The Anti-American GOP

How’s that for an inflammatory title?  I think I can support it, though.

Democracy is the philosophy which holds the United States of America together.  The rules apply to all.  We all pay taxes¹, taxes which we, through our elected representatives, have agreed to pay as an admission fee for a civilized country.  We all obey the same laws, laws which we, through our elected representatives, have agreed to obey to make our lives safer.  Yet one of our major political parties, the Grand Old Party, the Republican Party, is attempting to short circuit this grand experiment in self-government.   

Democracy cannot be enforced at the point of a bayonet².  It is a social and governmental compact to which we, as citizens and residents, have agreed.  The idea that all men are created equal, that there are certain inalienable rights which apply to all, requires fealty to the idea that we all must follow the same rules, tolerate the same red tape, stand in the same lines.  We expect there to be no special privileges such as the hochadel of the 1600s enjoyed, such as the lords of England enjoyed, such as the party members of the USSR enjoyed.

But democracy also requires three basic conditions — literacy, free time, and wealth.  And, since the Reagan Revolution of the early 1980s, what has been under attack by the new conservatives?  Education and middle class wealth, and the free time that wealth created.

Fearing the ‘Other’

I strongly suspect that (((Wife))) and I scare the shit out of many extremely religious people.  I bet dollars to donuts that my best friend does, too.  Why?  We’re boringly normal.  

I am Shocked. Shocked, I Tell You!

I am amazed.  Shocked.  Aghast.  Mentally obliviated.  Blown away.   Surprised. Why am I amazed, shocked, aghast, mentally obliviated and blown away?

Criminalizing Miscarriages?

On of the things I admire* about the radical religious right wackos is their ability to get you coming or going.  First, they fight tooth and nail against any possibility of teaching our children actual facts about reproduction, sex, and all of the various ways to prevent pregnancy (abstinence, condoms, birth control pills, sponges, aspirin, IUDs).  Then, if a girl and boy do what teenagers do and (because they have been lied to about the effectiveness of birth control) she gets a little bit preggers, they make it as difficult as possible to get a legal abortion (by intimidation (of doctors, nurses and patients at women’s health clinics) or violence (up to (and including) murder).

Out in Utah (a bastion of progressive thought), a new law has just passed out of committee.  The “bill tightens the definition of what an abortion is and removes a legal immunity for women if they intentionally try to have an illegal abortion.” (this (and all others (except where noted)) is from KCPW‘s website). 

The Right is not Right Enough for the Right!

Off the top of my pointy little head, I can think of many, many truly uncomfortable things that I could be doing.  Getting a root canal while listening to rap music is up there near the top.  As is listening to the 1812 Overture played entirely by cats on blackboards.  Nothing that I can think of, however, could be as bad as running for office as a member of the Grand Old Party, forced to please both the religious and political radical right. 

The party has moved so far to the right that a right-winger like McCain or Snow are considered too liberal.  The teabaggers and thumpers are controlling who can, and cannot, be elected as a Republican, and it is based on faith, not fact.  Today, Saint Ronald Himself would not be an acceptable conservative.

 Two cases in point:

Blue State, Red Governor

When I graduated from college with an honours degree in history, I moved to Rhode Island and spent about a year selling cars (well, it was a history degree, right?).  I enjoyed Rhode Island.  Nice state.  Rather liberal.  Delightfully bizarre.  But, like the rest of New England, definitely a blue state.

Breaking the Back of America

Conservatives are the backbone of America.  Their respect for the Constitution of the United States, their respect for the laws of America, their respect for the President of the United States of America (whether they agree with his political views or not), their battles for equal rights for all humans, and their Christian ethics, including a sense of love and respect for all life are the epitome of exemplars of good old fashioned Americanism to which we should all aspire.

I Guess I’m Still Un-American

I am an unabashed liberal.  A progressive. I accept that federal, state, county and local governments can, and most often are, a social positive which can make the world a better place.   According to Bachmann, Beck, Limbaugh, et al., this means that I am not an American.  I don’t like paying taxes, but, when I look around at the benefits I receive, I am seriously under-taxed.

Part of that is that I see that actual connection between adequate funding and government services.  Some don’t.

Heterodoxy, Orthodoxy, Heresy and the GOP

Orthodoxy, heresy and heterodoxy, the idea that belief in certain things (as opposed to performing the correct ceremonies), pervades the ten thousand or so Christianities of the world.  For the most part, each sect teaches (and is taught) that they, and only they, have the one correct answer to life, the universe and everything.  Whether the unity of the trinity (or the trinity of the unity), the omnipresence of the holy spirit, whatever.  It sometimes seems that the smaller the disagreement, the bigger the verbal battle.

Healthcare: Profits and Prophets

I have some weird friends.  They’re good people, but some of them are severely disconnected from reality.  I find myself trying to explain things calmly and rationally.  And with no effect.

I’ve told her that yes, Obama really is an American.  His mother is a citizen, therefore, no matter where he was born (that would be Hawai’i (an actual state of the United States)) he would still be a US citizen and no, he does not kill babies.  I’ve told him (yeah, more than one) that high tax rates on the rich, massive public investment in infrastructure, and strong labour unions have, historically, lead to much more rapid economic expansion than supply side economics.  And I have, patiently, explained to both of them that ‘death panels’ already exist — they are run by for-profit insurance companies.

And here is a case in point: