Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Vertical=Kingly

Crooks and Liars » Huckabee wants to get ‘vertical’: "At Saturday night’s Republican debate, Mike Huckabee used a word he emphasizes quite a bit: “vertical.”

“I think we also ought to recognize that what Senator Obama has done is to touch at the core of something Americans want,” Huckabee said. “They are so tired of everything being horizontal — left, right, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican. They’re looking for vertical leadership that leads up, not down. He has excited a lot of voters in this country. Let’s pay respect for that. He’s a likable person who has excited people about wanting to vote who have not voted in the past...”"

Clicking on the link will lead you to a whole bunch of speculation concerning Huck's meaning when he talks about "vertical." Well, it is not that hard. Vertical politics means hierarchical politics; i.e., the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, etc. Or, kings, dukes, counts; or dictator, chancellor, governor; or president, supreme court, congress, rich voters, sorta rich voters, then voters, each with decreasing control over his or her own life. In a Republican wet-dream vertical environment, only one man (yes, like a WASP-man), dominates each rung on the ladder, though inevitably, as you go further down on the ladder a few more people might sneak onto a power level. Horizontal politics, of course, is the opposite-- on the few vertical rungs, there are many more people or entities sharing power: the President, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. So, bottom line: horizontal politics is democracy; vertical politics is dictatorship.

Anyone surprised Huck is looking to be the next George Bush?

No comments: