Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming

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My fellow Americans,

I wanted to speak to you today, on the 40th anniversary of the unfortunate incidents that occurred on Kent State University.

Now, some have asked whether I feel any personal responsibility for what happened 40 years ago. To them I say that I wasn't the one who called in the agitators and militant demonstrators.  I wasn't the one who chose to violate the law by assembling in an illegal manner.  And I wasn't the one who provoked the National Guard.  The words I said then still apply today: when dissent turns to violence, it invites tragedy.

Still there are some who continue to think that the actual cause of that event was the negative rhetoric I and other republicans used from the mid-60's through my election in 1968.  Well, if that’s true, then the entire political process should be held to scrutiny, because the very DNA of political campaigns is a tightly wound double helix of demonizing your opponent and exploiting the Terror and Outrage within the populace.

We republicans understand the power of Fear at a cellular level, which is why you’ll continue to hear our candidates portray the other guys as un-American monsters, who have nothing less in their hearts than the ultimate destruction of our Pure lifestyle.  It doesn’t matter if it was me in the late ‘60’s painting the intellectuals, civil rights activists and the anti-war faction as being a real and imminent threat to society, or today’s candidates snidely questioning Obama’s citizenship, or insinuating that Democrats will allow unwashed packs of wild-eyed muslim fanatics to rape our young boys then sell their spent carcasses for opium.  The game hasn’t changed.

But, as Kent State showed, it takes more than exploiting Fear.  Not only do you have to demonize the other side, you have to make sure that the Orthogonians are complicit in any actions taken to act on that Fear. Distort and lie. Create a fictive boogeyman to menace the security of the rubes, and portray yourself as the only one with either the ability or balls to stand up to it. Fear drives power much better than hope, and people will gratefully accept the most unthinkable atrocities if you scare them enough. After all, a few napalmed children or massacred students is a pretty cheap price to pay to protect a freezer full of TV dinners and a new patio set.  And just like an abusive alcoholic who beats his wife because she "made him do it," one must never forget to blame the victims.  Because, once the dust settles and the bodies are exposed, it’s critical that you assure the straights that those now suffering deserve their fate.  The National Guard would never have fired if those long-haired pinkos had just stayed home and relaxed in their barca loungers.

So, the next time you see one of those massive teabag rallies just remember that the politicians whipping up the Hysteria and Fear with their inflammatory speeches aren’t to blame. They’re just doing what politicians have done since the very beginning. No, the fault lies with the dimwits and cretins who believe all the paranoid gobbledygook about a secret socialist cabal within the government with plans to round up the white Christian men for service in salt mines, while the women are carted off to be pleasure toys for hyper-libidinous Arabs. After all, propaganda only works if the simpletons believe it. 

Nixon is: Sanctimonious