Now I know each and every political party has evolved over time. The demographics certainly changed in the middle of the 20th century, where Republicans are suddenly Democrats and vice versa, but the ideology remained the same.
While I have respect for certain Republicans, like Bob Dole, the problem is is that they are an old dying breed. In 1996, when Dole was considered the big mainstream, loyal Republican, now has widely dismissed by modern conservatives. The days of Bob Dole Republicanism seem to be gone.
A little background: I grew up in a mix political family, so growing up I usually kept it to myself. For me, I always believed, whatever views you take, AT LEAST try to be consistent. Sure have some common sense, be ethical and reasonable, but at least try to be consistent in your views. Today, the Republican Party seems to be the ultimate party of inconsistency. It's mind numbing, and will be the focus of this article.
While I should be here writing the bloody obvious that should be known to everyone, I still cant believe people vote for these people. These people are as politically aware as a middle-school kid. They wave American Flags everywhere and hail Presidents like Ronald Reagan as their hero without knowing a god-damn thing about him.
So, why am I swinging at these guys. It could be just to educate my readers, but a decent chunk of the reason is because these Republican hypocrites have turned Congress into the worse Congress of all time. Back when President Truman was in office, the "Do-Nothing" Congress passed 395 Bills in 1967. THAT was, in the history of this country, the record low of bills passed by Congress. THAT was the sloppiest Congress EVER. Now in 1995, Congress passed 88 bills. BUT when Obama was voted into office, things went downhill even more. In 2013, John Beohner's Congress, only passed 55 bills. Now the government can't even pass the annual Pentagon policy bill (which has been passed by Congress every year without fail for over 50 years).
Instead, this Congress has become embarrassingly dysfunctional. All the way to the 46 failed attempts to repeal Obamacare (at the cost of several millions of dollars to the people) to "shut down the government" which fucked a lot of working Americans. And it pisses me off that these guys work so little and get so much. On average, over the last 9 years, Congressmen have met about 140 days a year. So far this congress has worked 23 days, out of a possible 46 days, or 50% of the time.
For the life of me, I don't understand why people vote for these guys. Haven't they figured out by now that these Republicans are not what they say they are?
The Party of Christ
Where to begin on this one? This is the one that blows my mind. How can these politicians hoodwink SO MANY Americans just by saying they are "people of faith and Christ" and such, and yet act so un-Christ like? It is astonishing.Somehow over the years the Republican party has hijacked the message of Jesus in the story of the Bible and twisted it to fit their current ideology. Somehow, the Republican party has twisted the words of Jesus to "love everyone, feed the hungry and help the poor [at no charge]" to "give the rich more tax cuts!!!"
Last I checked, in Mark 10:17 Jesus Christ told a rich man that he still committed a grave sin: he worshiped money before God, breaking the 1st Commandment. So Jesus told the man to sell all of his riches. Somehow, the Republican Party reads that and goes "SEE! We have to give the rich people more money!"
Would Christ go to war? Would Christ be pleased with people killing people over oil? (especially when we have cleaner and renewable alternatives)
Would Christ cut programs designed to help the poor?
Did Jesus preach love and tolerance (esp. towards your enemies), or did he say "don't trust the brown people from Mexico and the Middle East"?
Was Jesus an advocate of torture? For some mind-blowing reason I don't understand, a majority of regular churchgoers are in favor of torture.
Did Jesus ever kill anyone? Just curious? I wonder if the politicians in South Dakota were thinking "what would Jesus do?" when they proposed a law to make it LEGAL to kill abortion providers. Yes, you read that right!
The Bogus Party of Personal Responsibility
The Republican Party... we are still waiting for a sorry for starting a war based on lies. If there was any justice, Bush and Cheney would be in prison. But EVERY TIME I bring this up, the Republican flock unfailingly replies with "Bush is gone, why do you keep bringing him up?"Do Republicans really believe in personal responsibility or do they use that as an excuse to maximize profits in the business world? The excuse given by many Republicans for wanting to cut government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps and unemployment benefits among many others, is that it causes people to become lazy and rely on government to take care of them. The problem is that while some people do abuse the system, the majority of the people using the programs do so because they need it and many have paid into those programs for years. Unemployment benefits aren't a substitute for an actual paycheck, the average check is less than $300 a week, but are used to help the recently unemployment keep their head above water. Many Americans work very hard, but don't make enough money to purchase healthcare, which is where Medicaid comes in. For many low-income families, Medicaid is a life line when certain situations come up. Republicans want to cut these programs so they can lower taxes to continue to line their pockets and the businesses that fund them. If Republicans want to talk about "personal responsibility," maybe they should follow their own words instead of hiding behind loopholes and lobbyist to collect more money.
