On the Contrary

In Mitch Daniels’ Response he began by saying, “The status of ‘loyal opposition’ imposes on those out of power some serious responsibilities: to show respect for the Presidency and its occupant, to express agreement where it exists.“  What a boldfaced lie.  There is no “loyal opposition”, just a group of people who want to see the President fail.  One only has to look at what has occurred over the last three years to draw that conclusion.  There are a record number of filibusters, holding the country hostage to their debt demands, and defeating any attempt at improving the unemployment picture.  We have an ideological divide that does not allow the taking of prisoners anymore.  I wish the President would have made that point far more emphatic in his remarks.  We all know nothing is going to happen and now the critical battle is whether we are going to allow the Republicans to eviscerate government and turn us into a two-class society.  It is as simple as that and there is no middle ground.

On Republican leadership, I think we saw it at its most naked form when Rick Santorum was confronted by a woman who again raised the outrageous nonsense about President Obama being a Nigerian Muslim and Santorum pandered to her beliefs (and the amazing crowd of know-nothings around him).  Mitt shows us his leadership when he panders to positions he has rejected in the past, but anything to get by the primaries.  Newt?  Well if lying, deceit, obfuscation, and generating hate is leadership, then bring on the rope and we can call ourselves the lynch mob country.  Ron Paul at least shows some backbone on his unpopular positions on drugs, wars, and sex, but his racist comments and his zany ideas about anarchy as a way of governing lead us to wonder if he thinks deeply about complex problems.  Some leadership when you lie and pander to mob instincts to lead the nation.

I listened to Eric Cantor (ever notice that most of these people are not very bright?) explain how the State of the Union speech (before he had heard it) was just more of the same failed policies.  Really?  Eric and company have never let the President have his policies without being watered down by booby traps that make them ineffective.  But what really ought to make Americans think is that the same old policies are more tax cuts and less regulation.  That is where we have been for the last 30 years and the result is for all of us to behold.  One of the best offensives is to project your weaknesses on your opponent.  This is one giant example of calling what we have not tried except after WWII when our economy was booming, old worn out policies, while calling more of the same that has brought us down and created a two class society change.  You got to love their chutzpah.  But if we listen and follow them, well kiss you kid’s future goodbye.

The President began to throw down the gauntlet, but he should have learned something from Newt’s rise in the polls.  The rabble like clear lines and firm opposition.  Let’s hope this speech was simply a stepping off point for beginning to draw clear lines, confronting failed ideology, and not the lines themselves.  They need to be much more clear and abrupt or the middle class and the appropriate role of government will be lost.

After watching the Republican debates and the Iowa primary, here are some initial lessons we might all have learned;

• There must be a lot of really confused and fooled people who live in Texas to elect Rick Perry.  The stature of Texas dropped significantly every time he opened his mouth.  It really is the state of good old boy politics and a race to the bottom for the economy
• The only other elected politician in this group was Michele Bachmann and again, her district must be a halfway house for the mentally impaired.  If a majority of the residents in her district in Minnesota believe what she does, we should send in the peace corp.  This really has to shake your confidence in representative government
• Isn’t it good to know that a quarter of the caucus electorate find Rick Santorum viable even though he would outlaw contraception.  He is not an evangelical, he is a catholic.  Remember when the great fear was that John Kennedy would be a pawn of the pope.  Well Rick is the pope.  Welcome to theocracy
• Ron Paul reminds me of a high school pep rally where everyone is chanting we are number one.  It is the same intellectual process that informs all his policies.  And the Iowans (especially young people) who support him really like what they are hearing without any real thought about how it would play out in the real world
• Mitt appears to have a campaign philosophy that says, say anything, the press is too stupid or lazy to point out that my claims are false.  He is on to something here
• Newt taught us that negative ads work really well and need to be responded to.  If he follows through on his threats, he may teach us and Mitt in New Hampshire that pay back is a bitch
• Finally, it appears that what conservative Iowans want is religious intolerance, homophobia, misogyny, and 19th century economics.  Another place never to visit

My guess is you saw Eric Cantor shocked, shocked I tell you, about the class warfare being waged by those dangerous revolutionaries attacking the shrine of Wall Street.  It is not like the Republicans (and many Democrats) have not been waging warfare on the rest of us for years.  Real wages are falling as Wall Street and the 1 precenters are getting getting richer.  And of course he had no problem with the Tea Party and their disruptions since the Tea Party was just an arm of the conservative money machine to further emasculate government and any attempt to level the playing field.

