ANOTHER WINGNUT NARRATIVE COLLAPSES

I was listening to Mark Levin criticize Michael Savage yesterday and one of his remarks reminded me that there is a contradiction between the conservative narratives of self-reliance and pride in country. Levin argued that Savage should be grateful to Fats Limbaugh for creating wingnut talk radio. That of course diminishes the "talents" of Mr. Savage and also assumes that without Limbaugh, talk radio wouldn't be dominated by right-wing gasbags. The point here is that Levin is claiming that one individual owes another individual and that goes against the wingnut myth of the self-reliant individual who doesn't need anyone or anything else.

Of course, it's not government intervention that Levin is talking about here but he did refer to government policies when he criticized Michelle Obama for not being proud of America. Excerpts of Levin's radio remarks from the extremist site News Busters:

I'm tired of people pretending that this is still pre-slavery, pre-segregation, pre-internment. ... I'm sick and tired of people ignoring the enormous progress we've made in this country and sacrifices one generation after another have made to make this a more perfect country. ...Stop putting down my country when there's so many great people doing so many great things so you can have it all, so we all can have it all.

Levin's reference to slavery & segregation implies that government action, in addition to individual action, can have desirable results. In the main text of the News Busters post, there are other examples of the effectiveness of governmental action:

Were you proud of this country when the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989?

Whenever I see the space shuttle roar off into the sky or glide down from the heavens for a pinpoint landing, I am proud.