Not to mention, Republicans are dodging the focus away from THE REAL people abusing the system: the 1%.
These guys are the welfare queens of the world.
So who do the Republicans lash out against to cover the losses? The middle class and poor pay for it to keep the deficits down, and the rich stay rich.
Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer and 19 other lawmakers want two-thirds majorities for tax increases (which would make them roughly as likely as a Palin-Obama '12 ticket). This from the self-proclaimed party of fiscal responsibility.
I'm sure we all heard during the "government shutdown" the Republicans cried and cried that the Democrats were unwilling to negotiate. I seriously wanted to smash my head against a wall every time I heard this. Because not only was it completely false (as the Democrats were willing to negotiate) but also because these Republicans are the Kings of non-negotiations and they use that to get their way.
Also, anyone else familiar with current events that took place this year, all we heard over and over from the GOP and conservative outlets was "scandal, scandal, scandal." The chief of these scandals was Benghazi.
The GOP spent more time and effort investigating one attack in a war zone than was spent on the Kennedy assassination and the 9/11 attacks COMBINED!
- 7 Congressional Committees
- 13 Congressional Hearings
- 40 Staff Briefings
- 25,000 pages of documents
As I said earlier in this blog, I don't care about what party you align yourself with, but at least be consistent and don't have a double standard. And if you are pissed off that Obama did not save anyone at Benghazi and demand more investigations into this, but were completely silent for any of the other attacks under Bush, then you can just STFU!
Party of Family Values
Does this piece ever come to mind when you remember Presidential nominee Newt Gingrich has had two divorces because he was unfaithful?
Republicans love running on the platform that they are the party of "family values." But even this is hypocritical. What they mean by "family values":
- One man one woman married couples who remain faithful and never divorce
- Have kid(s)
- Oppose same sex-marriages, abortions, per-marital sex, gay adoptions, polygamy, and pornography.
I lost count how many times a conservative politician was busted for getting caught with gay prostitutes (or escorts) or going in and out of gay bars.
My biggest beef with this whole "family values" is that it is made up.
Historically, marriage was not about love or romance, it was pre-arranged by your parents or grandparents to secure property rights and such. Ontop of that, this idea of a "one man one woman" family is actually new. For ages and ages, it was common for a man to have multiple wives.
But that is besides the point. The main point is that this Republican stance of "family values" is just another veil they hide behind (that they likely don't believe in) just to get votes.
Small Government Hypocrites
Growing up I often heard adults discuss "Big Government" very negatively. I never understood what they hell that meant. Many years later, and after developing an interest in politics and staying aware with current events, it seems that the "Big Government" stigma is just another of the scores of words that gets tossed around to mean whatever people what it to mean, creating utter confusion. Everyone thinks it's bad, and yet those who claim it's bad are the ones who are it's greatest advocates.
Another classic political spin in the word game. They have gotten the public so confused on what they mean by "wanting smaller government" and whenever they campaign on that platform, the people wont even know when these politicians pull the Big Government blanket over their heads.
For example,
If you're for small government AND hail Ronald Reagan as your hero... you might not understand what small government is.
(Reagan increased government spending by 69 percent, led by a 92 percent increase in defense spending as he built up the military to confront the Soviet Union. His first of two terms consisted of a total of 2,875,000 non-military federal employees. By the end of Reagan's second term, our nation had 3,113,000 federal employees....an increase of roughly 238,000. The government Reagan inherited from Carter was turned into a much "bigger government"..)
If you're for small government AND think George W. Bush was a great president... you might not understand what small government is. (Plus you're an idiot)
If you're for small government AND the Patriot Act...you might not understand what small government is.
If you're for small government AND the War on Drugs...you might not understand what small government is.
If you're for small government AND want prayer back in schools...you might not understand what small government is.
If you're for small government AND think the state has a say in who can marry who...you might not understand what small government is.
If' you're for small government AND you ask the government for stimulus money because it (quote) "it creates jobs" ... then you might not understand what small government is AND your name is probably Paul Ryan.
(if any of you watched the Ryan v. Biden debates, Ryan got busted and called out by Biden. Ryan campaigned that he never asked for stimulus money, but at the debate Ryan admitted on two occasions he asked Biden for stimulus money for millions of dollars to Ryan's district because it "creates jobs" -- soooo, if Ryan thinks government stimulus can create jobs in his district, why does he think it wont work anywhere else in the country?)
If you're for small government AND you are people like Ted Gassman... then you obviously don't understand what small government is.
