Tea Party Simplified Viewpoints

The Romney campaign called stimulus for start-up wind energy companies a "boondoggle".
What, then, are the billions in subsidies and tax breaks to Big Oil, now and in the past?

Then,  Richard Mourdock of Indiana running for the Senate frequently compares the present to the time preceding the Civil War. In the Huffington Post:

Just last week, Mourdock compared President Barack Obama's rescue of Chrysler to slavery, saying the deal stiffed creditors -- including Indiana's pension system -- and that it was like the slavery Lincoln opposed because it involved taking from one person and giving to another.

Mourdock joked during his victory speech about how often he brings up Lincoln.

Asked on Capitol Hill Tuesday about his penchant for making historic comparisons that some find objectionable, Mourdock stood by his habit, and elaborated about how he means it.

"I'm a big history buff," Mourdock said. "I just mean it in the sense that polarization -- And in that sense the polarization makes it hard to find compromise. And that's not unlike the incredible polarization that took place during those periods of the 1860s."
The polarization of the 1860s led to the bloodiest war in American history....

I am not sure I follow what is going on in this story, but the nonsense of comparing the present now in any meaningful way to the time preceding the Civil War is stupid. I know that I have done it, but it is a simile that points in other directions and not to any assumed deep similarities to that age.

It is a simplified simile, and should be used to send the mind in other directions and to gather much more detail.

For one thing, I think you would need a "Bleeding Kansas" type skirmish for starts. We may have one yet, but we certainly do not now. Perhaps Mr. Mourdock sees himself as the latter-day John Brown. That's is a name he should keep bringing up, not the name of Lincoln

Yes, perhaps Mr. Mourdock is closer to John Brown.
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