Enough about me and my boring life already! Let’s talk about something even more messed up: Congress.
The burning question: Will the Republicans lose control of Congress in three weeks' time? I used the phrase Republicans lose because I don’t think that the Democrats will actually win control of Congress, as winning generally implies having a strategy and principles and such.
As much as I would like the Democrats to come up with something to say, to embrace ideals of the party instead of trying to distance themselves from them in the name of winning elections, their current inaction just might pay off. Barring electoral shenanigans (certainly possible) or some kind of last-minute Karl Rove dirty trick, I think the Republicans have shown themselves for who they really are, and the American people just might decide that they’ve had enough.
In 1994 the Republicans took the House in the name of morality (ultimate enemies: Roe v. Wade and gay people) and fiscal responsibility (ultimate enemies: poor women and school children). Less government!
Well, after twelve years, we’ve seen Republican morality in the form of bribes, a sex scandal of their own, and racism. We’ve seen Republican fiscal responsibility in the form of a record-breaking deficit, tax breaks for the energy industry (do these companies seriously need tax breaks when the CEOs make more money in a week than most people will see in their lifetime?), and favors to the pharmaceutical companies in the name of prescriptions for seniors. And less government? Ha! We have a sprawling intelligence bureaucracy. In the name of security, Congress voted to inspect your library record.
Not to mention that mess we made in the Middle East and its implications for our reputation abroad. This Congress just voted on a bill that sanctioned torture and the suspension of Habeas Corpus. The Geneva Conventions? Not really necessary, Republicans said. We need to win the War on Terror. Thing is, even W. said that the violence over there looks a wee bit like Vietnam. It looks as though the guy who got W. installed in office, James Baker, thinks that victory in Iraq is impossible.
With your friends saying stuff like that, who needs Democratic strategy to lose elections?
Oh, and this little thing in North Korea.
Gay marriage! the Republicans cry. Don’t forget the gay marriage!
Here’s to hoping that Americans have finally realized that there are real enemies to freedom and democracy—Republicans.
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6 comments:
I have been straddling the party fence for a few years, not really appreciating very much from either side, and the recent downfall of a few Republican leaders has just reinforced the fact that we are all fallible humans regardless of party. Neither side is more moral than the other.
But the notion that some would suggest that one party is more moral or more Godlike makes me want to go to the other side. And the notion that God is a republican makes me want to hang up my voting power completely--although I won't. I will vote but with apprehension.
Great post, Sassy. You're back and kicking ass!
From here across the pond, it seems the Republicans are already wheeling out the FEAR card with the torture bill. They have discovered that the old axiom of "FEAR = CONTROL" actually works. If your popularity's slipping, scare the pants off the voters so they come cowering back to you. Doonesbury have been doing a nice play on this over the past week.
We have noticed over here that the Republicans barely mention their Great Leader any more, while the Democrats are bringing the Bush name up as often as possible.
Nice to see that both sides at last realise his true worth.
I have come to the conclusion that since the Republicans joined forces with anti-civil rights Democrats and with religious conservatives ala Jerry Fawell, they have had nothing positive to contribute to society. The thing about morality of a sexual nature is that it really doesn't have a place in politics. Unless issues of consent are at stake (and transgressions therefore criminal), there really isn't much to discuss. The separation of church and state is there for a reason: to keep government out of religion AND to keep religion out of government. The thing about the Democrats is that, at least in theory, they get that. I would rather have a viable third party, but until the neocons are safely consigned to the dustbin of history, I'm throwing my lot in with the Democrats.
Dive, I totally agree. The exploitation of 9/11 to mean whatever intrusions into our civil liberties and our human rights principles makes me sick.
Oh dear. I let my convictions get the best of me there. I'm sorry that I was a bit forceful there. It's what I think, but I should have expressed it differently.
Not at all. I think you've been commendably restrained.
I have been so disgusted by politics as of late I swore that I wasn't going to discuss it anymore. It seems to me that the republicans have shown what they can do to put the country in such disrepair as well as ruin our reputation all over the world. I don't care much for them Dems either and the likes of Ted Kennedy. I've been an "independant" from the the start and I don't see much hope in either the GOP or the Dem parties.
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