Who is Ted Gassman? He's a Iowa State House subcommittee Republican who sponsored a bill that, if passed, would make it harder for couples to divorce. Specifically, the bill would make “no fault” divorces — the kind of divorce that means neither spouse has to allege grounds, such as adultery or physical violence — illegal for couples that are parents to minors. The idea is that divorce harms children, so obviously parents should just suck it up and stay together. State Representative Ted Gassman is one of the sponsors of this bill, why? It seems that Gassman’s daughter just got divorced and because of this, he is very worried about his 16-year-old granddaughter’s "hormones" and his perceived connection between divorces and teenage promiscuity.
Sooooo, politicians are SO FOR small government, that they want to shrink it to the size where government totally intervenes into people's personal life to monitor and control your marriages.
And this is not an isolated event. Conservative Republicans draft hundreds of legislature to control women's access to contraception and abortions. In fact, Georgia State Representative Bobby Franklin has introduced a bill that would not only make abortion illegal but would make miscarriages illegal.
And it doesn't stop there. Republicans advocate government intervention in immigration; sexual behavior; alcohol use by young adults and doctor-patient privacy.
For example, a law signed in 2011 by Florida's Republican governor (though struck down promptly by federal courts) made it a crime for pediatricians to tell parents that they could endanger their children by keeping a loaded gun in their home.
P.S. Don't confuse me with Libertarians. I don't trust the market and I doubt whether big businesses can be moral. I believe in Federal regulations, and I oppose monopolies leading to corporate oligarchy. I believe in human rights, and national parks, public health care, and standardized education. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a socialist either. There aren't a lot of things I want the government to be responsible for. I've already listed nearly everything that I think our government should be doing.
**Update** I'm just going to squeeze this in, but not every right-winger who claims he is in favor of "the free market" is being honest. Take for instance, North Carolina Republican Apodaca giving the "free market" the finger by proposing a bill outlawing specifically Tesla Motor Cars from being sold in NC, thus eliminating competition.
Finally, the Party of the Constitution
Granted, there are valid reasons to amend certain parts of the Constitution. For instance, when was the last time we had to quarter military soldiers in people's homes? But I have not heard one good one from Tea Party Republicans. Rather they want to add amendments that ban gay marriage and abortion. Get this, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is sponsoring an amendment that would restrict the president's power to negotiate treaties. She’s apparently worried that the president will try to replace the U.S. dollar with a foreign currency. Seriously.The only reason I bring this up is that we hear Republicans and Tea Parties claim ALL THE TIME that they passionately want to defend the "Constitution" AS IT IS. They go on claiming that they want to keep America they way the Founding Father's intended this country to be -- that implies they want a fixed Constitution as the day it was written.
It goes without saying that they love the 2nd Amendment, but for some reason the list of Amendments stops there with a handful of Republicans. But even their reading of the Second Amendment ignores the part that contains the words “well regulated” and was really talking about the need for militias during a time in our country when our states were often defended by armed citizens, not a well organized military.
Why is it that a lot of Republicans don't like the 14th Amendment? Because it grants citizenship to anyone born within the United States.
Were the architects of the Patriot Act, which allows the government to spy on its citizens, violating the Fourth Amendment? Yes. And it gets worse, the Patriot Act violates the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments as well when it comes to Guantanamo Bay.
Republicans love the 1st Amendment, particularly the "freedom of Religion" part. But in their eyes, "religion" ONLY means Christianity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot7rNNXvBm0
For people so passionate about the Founding Father's seem to ignore EVERYTHING they worked for to make this country secular.
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." - Treaty of Tripoli [bold text, mine]
Read more here
To the Republicans, all they hear is LALALALALA. They want a Christian-only country. This is why they advocated putting up a monument of the Ten Commandments outside Court Houses. Take for instance the case in Oklahoma, where they put up a monument of the Ten Commandments. While the very first Commandment explicitly says "Thou shall have no other Gods but me" these conservative Republicans maintain that this is perfectly okay and not breaking the Establishment Clause by endorsing a sepific religion.
However, when other religious groups like Satanists and Hindus get in line to donate money and to set up their own monuments outside the same Court House, these Republicans get PISSED OFF and say things like "it's offensive" and should not be allowed.
How hypocritical.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/11/hindus-join-satanists-demanding-equal-placement-on-oklahoma-capitol-grounds/
I however, think this is a BRILLIANT move by Satanists and Hindu's. They are exposing the double standard of the religious right. And in a few years to come, maybe the Court House will be decorated with hundreds of monuments of different religions, until one day they will be forced to close them all and admit they were wrong from square one and should keep the Court completely neutral of all religions.
I CANNOT WAIT until they attempt to do something like this in public schools. I want some public school teacher try to make his/her whole class get on their knees and pray to Allah... just to see these right wingers get a heart attack, go ballistic and scream "KEEP RELIGION OUT OF SCHOOLS."
When that happens, I will be right there, saying "we've been saying that all along, you twats."
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