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迪克·波爾曼：世界著火了，但美國卻陷入了對破壞者和騙子的功能失調的崇拜中
作者：迪克·波爾曼 2023 年 10 月 17 日
上周，美國眾議院的“MAGA”小子們驅逐了他們的議長，並基本上衝毀了眾議院，因為這就是虛無主義者所做的，他們尋求並摧毀。 但現在後果來了。
一場重大的中東危機震驚了世界，對於那些無法治理的幫派來說，玩耍的時間突然結束了。
眾議院外交事務委員會的共和黨主席邁克爾·麥考爾（Michael McCaul）是這個愚昧無知的議院中的成年人之一，當美國有線電視新聞網（CNN）被問及他和他的同事是否能夠做出充分回應時，特別是在最大程度的財政援助以色列方麵，他說得很好。
“我審視這個世界以及那裏存在的所有威脅，當我們無法治理、當我們功能失調、當我們甚至沒有議長時，我們正在向我們的對手發出什麽樣的信息？ 房子？” 麥考爾說道。 “我的意思是，當中國的習主席說民主行不通時，他如何看待這個問題？ 在知道我們無法正常運作的情況下，阿亞圖拉對此有何看法？ 我認為這傳達了一個可怕的信息……我們現在正處於一個太危險的時刻，不能與國家安全玩遊戲。”
不開玩笑。 但這就是當邪教獲得一點權力時就會發生的事情。 它削弱了它自稱熱愛的國家，尤其是當國際危機爆發、西方世界指望我們的領導——理想情況下是兩黨的統一領導時——這種情況最為明顯。 相反，我們不僅受到功能失調的眾議院小醜的阻礙，還受到參議院方麵的兩個小醜的阻礙——最著名的是愚蠢的運動員湯米·圖伯維爾，他對軍事晉升的封鎖使我們失去了海軍作戰部長， 現在看來有點重要的工作。 還有新冠陰謀論者蘭德·保羅(Rand Paul)，他一直在阻止一係列大使任命——這意味著，在這個緊急時刻，我們沒有美國駐以色列大使。 或者去埃及、約旦或黎巴嫩。
盡管如此，邪教分子卻對戰爭的爆發喋喋不休，並以謊言為避難所。 最大的彌天大謊 — — 你可能已經聽說過，因為它通過無情的邪教重複而登上了主流媒體 — — 是拜登總統資助了哈馬斯的恐怖襲擊。 因為他（據稱）向伊朗行賄，向伊朗提供了 60 億美元美國納稅人的資金，讓伊朗最近釋放了一些擁有美國雙重國籍的囚犯； 伊朗隨後（據稱）將這筆錢交給了哈馬斯，然後哈馬斯（據稱）用這筆錢資助其恐怖襲擊。
都是廢話。 這 60 億美元不是美國納稅的錢，而是美國凍結的伊朗石油收入。 這筆錢沒有返還給伊朗政府，事實上，它甚至還沒有被釋放——它由卡塔爾的第三方持有，美國將在監督這筆錢的使用方麵發揮作用。 所有這些都專門用於食品和藥品等人道主義需求。
但謊言仍在被重複使用，因為它比實際做事容易得多。
曾經有一段時間，雙方在國際危機後共同努力，但如今這種精神已經像錄像帶一樣過時了。
一些共和黨國會議員似乎了解當前的緊迫性。 紐約眾議員布蘭登·威廉姆斯在社交媒體上寫道，“世界上的國家需要美國國會發揮作用”，而紐約州眾議員邁克爾·勞勒則警告說，“美國的不確定性和混亂會在世界各地滋生脆弱性。”
很明顯，最具破壞性的邪教分子可以使用大量的詹姆斯·麥迪遜。
在第十期《聯邦黨人文集》中，憲法的製定者哀歎說，那些利用“人類激情”的狂熱分子常常“將人類分裂成不同的黨派，煽動彼此的敵意，使他們更傾向於互相煩惱和壓迫，而不是 為了共同利益而合作。” 他預計國會將平息這種熱情。 這將是“一個由精選的公民組成的團體，他們的智慧最能洞察國家的真正利益，他們的愛國主義和對正義的熱愛最不可能因為暫時或片麵的考慮而犧牲它。”
那樣就好了。 但是，正如已故創作型歌手南奇·格裏菲斯 (Nanci Griffith) 曾經寫下的那樣，“如果願望是改變/我們都會生活在玫瑰之中。”
迪克·波爾曼 (Dick Polman) 是一位駐費城的資深國家政治專欄作家，也是賓夕法尼亞大學的駐校作家，在 DickPolman.net 上撰稿。 給他發電子郵件：dickpolman7@gmail.com
Dick Polman: The world’s on fire, but America is stuck with dysfunctional cult of saboteurs and liars
BY DICK POLMAN Oct 17, 2023
Last week the MAGA brats in the U.S. House ousted their Speaker and basically crashed the chamber because that’s what nihilists do, they seek and destroy. But now come the consequences.
