Reply #4: If it feels good, do it [View All]

Remember that slogan from the 1960s? It was long invoked by the reactionaries in the Republican party as shorthand sneering at hedonistic, short-sighted young people who hurt themselves long term for short term pleasure (whether it was sex or drugs or rock and roll).

Well, as many young people are wont to do, the 60s Flower Children grew up, got jobs, bought houses, had families and so forth. But the Republicans decided somewhere along the way that "if it feels good, do it" was more than a fleeting personal philosophy. It could be the clarion call for an entire political party! Yes, it was destructive long term to court the disaffected white vote in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act. But it felt so good! And the old white power structures in the South held sway for a long time afterwards. The Southern Strategy of Richard Nixon and his henchmen was the golden path to the White House for nearly 40 years. It felt good, and just doing it was sooo rewarding.

Ah, but times change. They always do. But the Republicans have indulging their inner racist for so long, they really don't know any other way to act. Which is why they can say and do the most racist things this side of a Klan rally and be genuinely surprised when they're called on it. Hoffenblum seems to have caught a glimmer of the truth, but though they have ears to hear, it is yet to be seen if the Republicans can listen to what he has to say.