How do you debate people that just make sh*t up?
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community."
"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.
Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor's efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes "that's exactly the attitude they want you to have."
"This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.
Seriously?
The bicycle is the ultimate symbol of an egalitarian democracy. A bike is cheap. It doesn't require gasoline or other expensive fuel to ride. You don't have to pay expensive registration fees to ride a bicycle. It emits no pollutant. Bikes are easy to ride, and much safer than cars - if you don't ride in traffic. Bicycles need less infrastructure - a small concrete or packed dirt path will do. Bicycles thrive in pedestrian-friendly urban communities.
They may possibly save the world.
It's the automobile that controls us. We're essentially all forced to have a car. Because of our tax-funded infrastructure and our modern zoning laws and our egregiously underfunded public transportation systems, in most places you need a car to work, eat, and live. It's Exxon and BP that own us, not the United Nations.
But...seriously? This kind of late-night AM radio conspiracy is what we have to battle...from a Republican gubernatorial candidate? It doesn't matter if he's making it up, pandering to the crazy right, or just plumb nuts, the point here is that is all too common in contemporary politics, from climate change to health care reform, a group of political participants isn't interested in limiting the debate to what's real.
In a sense, it's sort of brilliant. They're going to places most rational people won't even go near. Even discounting it engages teh crazy, legitimizes it.
But how do you counter it? Make up your own sh*t? |