A major Middle East crisis has rocked the world, and, for the gang that can’t govern, play time is suddenly over.
Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, one of the adults in that benighted chamber, said it well when asked on CNN whether he and his colleagues can adequately respond, especially by aiding Israel to the fullest financial extent.
“I look at the world and all the threats that are out there, and what kind of message are we sending to our adversaries when we can’t govern, when we’re dysfunctional, when we don’t even have a Speaker of the House?” McCaul said. “I mean, how does Chairman Xi in China look at this when he says democracy doesn’t work? How does the ayatollah look at this, knowing that we cannot function properly? And I think it sends a terrible message… We’re just in too dangerous of a time right now to be playing games with national security.”
No kidding. But this is what happens when a cult gets a whiff of power. It weakens the country it purports to love, and never more glaringly than when an international crisis flares and the western world looks to us for leadership – ideally, unified bipartisan leadership. Instead, we’re hampered not only by the clowns in the dysfunctional House, but by a pair of clowns on the Senate side – most notably dumb jock Tommy Tuberville, whose blockade of military promotions has left us without a Chief of Naval Operations, a job that seems a tad important right now. There’s also Rand Paul, the Covid conspiracy theorist, who has been blocking a string of ambassadorial appointments – which means that, in this urgent moment, we don’t have a U.S. ambassador to Israel. Or to Egypt, Jordan, or Lebanon.
Nevertheless, cultists have been quite voluble about the breakout of war, taking refuge in lies. The biggest whopper – which you’ve likely heard because it has landed in the mainstream media via relentless cult repetition – is that President Biden funded Hamas’ terrorist attacks. Because he (supposedly) bribed Iran to recently release some American-dual citizen inmates by giving it $6 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars; Iran then (supposedly) gave that money to Hamas, which then (supposedly) used it to finance its terrorist attacks.
All nonsense. The $6 billion wasn’t U.S. tax dollars – it was Iranian oil revenue that the U.S. had frozen. The money didn’t go back to the Iranian government, and, indeed it hasn’t even been released yet –it’s being held by third parties in Qatar, and the U.S. will have a role in overseeing how it’ll be spent. And it’s all earmarked for humanitarian needs like food and medicine.
But the lie is still being recycled because it’s so much easier than actually doing stuff.
There once was a time when both parties worked together in the wake of an international crisis, but today that ethos is as archaic as the videocassette.
Some Republican congressmen seem to understand the urgency of the moment. Rep. Brandon Williams of New York wrote on social media “the nation in the world needs America’s Congress to be functioning,” while fellow New York Rep. Michael Lawler warned “uncertainty and chaos in the U.S. breeds vulnerability around the world.”
It’s clear the most destructive cultists could use a good dose of James Madison.
In the 10th Federalist Paper, the architect of the Constitution lamented that zealots who exploit “human passions” have all too often “divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.” He envisioned that a Congress would quell such passions. It would be “a chosen body of citizens whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations.”
That would be nice. But, as the late singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith once penned, “If wishes were changes/ We’d all live in roses.”
Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com