Then of course we had Herb Caine telling the protestors to quit whining and get a job.  Now that really was perfect.  There is an estimated 5 applicants for every job.  The Economic Policy Institute has found that real hourly wages (inflation adjusted) for men without a high school education were 22 percent lower in 2007, before the recession, than in 1979. For those with only a high school education, they were 10 percent lower. The share getting benefits like health care has also declined.  Worse, between June 2009, when the recession officially ended, and June 2011, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 6.7 percent.  As Wall Street and the 1 Percenters increase their wealth the rest of us are taking a hit and Herb Caine has no clue or maybe he does and doesn’t care.  But he is truly representative of conservative thinking:  “If people are poor or don’t have jobs, it is their own fault.  I made it on my own didn’t I.  Therefore they deserve their fate.”

To me, they are all cut out of the same cloth:  The good old boy club whose very existence depends on them keeping the status quo in place.  Some people are special and chosen and the rest are, well, peasants.  Say Tea Party and what is your mental image:  Fat old white people who are information challenged.  I am just amazed that it took so long for Americans to start to get really mad and start focusing on the real problem instead of the hate,  blame, and name calling game the Republicans have used for misdirection.  But the best is yet to come:  Religion.

Finally the true nature of the prejudice of the Republican Party shows its face when a Evangelical minister finally said it.  Mitt isn’t a Christian and Mormonism is a cult, therefore he is not fit for office (Actually all religions are cults, but that is a blog for another day). He didn’t specifically say he wasn’t fit for office.  What he said was (and there is Evangelical code here) that not only is he not a Christian, but he doesn’t hold the special beliefs that only Evangelicals can accept as being in accordance with God and therefore not fit for office.  Now the constitution prohibits a religious test for office.  That means the government can not prohibit anyone from seeking or holding office based upon their religious beliefs.  Not so with voters.  They can select based upon any number of prejudices including race, sex, and religion.

But here is the real enlightenment (no pun intended) in all this.  These are the people who believe this is a Christian nation, the Founders so intended, and they want to go back to original interpretations of the Constitution which is code for their interpretation of it.  That view is totally at odds with history and the Founders’ intention to make this a secular state based upon reason (The Enlightenment).  So their rejecting reason as the basis for political arguments, their wish to take rights away from women, gays and lesbians, and anyone else who doesn’t believe as they do, and of course, not judge arguments on their merits, but their religious dogma, is in every sense intolerant and anti-democratic.  It is everything the Constitution was set up to prevent.  They want a narrowly define government based upon their religious beliefs and they would disqualify anyone who differed from public office.  They are the chosen and they deserve their special place.

So we have a Republican Party who is promoting evil and injustice, hoping to establish a theocracy, and ensuring the further erosion of the middle class.  One has to wonder how anyone can be part of this mob.  I know Americans are scared.  I know many are information challenged.  They watch Fox News don’t they?  But the intrusion of reality and their deteriorating life style should tell them we can’t go on doing what we have been doing.  Remember that George Bush brought us the Republican revolution most of these people wish on us again.  He cut taxes and removed regulations.  Yet wages fell and employment, at best, did not change.  How stupid do you have to be to think a retread of these policies will work.  It is a different world and a different economy and we need to get back on track by making sure all Americans benefit from our policies, not the anointed few.

Full Disclosure:  My nephew brought me a wonderful T-shirt this weekend that looked like an Athletics T-Shirt, but actually said Atheist.  I wore it proudly all weekend and got many nice comments about it.