lawtig02
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 4,921
No, this thread is not about Charlie Kirk, even if he sadly co-opted the term. I just thought it might be interesting to have a thread dedicated to the moments in the last 45 years or so that marked real turning points in the evolution of the GOP from the party of "individual rights" to the party of unfettered executive power, and the evolution of our nation from a flawed liberal democracy to a thriving kleptocratic autocracy. Obama and Covid are the two easiest answers, but there are so many other transitional moments, and I'm curious which ones stand out to you.
I'll start with this one --
I was young at the time but growing up in a Rush-listening household and I still remember the conservative fury over the "borking" of this man. I think it changed Republicans' views on the Supreme Court permanently, especially when Kennedy proved to be such a disappointment to movement conservatives. It's also interesting to remember that one of the main criticisms of Bork was his support for what we now call the unified executive theory. The NYT memorably called him an "advocate of disproportionate powers for the executive branch of Government, almost executive supremacy." Thirty-eight years later, we find ourselves in a nation in which the Supreme Court has abdicated its power in deference to "executive supremacy," and the obsolete structure of the court, combined with McConnell's mendacity, essentially guarantees minority conservative domination of the court for decades to come.
Bork was also one of the first conservative prophets of the anti-intellectualism that has now dumbed down our politics to the point it's indistinguishable from Idiocracy. In his book Slouching Towards Gomorrah, which dittoheads viewed as something akin to II Jeremiah, he wrote: “Surely a number of such people want to do the right thing, are well-intentioned, but just as surely some do not act from creditable intentions. Some of our elites . . . professors, journalists, makers of motion pictures and television entertainment, et al. . . . delight in nihilism and destruction as much as do the random killers in our cities. Their weapons are just different.” And thus the early days of the culture wars were distilled into three concise sentences.
What other turning points do you recall? The more obscure the better.
I'll start with this one --
I was young at the time but growing up in a Rush-listening household and I still remember the conservative fury over the "borking" of this man. I think it changed Republicans' views on the Supreme Court permanently, especially when Kennedy proved to be such a disappointment to movement conservatives. It's also interesting to remember that one of the main criticisms of Bork was his support for what we now call the unified executive theory. The NYT memorably called him an "advocate of disproportionate powers for the executive branch of Government, almost executive supremacy." Thirty-eight years later, we find ourselves in a nation in which the Supreme Court has abdicated its power in deference to "executive supremacy," and the obsolete structure of the court, combined with McConnell's mendacity, essentially guarantees minority conservative domination of the court for decades to come.
Bork was also one of the first conservative prophets of the anti-intellectualism that has now dumbed down our politics to the point it's indistinguishable from Idiocracy. In his book Slouching Towards Gomorrah, which dittoheads viewed as something akin to II Jeremiah, he wrote: “Surely a number of such people want to do the right thing, are well-intentioned, but just as surely some do not act from creditable intentions. Some of our elites . . . professors, journalists, makers of motion pictures and television entertainment, et al. . . . delight in nihilism and destruction as much as do the random killers in our cities. Their weapons are just different.” And thus the early days of the culture wars were distilled into three concise sentences.
What other turning points do you recall? The more obscure the better.
