The Chicken Little Syndrome – Why Some On the Left Root For Their Own Failure

The GOP has just  sabotaged itself with the American public. Their vindictive and destructive extortion plot to hold America’s government and economy hostage to force the President to let them override the 2012 election has turned the majority of Americans against them so strongly, they want Republicans out of power.

So how do some on the Left respond to what is unarguably good news for Democrats to possibly retake The House, end the madness and give President Obama a final two years that could be full of progress and accomplishment? Are these folks energized and dedicated to make that happen, encouraging others to commit to investing their time and energy in campaigning, voter registration and GOTV next year to achieve this now viable and critical goal?

Nope. They’d rather offer their impression of Droopy Dog on downers, “Oh wowsy, wowsy. It’s still a year away and Americans have such short memories. Republican districts are gerrymandered anyway, we’ll never win enough seats. The Obamacare site is messed up and people will turn on Obama. And a meteor could hit the Earth and destroy it before then, oh no, wowsy, wowsy…”

Aside from inspiring most reasonable people to want to slap them silly with a live, wriggling salmon, these Depressocrats need to be called out for their negative contributions to society.

For lack of a better name, let’s call it The Chicken Little Syndrome, the desire to play the role of warning others that the sky is falling.

So why is it that some people who claim to support something, are so focused on dwelling on the reasons it could fail? There are a few possibilities that come to mind.

1. The Loser Mentality

Plain and simple, some people are losers. They are far too familiar with reaching for the brass ring and seeing someone else’s hand beat them to it. Their way of dealing with a situation where they don’t achieve what they hoped or expected is not to redouble their efforts and be dedicated to success, it is to nod their head with the valuable knowledge that no matter how likely it looks that something good will happen, it won’t. These are the type of people who when they read Winnie The Pooh, related most to Eeyore.

2. The Know-It-All

There’s always that person who’s got to be contrary in a conversation no matter how unfounded or absurd their newly adopted position is, “Nope, it’s not Hitler’s fault that WWII and the Holocaust happened, they were bound to happen eventually, he just happened to be the one in power when they did.”

This kind of nattering nabob of negativity has an inferiority complex. They need to feel smarter than everyone else and their internal logic is that by taking a defeatest and contrary position to what most people believe, they are declaring that they are not one of the ignorant pack of “the many” which proves clearly that they are smarter…even if their track record of believing that Mitt Romney would win in a landslide and that people would finally conclude that chocolate tastes horrible isn’t so impressive.

For these folks, being right is not the priority and they rarely are.

3. The Regurgitator

Those who have been around for a while know that the mass media around us is less about reporting the news in an informative, unbiased way than it is about encouraging people to pour lighter fuel in their hair, bring a lit match to it and run around in circles in their house screaming.

This is old news for most but the corporations that now own our media naturally act like corporations, they want to make the most money that they can. That’s their mission, not responsibly informing the public. So of course, they repeat every bit of drool that comes out of the mouth of Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin or any wackjob Republican as a lead story every hour or 200 point font headline…because it makes people reach for the lighter fuel and keep watching or clicking on their stories, to be shocked and emotionally stimulated again.

The MSM appeals to the lowest common denominator in people, primarily gunning for their fear and hatred, to get more viewers and traffic because that increases the amount of revenue they reap from what they can charge advertisers.

This creates a perfect environment for the type of people who aspire to be internet versions of Cassandra, they rush to inform their peers of the doom and gloom awaiting them with such a sense of purpose. They are bringers of wisdom in their minds but in reality are just human Tivos. They watch tv, read blogs and just regurgitate the latest corporate manufactured meme thinking that equates to insight.

Of course most of what they say is about why we should worry about this or that, that’s what the news is today, a redundant cycle of worry-inducing “stories”.  Instead of being the oracles they think they are, they are just additional broadcast outlets for the exploitative MSM.

4. The Faux Progressive

Whether they are Baggers in Dem’s clothing or emoprogs who are self-deluded and like to think of themselves as Progressives while truly rooting for Democrats to fail, this type actually enjoys the pushing of talking points that are negative about Pres. Obama and Dems.

Their comments are easy to spot, there is an unmistakeable restrained glee that they get out of attacking Obama and Dems or expressing that the Republicans will prevail here or there. Such concern trolls often begin their comments on blogs by saying, “I voted for Obama but…” or “I’ve been a Progressive Democrat all of my life but…”

They can easily be spotted by their big “buts”.

However contrarily they represent themselves, they are in fact adversaries of Progressivism, Democrats and Pres. Obama. Their “clever” tactic is to put on sheep’s clothing, insert themselves in the middle of the flock then say, “Hey, I’m one of you, right? So take what I say is more legit than if I wasn’t one of you, right? And here’s the thing, I like us but…we totally suck, trust me!”

