Recently, I’ve been criticized for my counter-attack on the right-wing fear and hate mongering that’s been spreading for the last year and a half, but I will not back down from my stance that most of hate that’s being spewed from the right falls into one of two categories: either emotional knee-jerks from the old money elite who feel threatened by “new blood” getting into the arena or thinly veiled racism from willfully ignorant white people who are terrified of no longer being the majority.

Let me be clear about one thing.  Not every person who calls himself or herself a conservative is a racist, but nearly all racist, bigoted, homophobic people out there consider themselves conservative.  If you aren’t a racist or a bigot or a homophobe, you probably aren’t one of the people I’m counter-attacking.  If you aren’t trying to impose your religious ideology on me, you probably aren’t one of the people I’m referring to.

But if you dislike our current president because of his ethnicity or you feel like this nation should be a Christian state without religious tolerance or you think that homosexuality is a disease that must be cured, you and I have some serious disagreements, and you probably won’t like my opinions.  To me, that hate and bigotry is the disease that needs to be cured.

After Tiger Woods won his first Masters Title, Fuzzy Zoeller infamously said, “tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it.  Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”  That’s racism, bold and unveiled.  Glenn Beck is more subtle, but the undercurrent is the same.  Signs like, “Don’t Tax Me, Bro!!!” are yet another example of  racism from conservatives.

If you want to live in a nation that is a religious state and does not tolerate racial differences, move to Iran or Sudan .  Those are the kinds of countries you are looking for.  For me, I’d rather live in a Democratic Republic in which the government does not promote one form of religion and allows people to rise from being a poly-racial son of a single mom surviving on meager means to leader of the free world.

In pure economic terms, when the current president took office, the economy was hemorrhaging 750,000 jobs a month and the Dow Jones had lost nearly half its value.  Today, under the leadership of this administration, the economy is beginning to create jobs again and the Dow has regained about 60% of what it had lost.  Any rational person can look at those two facts and see that Barrack Obama is not a left-wing socialist radical ruining this country.  He’s much closer to a moderate reformer who is making great strides at returning our economy to prosperity.  And prosperity for the majority, not just the old-money elites at the top.

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My biggest guilty pleasure is American Idol.  I love it.  There’s something about watching how the contestants react to the competition that gets me.  Some crumble and fall apart, like Didi Benami, who just never put together a solid performance during the live shows.  Others, like Tim Urban, are so clueless and untalented, they don’t even realize the magnitude of the opportunity.  How that dude has made it into the top nine baffles me.  By far, he is the least talented and least entertaining of the twelve.

Then, there are those who rise to the occasion.  Every time she takes the stage, Crystal Bowersox delivers.  The power and beauty of her voice are so natural and effortless that I’m nearly moved to tears during each performance.  Lee Dewyze has won me over with his willingness to listen to criticism and push himself as a performer.  Siobhan Magnus has an amazing voice, but she needs to break out of this one-trick pony show she’s fallen into.  Michael Lynche brings it every single performance.  I don’t particularly like the tone of his voice, but the dude can flat out sing.  My personal favorite is Andrew Garcia.  I just love the sound of his voice.  There’s a unique tone to it that has an undercurrent of sadness that moves me.  He probably won’t win the contest, but I’m hopeful that he’ll have a strong career.

I’m sick of Ryan Seacrest.  I’d like to see Simon reach up and slap the dog shit out of him the next time he does that poodle yapping stuff in Simon’s face.  I’m not sure if Seacrest has just gotten brazen since it’s Simon’s last season, or if the producers think that’s good for ratings, or if he’s developed a coke habit that’s turned him into an obnoxious asshole, but after the first time, the act got old.

Speaking of Simon, he’s a great example of how the precious butterfly syndrome has turned us into a nation of wimps.  The audience boos him whenever he offers any criticism to the contestants.  Most of the time he’s correct, and most of the time he’s being constructive, trying to show the contestants what they need to do to improve as singers and performers, but because he isn’t telling them what wonderful, unique snowflakes they are, the audience boos him.  Sure, he has said some nasty things during some of the auditions, but he rarely says anything that isn’t true.  People who can’t sing shouldn’t delude themselves into thinking that they can make a living at it.  Sometimes, they need to hear an ugly truth to bring them back to reality.  On the live shows, his comments are almost always geared to pointing out weak points in a performance.  We learn and grow from our mistakes, and Simon isn’t afraid to point out those mistakes because that’s his job.

So that’s my guilty pleasure.  I’m sure somewhere the last cool club that still had me as a member just shredded my card, but I can’t help myself.  It’s a fun show.

Perhaps my brain is too small to process the information.  Perhaps I’ve been brainwashed by the Jew-run liberal media.  Perhaps my lack of faith in deus ex machina as the solution to our ills prevents me from seeing the long-term wisdom, but I do not comprehend the irrational fear and hate being spread by the right-wing militia groups.  Are they simply upset that an African-American is in the White House?  Are they terrified that white-skinned people are no longer the dominant majority?  Are they just bloodthirsty radicals who need to shoot their guns?

On a rational level, the obvious question is where was their moral outrage over big government intrusion when the Patriot Act became law.  Why weren’t they actively plotting to attack government officials then?  It seems hypocritical to endorse certain forms of government intrusion, such as internal spying or sanctioned religious ideology, but then to reject other forms simply because they come from a different viewpoint.  Government intrusion is government intrusion.  Of course, radicals rarely care to look at things rationally.  Emotional battlecries  and menacing rhetoric fit more closely to the Tea Party way of doing things.

What bothers me about this is that it undermines the rule of law.  I’m not so naive as to think our system is perfect.  Yes, a lot of things need work.  There are a lot of corruption and inefficiencies plaguing our nation, and if we are to survive and regain our footing as a world leader, we will have to rectify those issues, but our way of life is about settling issues peacefully, through debate and deliberation.  The Tea Party militias behave like spoiled toddlers.  They didn’t get their way, so now they’re throwing a fit.  Nevermind that Mr. Obama was elected legally by a fairly significant landslide.  They didn’t get their way legally, so now they’ll bully, threaten, and coerce until they are either get their way or are imprisoned.  Guess which one is more likely?

Not all Conservatives are right-wing nuts.  Many respect the laws of this land and abide by them faithfully.  Many adhere to the principals that if you don’t like the outcome of an election, work harder to win the next one.  That’s what happened in 1994.  I didn’t like the Contract on America, but I respect that it was born from a sincere grass-roots effort to change the government legally, and I also concede that the balance between that conservative Congress and the moderate White House are what led to the most prosperous economy the world has ever known.  That’s how things should change.

I will not lie.  This wave of irrational fear and hatred scares me.  Irrational hate is what spawned the Holocaust, and while I don’t believe the Tea Partiers represent enough of a threat to reach that level of power, I do believe they are organized enough and crazy enough to do some serious damage before they are put down.  If you are someone who is letting the fear and paranoia they are spreading creep into your consciousness, look out your window.  There are no tanks in our streets, and other than the Tea Partiers, no armed troops forcing order.  The economy is chugging back to life.  Our system is still intact, and in the words of FDR, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  That’s true today more than ever.