In case you're unaware, I'm liberal, which by definition means I'm open-minded. And I've always loved my country, even in long times (say, 8 years that seemed liked 18) of idiotic governing and horrible decision making (say, the occupation of Iraq and torturing people, to name two of at least a hundred). At some point I set my Facebook profile to describe me politically as Patriotic über-Liberal. I added the über as a way of explaining my extreme dedication to keeping an open mind about literally anything. I stole the "Patriotic" prefix from one of my conservative friend's profiles where he describes himself as a "Patriotic Conservative", which I found amusing because of its obvious, dimwitted implication that somehow many of us liberals aren't patriots. The irony being that recent events prove that Conservatives hate Obama more than they love America (i.e. the conservative excitement over the failed US Olympics bid, or their ludicrous outrage toward our American President winning the Nobel Peace Prize -- very patriotic, indeed).
Here's something patriotic to consider: Every Fox Noise idiot (e.g. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly) waves a flag around talking about how America is the "best country on Earth." Well, just how the fuck do they think it got that way? Fine, Beck and Hannity probably think God just parted the clouds and gave our country to us as some devine gift or something (and also killed the Indians for us?) Obviously America wound up the great nation it is through hard and constant work to get it that way, just as it takes continuing work to keep it that way. The Great USA of 1890 wouldn't be considered so fucking terrific today if we didn't improve with the times into the USA of today. However great our country is, comparatively we're nowhere near the best at taking care of our own people. So when I hear from Conservatives like my father that healthcare is a privilege for those with jobs that have it, and not a right, say, for the working stiffs and their families who serve their coffee and park their cars, I have to ask: How can you call yourself a patriot and not want America to be the best at handling healthcare and keeping its citizens alive?! It's absolutely nutso-crazy to me that conservatives can back other government help, whether it's a pubic option for flood insurance or bailing out those fucks on Wall Street, but they're against letting the government help their own citizens stay alive.
Anyway, getting back to the point, I'm no stranger to conservative ideals. Having grown up in Anderson, IN and having a father who is a diehard, conservative Republican, I have more direct experience with and have spent more time reflecting on this subject with others (therapists?) than anyone else I know. And having considered myself a Republican until sometime my freshman year at college, I know the conservative standstill mindset all too well.
That said, I'm having more and more of a problem these days accepting anyone who has actually thought about it and still considers themself Republican. Yet, I always try my best to have an open mind and empathy for other people's beliefs. So why has it been so much harder lately to "live and let live" when I encounter modern Republicans?
Well, for starters, when it comes to Conservatives, there's no such thing as "live and let live" -- no empathy for others' views. Even if I'm not being accosted outside a Safeway supermarket by some loud mouthed conservative thug shouting at us for signing up voters (which happened to me before the 2004 election)... Even if there were no Town Hall meetings full of misinformed and uninformed, tea-bagged bullies foaming at the mouth and carrying guns, trying to intimidate people from simply discussing healthcare reform options. Even the most docile, guilty-only-by-association Conservative, who's never publicly intimidated anyone, represents a vote for the modern Conservative Machine, the very purpose of which is to constrain everyone else to their own limited belief system. In other words, "you must live how I live." It probably comes as no surprise that I think that's utter crap, and at minimum, it's hypocritical, since none of these people would ever stand for being arbitrarily limited to, say, the laws of the Koran or weirdo beliefs from Scientology, if somehow one day the majority of conservatives were in support of those ideals.
Restricting others to that of your own beliefs is un-American. Our Founding Fathers (who seems to come up at every turn at these fake grassroots rallies) were liberals for chrissake, trying something completely progressive by leaving all the existing government models from that time in the dust. They knew that religion should be a personal right, not to be shoved down others' throats, so they wrote the 1st Amendment. That's called empathy, folks. I bring this up because the Conservative Mob often throws around talk of our Forefathers, as though if they were here today they'd be fucking cheerleaders for the Conservative Movement or something. The problem with that is these guys were Liberals, and many of them were critical of Christianity. And if I hear one more time the nonsense that the United States was built as a Christian Nation, I'm going to scream.
