Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
Yoda

Always remember that others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
Richard Nixon, speaking to White House staff on the morning of his resignation

I think that it's safe to say that a significant portion of folks who identify themselves as Republicans represent the dark side of America these days. I don't like to paint with a broad brush, but I'm finding it hard not to do so.

As a practical political matter, of course, I'm shouting "you go, bigots!" every time another Republican denies that any protesters shouted epithets or spit on members of Congress. The "if it even happened" refrain would be tiresome, except that there were hundreds of witnesses and plenty of video. I think that it is fair (if barely) to claim that those doing the shouting aren't representative of those who (still) protest the new health care laws. But to blithely deny that such things happened is appallingly stupid. Then again, rampant stupidity is about the only way to explain many of the events of the last couple of weeks.

Shutting down Senate hearings as a form of protest? That's the sort of thing that, if repeated enough, might cause Richard Burr to lose his seat from North Carolina. He's already considered perhaps the most endangered Republican senator up for re-election, and making him stand up and say "I think we should have the hearing, but my Republican bosses are telling me I should stand here in protest" didn't help. He played it badly by trying to have it both ways. I have some sympathy for him that way. But he made a choice, and he's paid for it this week.

The vitriol and fury Republicans have shown toward the Prez makes me think they might be burying the memory of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was always ebullient and upbeat, even when things were happening that he didn't like. While he was famously remote on a personal level, he counted many of his political enemies as personal friends. Reagan could get angry, but he didn't sully political discourse with venom. He wasn't above condescension, of course ("There you go again"), but compared to the bile of the past year (which has increased only slightly in the last month or so) such a snipe seems positively sunny.

Remember "Morning in America?" Apparently, Republicans don't. They're using fear and the anger engendered by fear to try and win elections. There's only one problem: It doesn't work very well.

Just look back to 2004, when Democrats used righteous anger against George W. Bush. I agreed with the frustration if not the utter rancor, but that doesn't matter. Who won the election? George W. Bush.

In fact, the last president to get elected on a platform of fiery rhetoric (if not exactly anger) was Harry Truman back in 1948. He ran hard against the Republican Congress, and he squeaked out a victory. By and large, though, presidential candidates do much better when they make voters feel good about themselves. Obama's message of hope and change was far more attractive to voters than whatever it was that John McCain was trying to foster. Reagan was highly vulnerable in 1984, but the Democrats nominated a sour Walter Mondale instead of a sunny Gary Hart. Some of us are old enough to remember the spanking Mondale took at the polls.

Republicans ought to remember 1964 as well. Barry Goldwater allowed LBJ to paint him as an angry warmonger. This wasn't an entirely accurate portrait--especially when compared LBJ's own inclinations--but that doesn't matter. Voters almost never vote for the angry presidential candidate.

On a personal level, I'm sickened by the low state of political discourse these days. I'm tired of the bullshit, truthfully, but I've read enough history to know that this is hardly new in our country. Democracy isn't pretty, and ignorance has just as much right to participate in the marketplace of ideas as anything else. The theory is that, eventually, truth (whatever that might be) will win out.

I do believe this, though my definition of "eventually" might be a bit too expansive for most folks. Still, I try to control my anger. After all, I don't want to join the dark side. I want to stand with the better angels of our nature.

I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying real hard.

Jon Worley drinks too much beer to stay mad for long.