10.12.14: U.S. Culture Wars and Perpetuating Fear

Considering the three main topics of discussion today - the Ebola virus, the war against ISIS, and the culture war/election (in that order), we'll take on the last first as we haven't given it attention previous as much as the other two.  After all, it is election season.

To the chagrin of social conservatives, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear pending cases on same sex marriage, which essentially paved the way to legalization in now what is a majority of states.  After an outlining series of historical clips of Republicans' alliance with the religious right, Chuck Todd discussed with syndicated Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker and David Brody, political director of the Christian Science Network, how Democrats are winning the culture wars right now, dictating its movement which is decidedly left.  That would seem to be the case on the surface but the Democrats aren't the deciding factor in this case.  No one touched on the core cause of the conflict within the Republican party.

Ms. Parker explained that conservatives, like Pope Francis and the Vatican, are trying to reconcile being opposed to such cultural shifts and not judging too harshly being more accepting - a 'reformation' to use her term.  We agree with the notion that same sex marriage is not a potent an issue as abortion and Ms. Parker pointed out.  Mr. Brody explained that evangelicals don't always vote in the numbers people think and because of the cultural shifts within the Republican party, there is always the possibility that they could stay home from the polls.

The core conflict within the Republican party is between the notions of social conservatism and libertarianism, and it's odd that none of the three in the discussion outlined it as such.  Perhaps unconsciously, Mr. Todd did when he explained that independents [read: libertarians] are cutting into conservative votes in senate races in various states.

One of the unintended consequences of continually advocating for gun freedoms, for example, is that people will start to apply those ideas of freedom in other areas; in other words, live and let live.  If two gay people want to get married then so be it.  This is what you're seeing from libertarian conservatives, and this is the group that is really causing the shift in the culture wars.  Abortion is a different issue because some people consider that to be 'killing a person.'  For the record, we would disagree with that - for the sake of the focus of this column, please agree to disagree with us here.  Overall point being is that conservatives are the source of the shift and it's the  conservative idea of libertarianism that is the cause.

This idea runs counter to another the conservatives are perpetuating right now, because of the election, and that is the politics of fear.  A classically effective short-term strategy that is always a long-term loser for Americans - think about the all-consuming NAS data monitoring we now live with.  However, it's to be expected that in a bid to control the Senate, Republicans would hammer the President and by extension the Democratic candidates with these kinds of political tactics focusing on the Ebola virus and war with ISIS.  As Tom Brokaw correctly noted, the latter more of a dangerous threat than the former.

In the interview with National Security Advisor Susan Rice, we liked most of what we heard.  Ms. Rice outlined how Turkey, formerly a non-voice on the scene, is responding with action since ISIS is now 6 miles from its border in the city of Kobani, Syria.  They have decided to allow the training of moderate Syrian forces at their bases, they are blocking the flow across their border of foreign fighters to ISIS, among other things.  The broad strokes of a strategy that Ms. Rice spoke about - continuing U.S. airstrikes and support of the Kurdish and Iraqi armies and coalition building - all seemed sensible though the degrees to which their employed is debatable.  And even if the United States is cooperating with Iran in this fight, we understand why Ms. Rice would deny any such contact.

However, the one thing that Ms. Rice said that was truly disappointing, infuriating in fact, is what she explained as building the capabilities of regional partners and that it is something that takes time, not overnight.  With the exception of the Kurds and moderate Syrians, Ms. Rice was referring to the Iraqis and an army, in which the United States has poured billions.  How long is that supposed to take after ten years already? 

In the one confrontation between ISIS and the Iraqi Army, sans American participation, the Iraqis dropped their guns, turned and ran.  Evidence that the training we've been giving them didn't take, unlike the Kurdish Peshmerga who just needed the resources and with the assistance of American air power were able to keep ISIS from advancing.  Given this, it shouldn't be surprising to hear NBC's Richard Engel report that ISIS has turned its attention toward Baghdad, where the army is weak and the United States can not bomb.

So we contend with one more of Susan Rice's points, which was her 'yes' answer to whether or not the United States has been successful in its degrading of ISIS.  Chuck Todd brought the point to Ms. Rice about a request from an Iraqi minister in the Anbar province for more troops to fight ISIS.  With that in mind, it seems as though ISIS is advancing and therefore the answer is clearly 'no,' to success so far.

And lastly, if you listened to what The New York Times Helene Cooper said about traveling to Liberia for two weeks (clip below), political leaders spreading fear about an Ebola outbreak in the United States is irresponsible.



Calm, in control, and disciplined are the qualities that should be expressed.

Anthony Fauci MD, Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, believed this first transmitted case of Ebola to a hospital nurse was due to an inadvertent breach of protocol when removing protective clothing.  The aforementioned qualities are more important than ever when it comes to this public health risk, do you think?


Round Table (Panel): Tom Brokaw, NBC News; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Robert Gibbs, fmr. Press Secretary for President Barack Obama; and Sara Fagen, fmr. White House Political Director to President George W. Bush.


Question of the Week:  Where is Korean Dictator Kim Jung Un?  And Susan Rice's awesome answer: We're continuing to monitor.