Staying above the bullshit

As I started thinking about what kinds of letters members of the Louisa Democratic Committee might write to papers in support of Democratic candidates in the coming weeks, I was struck by the fact that virtually all of the “political” letters in our local paper, the Central Virginian this year were for Republicans.

Since there were six of them running for Peter Farrell’s open 56th House Delegate Seat, it stands to reason that there would be more of their letters during the primaries.  And in the ensuing two and a half months, there haven’t been any letters for candidates in the CV. Whether this represents a lack of interest, or is just the calm just before the electoral storm, remains to be seen.

Although one has to put Jim Ogg’s letter about high speed internet into its own unique category, since it was timed to follow Duane Adams misleading claims in his half page ad the week before.  And after reading this week’s edition of the CV, it struck me that their last two op-ed pages not only aren’t carrying any of their usual syndicated pabulum, they didn’t even print anything remotely relevant.

AAnd that’s counting last week’s letter supporting the former chair of the Louisa Planning Commission, a plea which given it's dated publication, seemed strangely out of synch with all of the other letters from the previous week, while suggestions that politicians be polygraphed were never relevant.

While it would be the height of hubris to expect that the CV should print every letter I submitted to them, it doesn’t change the fact that they have chosen not to print two letters discussing local issues, and political races when there clearly was space for them.
And for whatever reason, they chose to fill up this dead space with presumably nostalgic content.

A strange set of circumstances, considering that over the past seven years they have published nearly seventy of my letters, and these two are just the 2nd and 3rd letters they haven’t.

Nor is it clear if this is just a statistical glitch, or represents yet another change in their editorial policy. In the meantime, expanded versions of these letters can be found in Blue Louisa, and on the Louisa Democrats website.

The reason I have such a problem with the CV’s promotion of the status quo at every opportunity is that such reflexive knee jerk support blinds them to recognizing what happening around them.

That they have a confederacy of dunces representing them, starting with Dave Brat. And even more insidiously, this “get along to go along” mentality is precisely what helps promote and normalizes the Replicant Party’s own intransigence, hypocrisy and incompetence.

Usually, the best their readers can hope for are some minimalistic details about what happened along with a head shot, like this one with Dave Brat in last week’s edition.

And since neither Brat nor his staff bothered to put this picture up on his Facebook pages, it did seem a little out of character for a man who never misses an opportunity to tell everyone how little he’s doing.

Or remind us that he went to seminary.

Or that he’s the only economist in Congress.

Some of you may recall that this photo-op was accompanied by a front page puff piece about Tom Garrett’s “involvement” with helping a new Libertarian nation become recognized by the United States. 

Perhaps, but for an emerging country which has already survived their first foreign minister being a complete fraud and yet to evolve beyond being an unclaimed swampy island, this might prove to be a task beyond Uncle Tom’s reach. 

But what’s important about this is this story is how it has become a vehicle to keep certain narratives alive in their reader’s consciousness. Like notions of a libertarian paradise, conveniently re-introduced with timely Facebook posts. And their messaging across multiple media platforms, says much about their priorities, like this FB post about one of Uncle Tom’s recent tweets.

Thus far, the best response to Garrett’s disingenuous bullshit has been, “Since I don’t like cold weather does that make me ANTIFREEZE?” And seriously, when have you ever heard of any Replicant’s ever giving a rat’s ass about fascism?

When their entire Southern Strategy depends on similar racist and misogynistic attitudes and the only libertarians … I mean patrons they ever listened to are two brothers named Koch.

Speaking of Uncle Tom’s, it should be noted that the CV hasn’t responded to any of my questions about other articles discussing previous Libertarian experiments which might have cast last weeks piece in a less favorable context.

And even after being made aware of a video which clearly shows one of his supporters, a candidate for Fluvanna School Board brazenly denying people admittance to a Replicant event, they still chose to re-post his disingenuous antifa tweet.

Considering that Garrett no longer represents the people of Louisa, one has to ask why the does the CV have such an interest in what he has to say, and why are they promoting these authoritarian narratives?

Perhaps the simplest explanation is that controversy, no matter how artificial or contrived sells papers … or at least drives traffic to their Facebook page.

One things for sure, given all the media coverage that’s being thrown at the Antifa movement recently, and the fact that the Drumpf administration has recently branded them a terrorist organization, along with a host of comments like; “left-wing thugs, … and Antifa are a scourge on our country,” from leading Replicant’s it should be clear that they’re shaping up to be their next boogeyman.

Nor is it any coincidence that we’re starting to see more and more misleading videos like this pop up.  And while the CV’s Liberland fairy tale didn’t rise to the same level of duplicity as Garrett’s projectionist tweets … dividing people into those that are “with us” and those who are “fascists.”  

They both rest on false assumptions; that Replicant’s care about their constituents, and aren’t misleading you with every trick in the fascist handbook.

Perhaps the CV’s staff believes that because they have posted Garrett’s tweet that they have fulfilled their responsibility to their readers.  Perhaps they are convinced that it’s their duty to maintain the status quo, oblivious to the reality that the more they promote it, the more receptive their readers will be to the Replicant’s lies.

And for all I know, they really are trying to stir things up. Believing that their status and position will be maintained as conservatives rally around whatever red meat is thrown before them.

What I do know is that the CV’s history of silence and complicity has enabled and normalized the deeds of Replicant’s in this county and throughout this region, and promoting those narratives is what sycophants do. And if these past two issues are any indication, they will continue to double down on their misleading messaging.

And for the Replicant’s, they suffer from a zero sum mindset that seriously overestimates the appeal of libertarian ideology, and the depths of voter discontent.

Even in the era of his Orangeness, I seriously doubt if the states Replicant’s could improve on the performance of the last major libertarian candidate in this state who ran on these issues, getting less than 7% of the popular vote, a weak brew even by Tea Party standards.

It’s also worth pointing out that ever since Garrett has been in elected office that he has promoted misleading and sometimes downright nasty narratives, and from all evidence is only willing to associate with those who share his beliefs.

Meanwhile, other Replicant’s like Duane Adams and John McGuire will follow in his and Brat’s footsteps; holding private meetings, ignoring a vast majority of their constituents while limiting their public appearances to carefully managed events.

Don’t take my word for it, take a look at their FB and a web pages, and see how few (if any) of their activities were even posted, let alone in advance, and how little their photo ops have to do with the issues.

Now the question is what are you going to do about it?

Jon Taylor