The more I attempt to understand or reason with these Modern Conservatives, the more I find myself just pulling my fucking hair out. Never in my life I have seen such bunch of sore losers. Try to think back the last time you can recall an entire movement backed by one of the parties that had the single purpose of seeing a US President fail. Republicans lost the presidential election, and instead of attempting to get anything done at all, they've set upon a mission of trying to negate every eency-bitty little thing Obama does, no matter what the consequence. I remember this happening when Clinton was elected, but never to this degree, or even close. (And don't even get me started with the GOP ultra-sponser, Rupert Murdoch, and his plan to use his media outlets to "destroy Obama".)
Since the shooting at Fort Hood, I've heard Rush Dipshit Limbaugh, along with two Fox News "news casters", and a few Republican governors and congressmen actually try to blame the shooting by Major Nisan Hasan somehow on Obama. Literally, the words, "it's Obama's fault" or "we can blame Obama" coming from the Right. What the fuck is that?! Even if the incompetent Bush was in office, you wouldn't hear one fucking person actually trying to blame him for this nut's actions. Why? Because it's ridiculous trying to pin the lone act of some distressed lunatic on anyone but the person who lost it. The argument is somehow that Obama's administration dropped the ball with regard to information that Hasan's head was starting to spin. The problem with this is that the information obtained about Hasan was collected on Bush's watch, not that he should be blamed any more than Obama. That's just fucking stupid too.
Or how about complaints from the Right when Obama went to Dover Airport to pay his respects to the dead soldiers coming back from Afghanistan. Doing that dates back to the Vietnam War and people feeling that LBJ was too removed from the reality of the cost of war. And neither Bush nor Cheney had the decency to go to Dover once the entire eight years of starting his Iraq war of choice. Obama's visit was unplanned and definitely not a media stunt. And if I had to make a difficult decision on whether or not to pull out of Afghanistan (just as Reagan pulled out of Beirut), I'd want to pay my respects also before I threw more lives at it from behind my desk. The point is, there's nothing (nada, zilch, zero) that Obama can do that doesn't get criticized by the Right. How the fuck is anyone supposed to work under those conditions??
The real problem I have with the New Republican Party is they operate primarily on FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). Instead of trying to win people over with making people's lives better, they operate on scare tactics like, if you don't vote for us, they'll take your guns, they'll make us all socialists, they'll kill your grandma, or more basically, in the case of Conservatives, they'll change things (oooh, scary!). And Fox News pumps out Right Wing political FUD like nothing ever seen before.
About the only type of Conservatives that make a lick of logical sense these days are the Old Schoolers and the Racists (and there's plenty of overlap between the two). At least it's easy to understand their motives. The Old Schoolers, like my dad, are Republican because they've always been Republican. That type of Republican is set in his ways, and it wouldn't matter if you put David Duke on the ticket for President, they'd vote for him just because he's Republican. It's kinda sad to think that although my dad also thinks Sarah Palin is an idiot (we agree on something!), he'd vote for her over someone as brilliant as Barack Obama just because he's always voted Republican. But at least I can understand this type of Conservative over the ones who make a conscious decision that way.
And racists, well they're easy to understand. Racism is either fueled by hate or fear, and fear is the primary motivator these days with all Conservatives and the GOP. Just ask the fearful Lou Dobbs. I heard he lost his job at CNN to an illegal wetback who is paid pennies on the dollar (I'm kidding). But he is a dumb ass. Anyway, racial fear is irrational, but at least I can somewhat understand it, having gown up around it my whole life.
Then there's the Reagan worshiping Republicans, who only worship him as the lone symbol of recent Republican presidents not widely considered a failure. Whether you think Reagan was all that or not, factually speaking, he was either a president who lied under oath to Congress about his knowledge of funneling arms to Iran to fund the Contras, or he was completely incompetent in that the Iran Contras could have possibly happened behind his back without his knowledge. Take yer pick.
