Who are the "Crazies?"

Woman and boyfriend
coax five-year-old daughter
into stealing woman’s purse.

I fear it is getting impossible these days to tell who is “crazy” (insane) and who is not. It is also difficult to understand what might be done about someone who is by all outward appearances crazy. I mean how far “off” does someone have to be these days to be regarded as crazy? Take an obvious case like Michele Bachmann. To me she is certifiably crazy. I think so because of many of the things she has said lead me to that conclusion. For example, would a sane person complain that our little children were going to be forced to learn about homosexuality and then try it? Or how about, if we took away the minimum wage we could have full employment? Or we have to wean people off Social Security and Medicare? I submit that in the context of our current situation in the U.S. these are basically crazy ideas. But maybe she isn’t really crazy, but “crazy like a fox,” and has some reason for acting the way she does that I just do not understand.
How about Delaware’s Bob Marshall who, like Pat Robertson, believes the Haiti tragedy was God’s punishment and that disabled children are the result of previous abortions? Or a previous Idaho Congressman who insisted that breast cancer was caused by abortions? Are these types crazy, merely ignorant, perhaps downright stupid, or what? Then there is Representative Trent Franks who recently claimed that Blacks were better off under slavery than they are now. Is this a result of his ignorance of slavery, or a result of his strong anti-abortion beliefs, or both? This seems to me a really crazy remark for a Representative to make. There is also Representative Dean Heller who says that unemployment benefits are creating “hoboes.” Does he really believe this or does he just want to refuse extending unemployment benefits for financial reasons, or what?

What about homophobes, like the recent want-to-be beauty queen who said the bible was quite clear on the problem, very black and white, and they should be put to death. Could she possibly be that uncaring and stupid or is she simply crazy? There are also those like Family Research Council President Tony Perkins who says homosexuality is a crime. I don’t know where this legal opinion comes from but from all we know about homosexuality nowadays it is a crazy belief. Of course there are many people who believe this, are they all crazy? Indeed, are people who believe in a literal interpretation of the bible insane? I suspect so, but of course that is merely my opinion. These bible-thumpers are among the worst. Think of Pat Robertson whose pronouncements on almost everything seem to me absolutely insane, but he is influential. How about people like Mike Huckabee, ex-Governor of Arkansas who announced when running for President he did not believe in evolution. I have two questions here, is someone in this day and age who does not believe in evolution crazy, and is someone crazy for admitting it while running for President. Did he believe this admission might actually get him votes?

Then there are those like Jim Bunning, who is currently single-handedly holding out against extending unemployment benefits for no ostensible reason and refusing to budge even at the requests of his 99 colleagues. How are we to account for this kind of behavior? There is also the outstandingly obtuse James Inhofe who, against a tidal wave of scientific opinion, insists that global warming is a myth. I should think this clearly insane except for the fact that he may be simply representing the oil industry and doing what he can to stop legislation on global warming. Even so, given the current context of the problem of global warming, it would seem a pretty crazy position to take and maintain.

I should not leave out the truly hard-core believers like the “birthers” or the John Birch society people. It is surely crazy to keep insisting Obama show his birth certificate when it has been shown and is available on the internet. It is also crazy to assume that the State of Hawaii and a lot of others must have conspired when Obama was born to make him President by faking a birth certificate. But, hey, here we are dealing with real crazies, like the Birchers who claimed that even President Eisenhower was a communist. Some of Glenn Beck’s ravings are pretty clearly crazy, but he apparently has quite an audience. So is he really crazy or just busy making a lot of money, like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and others of that ilk.

My point here is not that all these people are necessarily crazy, but, rather, it is unfortunately impossible to tell whether they are or not. We seem to have reached a point in our political affairs where it is no longer possible to determine whether someone is crazy or not. And if someone, like Bachmann, for example, really is crazy, what might be done about it? Of course the people of Minnesota might vote her out of office eventually, but what if they do not? When the behavior of public figures runs the gamut from stupid, to ignorant, to devious, to mercenary, dishonest, absurd, and preposterous, how and where does one draw the line? What disturbs me even more is, how do these people get elected in the first place? You have to take a test to get a driver’s license, and often to get a job, but there is no test of any kind for fitness for public office. Maybe there should at least be some kind of interview for candidates for office, perhaps the Supreme Court Justices or other courts could be charged with this duty. Oh, I forgot, half of them are bonkers themselves. Sigh!

LKBIQ:
It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn't in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals.
Charles Kuralt

TILT:
Billie Holliday was born Elinor Harris and nicknamed “Lady Day.” She was arrested for drug possession even as she lay dying on a hospital bed.