinking for a while that if Obama or Romney wins by a narrow margin (or God forbid a Florida 2000 margin), there might be some serious violence.  Given the fact that I didn't take into account the Republican propensity for self-deluision, this might be a more real fear than I thought.  Curious what others out here think. 

It's an exceptionally dangerous game that the right-wing media are playing. If Obama wins – and according to polling guru Nate Silver, he'd have a 95 percent chance of doing so if the vote were held today – there's a very real danger that this spin -- combined with other campaign narratives that are popular among the far-right -- could create a post-election environment so toxic that it yields an outburst of politically motivated violence.

Consider how a loosely-hinged member of the right-wing fringe – an unstable individual among the third of conservative Republicans who believe Obama's a Muslim or the almost two-thirds who think he was born in another country – expecting a landslide victory for the Republican might process an Obama victory. This is a group that has also been told, again and again, that Democrats engage in widespread voter fraud – that there are legions of undocumented immigrants, dead people and  ineligible felons voting in this election ( with the help of zombie ACORN ). They've been told that Democrats are buying the election with promises of “free stuff” offered to the slothful and unproductive half of the population that pays no federal income taxes and refuses to “take responsibility for their lives” – Romney's 47 percent.

They've also been told – by everyone from NRA president Wayne LaPierre to Mitt Romney himself – that Obama plans to ban gun ownership in his second term. (Two elaborate conspiracy theories have blossomed around this point. One holds that Fast and Furious – which, in reality, is much ado about very little – was designed to elevate gun violence to a point where seizing Americans' firearms would become politically popular. The second holds that a United Nations treaty on small arms transfers (from which the United States has withdrawn) is in fact a stealthy workaround for the Second Amendment.)

These kinds of fringe views aren't relegated to the fever swamps of the right-wing blogosphere – they're often reinforced by elected Republicans. Reps Steve King, R-Iowa, Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, Louie Gohmert, R-Texas and others warn that the Obama administration has been infiltrated by Islamic Extremists . An elected judge in Texas advocated a tax increase – yes, a tax increase! – in order to better arm local sheriff's deputies whom he claimed would serve on the front-lines of the civil war likely to come should Obama be re-elected. “I’m talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator,” he said.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/how-rights-latest-conspiracy-theory-might-unleash-wave-domestic-terrorism-if-obama

[Tolpuddle Martyr]

They've been told that Democrats are buying the election with promises of “free stuff” offered to the slothful and unproductive half of the population that pays no federal income taxes and refuses to “take responsibility for their lives” – Romney's 47 percent.

They are, of course not referring to people in Ryan's electorate,  economic development subsidies  or corporate bailouts?

Of course not.

It's not just the capacity for violent mayhem, it's that and the total disconnect from reality that bothers me!

[Her3tiK]

I have a really hard time taking Alternet seriously when it publishes stuff like this. Yes, things are nuts, and we like to make fun of conservatives for clinging to their guns a bit too tightly, but the bulk of these people are cowards when you get down to it. They may see themselves as the next Rambo, but they're just as likely to shit themselves in the midst of a dark movie theatre as the rest of us.

[Fpqxz]

To worry about a few lone nuts is to miss the forest for the trees.  Conservative delusions are already actively harming the USA in many ways:  we have the shittest quality of life of any developed nation (unless you include Brazil and Mexico), we have Bible-thumping morons trying to shoehorn religion and creationism into our schools, we have a weak & ineffectual labor movement, our public administration is shit because of years of "HURR GUBMINT IS BAD", and last but not least, we are awash in cheap booze, cheap drugs, cheap guns, and cheap (low-quality) food.

We're basically a fatter version of Pakistan, with more Humvees and flat-screens.

[Sylvana]

Conservative delusions are dangerous already. Conservative delusions are why we even bother talking about the slim chance that Romney has at becoming president because in any normal country he wouldn't even be in the running. Their views and delusions are toxic to the well-being of society.
Conservative delusions are things like saying we must agree to disagree about global climate change despite it happening dangerously right before our eyes, instead of actually doing something about it. Conservative delusions are what makes almost half of the country actively support, campaign and vote against their own interests. Conservative delusions are what has American troops killing many innocents with robots in the middle east, for reasons almost forgotten by all parties involved.

