@MLClark Back to your "socialism" column of a few days ago ... I'm going through #FloridaToday letters to the editor in February 2010, doing research for my book. I found this letter and it reminded me of your column.
Oh, this reminds me of US outrage when marriage equality was about to be passed - and how some folks in their outrage threatened to move to Canada... where marriage equality had already been law for years. 😂
The sheer bubble many folks in the US live in with respect to other governments. I remember when granny death panels were all over US news. We Canucks kept checking in with each other while watching the panic unfold: "Have *you* been on a granny death panel? No? Me neither."
@MLClark Lots of letters during this time about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Many of them wanted gays out of the military, period. One wrote (paraphrasing), "We can't have guys in the military publicly having sex!"
Uh, since when does anyone in the military "publicly have sex"?!
If anything, the true scandals have been sexual abuse by heterosexual men on female personnel. (1/2)
@MLClark Re the "Granny Death Panel," this has been the GOP go-to card since Newt Gingrich was ascendant. Make up something scary, repeat it over and over, and have Fox News air it so it has credibility.
I remember when it hit our city. One of the GOP council members was using a list of words provided by the party to instill fear of our Democratic council majority. It worked, we were voted out in 1990. (2/2)