They are rebuilding the “Buddhas” in Afghanistan.

The statues stood for almost two thousand years. Religious fanatics, who gave safe haven to the activities of one of the worst terrorists in human history, decided these historical icons were an abomination because… well, because they weren’t “Taliban.”

Could the historical parallels be any more clear? The policy of raising the debt ceiling so we can pay our bills stood for many, many years: under every President, from every party, ever since there has been a debt ceiling.

But teabaggers would rather blow up the Buddha: crash the economy.

From Timothy McVeigh, to Grover Norquist, back to Joseph McCarthy, blowing up the Buddha has more than a few recent precedents. And many past precedents: Lincoln was willing to compromise damn near everything, except expanding slavery out west. But having no restrictions was more important to some southerners.

Add to that blow up the Buddha types like John Brown and you have a bloody meat market war that didn’t solve a damn thing… and in many ways made everyone’s lot worse; including freed slaves. Peacenik Republicans like my father would rather have let Adolph Hitler blow up Buddhas than defend them in the 30s and early 40s. When drafted and sent overseas he changed his mind.

Now many use Hitler as an example of why we should blow up Buddhas, like the travesty that became Iraq. After all why take 1% of a chance they may have nukes? …as so aptly promoted by Dick Cheney: ironically mimicking Hitler’s excuses for invading countries to his east.

Whether from the Right, the Left, or from any skew, only fanatics demand Buddhas be blown up, that the world conform to their sense of political and theological correctness. There’s only one appropriate response…

“No.”

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Ken Carman and Cartenual Productions
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