But these Reaganites don't make any logical sense either. Again, factually speaking, Reagan preached smaller government, but increased taxes 11 (eleven!) times while in office while increasing the deficit. That's a fact. He signed into law gun control (heard of the Brady Bill anyone?) after the assassination attempt on his life by John Hinckley Jr. in order to impress actress Jodie Foster. He supported amnesty for illegal immigrants. He opposed California's anti-gay Prop 6, and hosted the first openly gay sleepover at the Whitehouse. It's also not surprising no one ever mentions that Reagan was a liberal Democrat until he married his second wife Nancy and went on to become the Governor of California. He was called The Great Communicator, kind of like Obama is now, except no one gave him shit for it.
But the main idea these Reagan Republicans hyper-focus on is small government. At the time Reagan was president, government was fairly bloated and needed to have some fat trimmed. After all, no one wants to pay for a government that's over spending and under serving. Although this was a concern at the time (30 years ago), and besides the fact that he failed to do much of anything about it, modern Reagan lovers recite this mantra over and over, preying on people's fear that someday government might take over people's lives. Note to Republicans: no one (and I mean no one) wants that, on either side of the isle. In fact, if the government were to attempt to encroach on our daily lives -- just as Cheney was tossing around the idea of a military state after 9/11 -- and just as Bush and Cheney attempted to by systematically repealing our rights after 9/11 using the Patriot Act and other fucked up tactics -- the Democrats will be the first to fight it. I can promise you this: if government ever does begin to dictate our daily lives, it will be a Conservative making it happen. After all, that's their entire M.O. Make them be like us.
And the hypocrisy is never ending. Case in point: Pro-Lifer Conservatives. What a misnomer. They're not pro-life at all; they're anti-abortion. And Fox News and other Conservative media have the gall to call us Pro-Choice people "Pro-Abortion". Just who the hell is all gun-ho for having a fucking abortion?! Seriously. And talk about the worst way the government could possibly come in between you and your doctor! Conservatives want no government interference with their lives, but want them to interfere in the most personal of all difficult decisions a woman has to make. Plus, if Conservatives actually were Pro-Life Christians, as their name might suggest, they wouldn't be for the death penalty or for torturing people. And what could be more Pro-Life that improving healthcare and saving people's lives?! You see, this is exactly the source of my problem with Conservatives. They pick and choose their moral high ground, and this blatant hypocrisy doesn't phase them in the least somehow.
Another thing I can't understand is how poor people can be Republicans. Although there's some corporate influence on the Democrat side of the isle, it's a well known and absolutely unapologetic fact that Republicans are the party of major corporate interests. You want union busting? Be Republican. You want to turn Healthcare Reform into a Insurance Company government handout without improving conditions for Americans? Go Republican. Or how about when Senator Al Franken put an amendment to vote that simply states the U.S. will no longer tolerate (have on the payroll) contractor companies that fail to allow their women employees to file sexual harassment, discrimination, and sexual assault charges against that company. Simple enough, right? Oh no. Thirty! -- count 'em -- 30 Republican Senators voted against that.
How could Republicans possibly vote for keeping companies that allow rape of their employees on the payroll, you ask? Simple. It's all about corporate greed. And Republicans are all about the buck.
On July 28, 2005, while working for KBR (an offshoot of Haliburton) in Iraq, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, beaten, and gang-raped by seven KBR employees, then left in a wooden crate to die. She came home to file charges against these men and found that she's signed a contract when hired at KBR in which the fine print says she can't file suit against KBR for those type of allegations. KBR is also well known as being the bunch of fuckheads who wired shoddy electrics to an Iraq building that house(d?) some of our military and subsequently was the cause of the electrocution of 12 U.S. service men. Yes, you read that right. Twelve deaths of US military folk due to faulty wiring by KBR. And how KBR is attempting to scare the victims families into dropping charges is a whole different story altogether.
