Mitt Romney is nuts

Up until now I had some respect for Mitt Romney. I considered him to be one of the more reasonable Republicans running for President this year. That all ended when I read his speech announcing his withdrawal from the race.

A lot of people are talking about his claim that electing a Democratic President would be a surrender in the war on terror.

In case you hadn't noticed, Mitt, the war in Iraq is the greatest recruiting tool for anti-American terrorist groups since George H. W. Bush decided to leave permanent American military bases in the Muslim Holy Land after the first Iraq invasion. He also forgot that the biggest reductions in our military force were under Bush I, not Clinton. If we're going to deal with terrorism then step one is keeping away from the Bushes.

That part of the speech convinced me that he's a nasty jerk, but its another part that convinced me he's nuts.

What?! So our superior culture and DNA make us destined to economically control the world? Does Mitt think people in other countries are all lazy foreigners?

Comparing any political figure to the Nazis is almost always a bad idea but what else am I supposed to think? Its not often that you hear an American politician claiming we're genetically and culturally destined to rule the world. The sad part is that a lot of people probably agree with that fascist attitude and call it patriotism.

Romney also congratulates America for not claiming any land after American wars for the last 100 years. I guess the Mexican, Spanish, and 1812 wars don't count.

Its true that we don't take land anymore. Its no longer necessary to physically control a country with an occupying army to control its economy while exploiting its natural resources and supply of cheap labor. The system of corporate ownership, IMF loans, free trade agreements, and the World Bank are easier and less bloody methods than old style colonialism. Neoliberal, free trade globalization policies are the new colonialism.

For Romney to pretend that these more sophisticated methods of exploiting the economies of third world nations makes America morally superior is as arrogant as it is disingenuous. It makes me curious about the nature of Romney's business dealings in Latin America that he often talks about.

As if that weren't enough, Romney blames welfare for all of our problems. Blaming the weakest members of society is a common but ugly demagoguery. We'll be hearing a lot more of that as Republicans blame illegal immigrants for all of our problems because immigrants dare to take low paying jobs offered by companies that donate millions to the Republican Party.

Romney then plays to fears of persecution and complains about pornography and sexual promiscuity. Both of those rhetorical tactics are common characteristics of fascist movements.

I used to think that Guiliani's authoritarian mindset and political exploitation of 9/11 made him the most proto-fascist candidate running this year. Romney just proved me wrong.

Tumultuous times often give rise to extremist and destructive political movements. American politics is in a frightening phase.