Power-Hungry Cultists

Atrios writes:
It occurs to me that we're at a fascinating moment in political history. Just about all the leading lights of the conservatarian movement in this country are on the record as being in support of the executive branch's right to spy on American citizens, tapping their phone calls, without any judicial oversight. So much for freedom and small nonintrusive government and all that crap.Nice going, guys. You've sold all your former principles down the river out of fealty to George W. Bush. Authoritarian cultism is rather disturbing no matter who the cult leader is, but... George W. Bush?

But this isn’t right.  They didn’t sell out any principles to Bush because they never had any principles.  Not really.  This was always about them denying power to their enemies while grabbing power for themselves.  That’s the only thing they stood for, and they invent sham “principles” to mask their true intent.  They don’t want a government which can regulate their businesses, but are completely happy with an all-powerful government that they control.  And that includes having the control to subsidize businesses (and people) that they like and to damage people (and businesses) that they don’t like.  That’s what they stand for.

And that’s exactly what they think about us too.  They think that we invented environmentalism as a means of hurting businesses and the economy.  They think we invented feminism and civil rights to usurp their power and take it for ourselves.  And they think we invented poverty programs as a means to bribe black people to vote for us, while keeping them subservient to us.  They think that it’s all a sham and that we’re never honest about our true intent.  Because they think that we’re exactly like them, but just not as clever.

But even with those sham ideas they attribute to us, I really can’t tell how much they actually believe any of it.  Nor do they.  It’s just what I was saying yesterday.  These people are all about propaganda, even to the point of lying to themselves.  They don’t know where they really stand.  They don’t know what they really believe.  And they don’t really care.  They just know that they want power and want to deny us the ability to take it from them.  That’s all they stand for, and in that regard, the Authoritarian Cultism of Bush is one with that.  

But their current problem isn’t that they’re Authoritarian Cultists, but that the guy they picked to worship is truly a dunce.  But I guess perhaps they like that, as it allows them a better chance at controlling him and thus retaining true control of the cult, but without getting the blame.  They say they want a strong president, to mask the fact that they really wanted a powerful puppet.  If these people are anything, it’s consistent; at least regarding their love of deceit and power.