The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old, from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ... the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.
To me, the following thoughts help to explain the current GOP. One can write extensively about these and other GOP foci, but primarily, America's GOPERs have put themselves out to Sea…but they like it (a scary thing.)
The GOP has become a marginal voting bloc that espouses radical, extremist, societally negative, marginal views that are often just nonsensical. Even worse, GOP'ers seem to recognize their aberrancy yet revel in their mud, reek, and wallow. Leaving the rest of America to clean up their slop (Orwell is cringing, ‘I warned you’…’ ”1984".)
Visibly (check out any GOP gathering), the GOP is an anomalous, societally harmful “phenomenon” — a politico-socio ‘glitch’ that is destructive and does not add real value to America except to provide a (fragile) outlet to a homogeneous minority of dissatisfied citizens…who if they didn’t have the GOP would actively engage in terrorism, insurrection (proven) and other acts to upset civil peace and destroy democratic government.
Why is the GOP so recalcitrant, risible, and apparently living on a knife edge of committing acts of mayhem…even self-harm, or at least operating against their best interests? Here are three principal reasons:
First, GOPERS themselves don't seem to know the real cause of their dissatisfaction…but the main root appears to be “Change” or “Different-from-us”…of any kind..as long as it gives them an apparent cause to ‘Vent.’ GOPER ‘Venting’ is so satisfying…the 21st century version of lynching,..Y’all.’
Second, GOPERS have found anchor posts to fixate on as destroying their concept of ‘Normalcy’ — these anchor posts seem chiefly to be :
1/ Racial integration (legally begun in 1954 and 1964, but operating in reality (the so-called “Color Line” being a VERY POROUS but one-way street… since the 1600s with white male sexual exploitation of Black slave women…and even tacitly existing today;
2/ Ascendancy of even white women (the 1920 vote);
3/ Legitimization of the LGBTQ communities and their rights (“Closet Life” for those biological realities is close to ending for most of America.)
One can go on and on, and write many theses about these and more reasons that possibly explain the current GOP, but as stated in the beginning of this post, the current GOP is a crazy bunch...but they seem to like living in that world...SCARY.