5. True Pessimists

There are people who genuinely believe the negativity they espouse, they really do look at most things in a pessimistic way, always seeking a dark lining in every cloud. Their motivation though, of focusing primarily on why people shouldn’t have hope and why they shouldn’t bother trying to make a difference is a destructive compulsion. These people seek out the most negative views they can in the media and feel a need to spread their pessimism like typhoid to others because of course, it’s lonely living in a cave all the time and misery enjoys company (and has planned a surely doomed dinner party for them).

Here are some of the negative things they are spouting nowadays:

a. We’re a year away from elections, people will forget how they feel about Republicans by then.

So Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Louis Gohmert, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Tea Party won’t do a single thing from this point forward to push for their agenda? They won’t keep obstructing Pres. Obama? They won’t threaten a shutdown or debt ceiling default again to blackmail Obama into giving into their demands (though just because they will threaten again, I doubt they’ll shut down the government again)? They won’t campaign in 2014 on their radical views in their primaries and GEs?

The takeaway from the shutdown for Ted Cruz and the Tea Party is that they won! And they need to fight even harder! Each week and month, the Tea Party Republicans will remind and reinforce in America just what extremists and anarchists they are, Americans will have no choice but to be reminded of the shutdown on and how much they don’t trust Republicans to be in power through election day 2014 .

b. Because of gerrymandering, Democrats can’t win The House.

It won’t be easy but if Democrats could win by around 7%, they could indeed win back the House. To arrive at that percentage, increased Dem turnout in an off year election, when Dems don’t typically vote as much, could make up some of that advantage but what can make up the balance of that is depressed Republican turnout. Will most Republicans, especially those who are Republicans solely due to their economic views, be energized to come out and vote for these wackjobs who are destroying their party and threatening the confidence of the economy these fiscal Republicans depend on?

There could be a very counter-intuitive election in 2014. Republican voters, aside from the Tea Partiers who represent a minority of Repubs, have many reasons to be discouraged from voting. The 7% target won’t be achieved by Republicans switching over and voting for Dems but a combination of an energized Dem voter base and an apathetic Republican base that isn’t motivated to vote could indeed make that happen.

It may not be a probability but mindlessly dismissing it as impossible is just being lazy and blind.

c. The problems with the Obamacare website will destroy the whole program and make voters support Republicans who oppose it.

It is important to get younger Americans enrolled for the ACA to keep rates down around the level they’re beginning at but the admitted incompetence in creating and launching the website is a temporary problem that will be resolved in a matter of weeks. No one will care that they had trouble with the website in October 2013 when they are covered at a lower rate in October 2014 because of Obamacare. Being delayed in getting a policy, which wouldn’t be going into effect anyway until months later, is not going to cause people to support having their health insurance taken away by Tea Partiers.

The whole point is, if people are upset because they can’t sign up for health insurance immediately, then they WANT health insurance! They’re not going to join the Bagger march to take it away again and in the process, get rid of protections for those with pre-existing conditions, reinstate lifetime limitations and take away insurance under Medicaid for millions of Americans.

People won’t be able to be covered anyway until January 1, 2014, even if the website was working perfectly. That’s the way the law works. Enrollment ends on March 31, 2014, that is five months away.

We live in a reality where time passes. Does anyone really expect that Obama won’t throw everything he has at this problem to solve it as he has solved so many others, including bringing on financial and private computer industry hotshots? Does anyone really think that in two months, nothing will have changed with the site and no problems will be fixed to make it run better?

When Medicare Part D, the prescription plan, was being implemented under a Republican, George Bush, it also had a very troubled roll out, people had a lot of difficulty signing up and took a while to work out. Anyone nowadays complaining about that? Anyone calling for the end of Medicare Part D because of it’s problems when it debuted? Any reason that those who complain the loudest seem wholly oblivious to even recent history?

Though Repub politicians are rooting for Obamacare to fail, it won’t. A vast majority of Americans see the value and American principles it represents (even if they have been poisoned against the name “Obamacare”) . The previous health care system in the US was massively failing, excluding tens of millions of Americans and costs were rising too fast for the nation to sustain. What is going to happen is that Obamacare will succeed in over half of America and as the Republican states lag behind economically because of the added drag of the uninsured, they will eventually come on board.

The naysayers and worrywarts can’t help themselves. If Obama discovered a cure for cancer, they would moan about how this will anger people with other diseases that he hasn’t cured who will then vote against him and for Republicans.

Negativity is a disease that needs to be cured. And though this saying was coined to refer to transparency, it also works in this context, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Though spraying some Raid on them might be even more appropriate and effective.