Conservative delusions are very dangerous. However, regardless of how much they try to act like a tough guy, they wont rise up in any kind of armed civil war or revolution. That takes effort and poses a risk to themselves and they would much rather shout from the sidelines.

[Old Viking]

There will be some violence, but it will be random and directed at defenseless targets for the most part.  Large-scale, organized violence against people who can shoot back?  Naw.  Today's conservatives would be hard-pressed to organize a yard sale. 

[VirtualStranger]

Too late, It's already started happening.

Albert Peterson shot dead his wife and two sons hours after going to church because he dreaded the thought of Obama winning the election, a family friend has revealed.

A confidante of the family for the past 25 years has spoken to MailOnline about the strength and grace of the Peterson family, as well as the torment that plagued Albert which drove him to shoot dead his wife Kathleen and his two sons Christopher and Mathew at their suburban home in DC on Sunday.

A history of mental illness, the loss of a dear uncle, and a growing fear of Obama winning a second term in the White House took its toll on the mind of Mr Peterson, a wealthy defense contractor, the friend said.

'He just did not want his kids inheriting this mess,' Maggie L, who did not wish to reveal her last name, told MailOnline. 'Sometimes we thought he might take his own life when he was so depressed. We never thought he would take Kathie's.'

Albert, 57, Kathleen, 52, Matthew, 16, and Christopher, 13, were found Tuesday just after noon inside their home in Herndon, Virgina. Co-workers reported to police that they were concerned that Mr and Mrs Peterson had not reported to work for the past two days.

[DiscoBerry]

Too late, It's already started happening.

Albert Peterson shot dead his wife and two sons hours after going to church because he dreaded the thought of Obama winning the election, a family friend has revealed.

A confidante of the family for the past 25 years has spoken to MailOnline about the strength and grace of the Peterson family, as well as the torment that plagued Albert which drove him to shoot dead his wife Kathleen and his two sons Christopher and Mathew at their suburban home in DC on Sunday.

A history of mental illness, the loss of a dear uncle, and a growing fear of Obama winning a second term in the White House took its toll on the mind of Mr Peterson, a wealthy defense contractor, the friend said.

'He just did not want his kids inheriting this mess,' Maggie L, who did not wish to reveal her last name, told MailOnline. 'Sometimes we thought he might take his own life when he was so depressed. We never thought he would take Kathie's.'

Albert, 57, Kathleen, 52, Matthew, 16, and Christopher, 13, were found Tuesday just after noon inside their home in Herndon, Virgina. Co-workers reported to police that they were concerned that Mr and Mrs Peterson had not reported to work for the past two days.

Hmmmmmmmm, me thinks you might be right.

These folks called "True the Vote" are planning to be at the polls in minority neighborhoods, to watch for..."suspicious" voters. 

“Magically, all of them needed to register and vote at the same time,” Ms. Engelbrecht said. “Do you think maybe they registered falsely under false pretenses? Probably so.”

Weeks later, another True the Vote representative told a meeting of conservative women about a bus seen at a San Diego polling place in 2010 offloading people “who did not appear to be from this country.”

Officials in both San Diego and Wisconsin said they had no evidence that the buses were real. “It’s so stealthy that no one is ever able to get a picture and no one is able to get a license plate,” said Reid Magney, a spokesman for the Wisconsin agency that oversees elections. In some versions the bus is from an Indian reservation; in others it is full of voters from Chicago or Detroit. “Pick your minority group,” he said.

The buses are part of the election fraud gospel according to True the Vote, which is mobilizing a small army of volunteers to combat what it sees as a force out to subvert elections. Ms. Engelbrecht’s July speech in Montana was titled “Voter Fraud: The Plot to Undermine American Democracy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/us/politics/groups-like-true-the-vote-are-looking-very-closely-for-voter-fraud.html?ref=us&_r=0

[niam2023]

In other words, the same shit pulled in 1930's Germany by the brown shirts, making sure only "good" votes go in, and "suspicious" voters are out.

Just...amazing. This is unbelievable.

[Her3tiK]

Aaaaand Godwin.

Thread's over folks, go home.

[Witchyjoshy]

Aaaaand Godwin.

Thread's over folks, go home.

Well, it was appropriate