Joyce, the Teabaggers I’ve talked to are angry about the same things we are, but they have three things blocking them from coming over to our side: One is the racism they deny; the second is involvement with religion sects that preach intolerance and hatred; and the third is that they are Authoritarian Followers and, as such, have been conservative Republicans for so long that they can’t change — the GOP is the ultimate ‘Big Daddy’ for them and they can’t rebel against their father figure.

Of course, there are a few Teabaggers who don’t embody these traits, but they’ve been sidelined or discouraged by the corporately-financed Tea Parties.

You wrote: “Watching the events in the Middle East, I wonder what it would take to mobilize Americans like that?”

It’s happening — not only in Wisconsin, but all over the Midwest. Unfortunately, the corporate Big Media aren’t covering the demonstrations in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, and even New Jersey. Since this thing started making Republicans look bad, the coverage has dropped off considerably. They’d rather safely talk about Charlie Sheen.

I saw Rachel’s segment on Michigan and it is incredible — people who complain endlessly about ‘czars’ and don’t utter a peep when a GOP governor tries to set himself up as one? But this is the kind of blow-your-hair-back hypocrisy what’s killing the GOP and will lead to massive defeats in 2012, especially in the Midwest. Of course there has always been a strong streak of fascism in this post-Reagan neoconservative corporate-plutocrat GOP that hates the same people as Hitler, wants one-party rule, and uses the same techniques of ‘Big Lie’ propaganda as Goebbels. But the parallels don’t stop there: Der Fuhrer got rid of trade unions shortly after he consolidated his power, cracked down on what could be taught in schools, promised prosperity through austerity, made the wealthy wealthier while asking the citizenry to sacrifice, promoted crazy unscientific theories, demeaned democracy, abandoned the rule of law, and ran Germany as a nation in a state of desperate crisis that could only be cured by a strong leader. These are all the same things the GOP governors are trying to do and, I’m happy to say, they are losing. Seems most Americans aren’t quite ready to be the Fourth Reich just yet.

I can’t find the quote at the moment, but some American businessman opening factories in China recently praised the way the communist Chinese government handled ‘social disruptions.’ He said he didn’t think an Egypt or Tunisia pro-democracy revolution would happen in China because they ‘nip that sort of thing in the bud.’ He sounded like a character in The Godfather talking about how China ‘always makes money for her partners.’ Of course, China isn’t really communist — it’s a fascist dictatorship. Corporatists feel comfortable with them since they run their state just like a modern corporation — the wealthy ruthless minority at the top are lavishly rewarded and the majority under them are dirt poor and have no say in how business is conducted. Oh, and their are no unions or human rights to worry about, either. It’s a corporate crapitalist’s idea of nirvana.