Cliven Bundy and the "Negro Problem"

Republicans are falling over themselves repositioning after their beloved symbol of conservatism has revealed his neolithic racial attitudes. Supporters like Rand Paul are declaring themselves shocked, shocked I say, to hear such words spoken. Bullshit.

The Cliven Bundy type is not uncommon in rural America, you can find them congregating in small cafes in the isolated backwaters of the country. Paul has certainly encountered them. I know I have. These people have self-exiled themselves from American society.

They home school their children, if you can call what they teach schooling, because they fear government book learning. They teach that reading anything other than the Bible is a sin and that science is a satanic lie. They are paranoid in that they are certain that modern life is trying to destroy their beliefs, their way of life, and their very souls. They hate all government, except when they want something from the government like free fire fighting then they complain that the government isn't fast enough. In order, they value:

• Their personal freedom (but fuck everyone else's freedom)
• Bible
• Guns
• Pickup trucks
• Male children
• Livestock
• Womenfolk (they actually still use that word)

Of course, it makes sense, to them, to use women as human shield. They wouldn't want to risk anything valuable, like cattle.

They are living relics of American life nearly 200 years ago when racism was normal, the church was the center of society, and government didn't exist outside of Eastern cities. As far as they think about this, they believe that the nation went off track when Lincoln snuffed out liberty in the Confederate states and that the federal government has been illegitimate since the 1860's. This is the philosophy of Antonin Scalia, Rand Paul, Sean Hannity, and the Tea Party.