This can't be happening

Somebody wake me up from this nightmare.

In 2008, an amazing 45% of voters chose John McCain and Sarah Palin, despite the recession and the disasters of the Iraq War and the rampant corruption accompanying Bush’s presidency.

Then in 2010, the Republicans made a huge come back, giving the Dems a “shellacking” and taking over the House with Tea Party conservatives.

I can’t believe so many people are still voting for Republicons whose policies are so obviously destructive and based on nonsense.

And I can’t believe the Democrats — I’m tempted to write “Dumbocrats” — have let them get away with it and, in some cases, aided them.

I’m reading Thomas Frank’s Pity the Billionaire, wherein he writes about the resurgence of the Right after 2008. The GOP reacted to the disaster of the Bush 2 presidency by moving even harder to the right and by blaming government, regulation, and taxes. Amazingly, that narrative has stuck, and tens of millions of voters believe the libertarian narrative and vote against their own self-interest.  The GOP comeback in 2010, two short years after Bush, Jr.’s presidency destroyed the Republican brand,  is mind-boggling, says Frank. “The revival of the Right is as extraordinary as it would be if the public had demanded dozens of nuclear power plants in the days after the Three Mile Island disaster.”

The Left has a big marketing and media challenge: educate the public about what’s been going on.

The Occupy Movement has helped, but their anarchism and their lack of engagement in electoral politics make them less effective.