Being reactionary in one sense means that, as individuals, the only time we seek power or influence is when we seek to take it from others, as opposed to independently critically assessing a situation and acting accordingly. In another context, reactionary individuals also resist progress and seek to return to the "good ol' days" (before Abortion was a woman's choice and when women were told what to say by men before being interviewed on national televion) and tend to lie to the far right of the political spectrum.
The Good OLD Days?
Most Americans, though they may claim to be liberal, are, in fact, highly reactionary individuals by both definitions. For example, the new 3G Iphone is released and there are 5 hour lines just waiting for the chance to dump their old (6month old) Iphone just for a slightly thinner, slightly faster model. You see, Apple produces an action, and the American public reacts. Example 2, Facebook creates the Newsfeed feature, and its WWIII. (I even created a group in protest of the newsfeed). I'm partly a conspiracy theorist so I really don't think it's any mistake that consumerism and capitalism drive this country when those two ideologies are rooted in the fact that you have to be a reactionary person to even moderately participate in them.
Not to say that Obama is pure and untainted from the urge to be reactionary, but he's doing a pretty damn good job of showing us how politics/ real lives should be run. (Imagine life always being like it is on the Hills: Don't hang out with LC or else Spencer WILL react and kick you out of his family.)
For those of you who quite didn't understand why anyone would want to speak softly and carry a big stick (so to speak), this represents real political change. Obama's campaign tactics are less about being the bigger man and taking the high road and more "I'm not going to get up and jump everytime this crazy White man/woman says some bullshit about me."
Can you imagine if the American government reacted to every snide remark/gossip tidbit/unsubstantiated threat ever made against us? We'd be at war with some guy named Terror looking for Weapons of Mass Destr--you see...
Unfortunately, the success of overall destructive politics rests on the fact that Americans are, in fact, reactionary people. This is also why McPalin offends me as deeply as they do- they don't believe that the American people can be anti-reactionary (we'll define this as intellegent).
Here are three examples of just how reactionary the McSityouroldassdown campaign has been:
1- Embittered Hillary supporters looking for a woman in office? I got a woman, right here! She's cool, just like the 3G Iphone.
2- The American people like to hear the word change, huh? Well call me a "MAVERICK!"
3- Yes, I did believe that "...the fundamentals of our economy are strong," but now that Wall Street has melted down, I'll revise that statement and declare the economy to be "in crisis."
You see, McCain only reacts to something external to his own percieved intellectual analysis of the country as it truly is. Boo to that.
Meanwhile, if it's any indication from the quote below, my fear is that key Democrats will fail to ride with Obama on the I'm-an-intellect-lemme-do-me-'cause-I-got-this-in-the-bag train and derail the Obama campaign from the progressive track it's on:
"It's time to dump Biden and replace him with Sen. Hillary Clinton," said Andy Ostroy on the Huffington Post Monday. "I'm starting to think that if Team Obama doesn't do something dramatic fast, it's gonna lose this election."
Now, LuvBomb is Team Obama all the way, all day, but, man, won't we be disappointed if they start playin' the same tricks on the American people that McIcan'tbelieveitsnotawrapforthisguy has been playing? (That, in itself, would be like waiting hours in line at the Apple store for an Iphone, throwing away your Blackberry, dealing with all the bugs with the Iphone, then turning on the TV to find that they've released the 3G...ahhh capitalism based on reactionary citizens at its best!)
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