Gee, why would Republicans vote yes-please in favor of company rape on the U.S. dime? Can you guess? Haliburton. The thing is, Republicans aren't exactly shy about their full-on support of Corporate indecencies. And why should they when their poster child Cheney didn't blink in giving unprecedented no-bid military contracts to the company he was CEO of just before becoming Vice President, Haliburton. No explanation needed. And there's honestly too many examples of Republican corporate corruption and influence to choose from. So why do poor Republicans vote for representatives that don't care about representing them in the least? The same Republicans they put into office attempt to take away their employment rights, kill unemployment insurance benefits, or halt improving their health options at every turn, as if their actual constituents were the corporations and not the people. It's so utterly stupid and baffling to me.
But more than anything, I just can't deal with the Conservative fear factor. They'd like to think that us liberals are the pussies of the bunch, and that they're the tough guys with the guns and stuff. But the only reason they're for mindless, constant military action is they're scared. Fearful of another 9/11. Or fearful in the form of racists who are scared of "those towel heads", don't understand their culture, don't want to, and think we should just wipe them all out. (You wouldn't believe the conversations I've had in Indiana with folks about this very idea. Some of them were military folk, too, which is even scarier.)
Misguided Conservatives worship the likes of Dick Cheney, not realizing for a moment, that behind all that gruff exterior, Cheney is nothing more than a scared old man who made poor and selfish decisions in an attempt at containing his fear. He lied us into a war in order to lash out at the Muslim world, all in the name of flexing the might of the U.S. military and hopefully scaring would-be terrorists into taking a hiatus. Every lie upon lie that Cheney has been caught in has been to insulate himself from repercussion while attempting to rewrite our Constitution, all in the name of making himself feel safer. And richer. (Let's not forget the lies he's told in order to make himself richer along the way. Narcissistic bastard.)
A bully is someone who acts all tough in order to compensate for their insecurities and fear. Well, I'm not scared of terrorists. And in not being scared, I'd prefer we deal with threats to our country in a diplomatic way first, and in failing that, eliminate direct threats as they come up militarily. That way, we keep our principles that made us great, and not be scared into repeatedly unproven stupid shortcuts, like torture of instance, that deplete our good standing in the world.
I don't want a war on our soil any more than anyone else, but since when did America become such a bunch of fearful pussies who'd rather preemptively start a disorganized, scattered war in fearful hopes of scaring opposition away from our shores. I say, if al Qaeda wants a fight, bring it on. When they come here, I'll stand up and fight them anyway I can, while Dick Cheney digs up paperwork to keep his hands from getting dirty, just as he filed for and received five deferments to the draft in Vietnam. As I said. He's a scared old man.
So with all this hyper, hyper hypocrisy, outright falsifying facts, poor people who support Congressmen who only look out for their corporate lobbyists, Sarah Palin, all the tricks motivated by hate and fear, rampant Narcissistic Personality Disorder in only caring for their own interests, lying about Global Warming for corporate interests with no regard for the planet they live on, how am I supposed to accept intelligent Conservative friends into my life?
I'll continue to try, but it's getting harder and harder to return those calls, as it's becoming an oxymoron to be Conservative and intelligent at the same time.
Well, for starters, when it comes to Conservatives, there's no such thing as "live and let live" -- no empathy for others' views. Even if I'm not being accosted outside a Safeway supermarket by some loud mouthed conservative thug shouting at us for signing up voters (which happened to me before the 2004 election)... Even if there were no Town Hall meetings full of misinformed and uninformed, tea-bagged bullies foaming at the mouth and carrying guns, trying to intimidate people from simply discussing healthcare reform options. Even the most docile, guilty-only-by-association Conservative, who's never publicly intimidated anyone, represents a vote for the modern Conservative Machine, the very purpose of which is to constrain everyone else to their own limited belief system. In other words, "you must live how I live." It probably comes as no surprise that I think that's utter crap, and at minimum, it's hypocritical, since none of these people would ever stand for being arbitrarily limited to, say, the laws of the Koran or weirdo beliefs from Scientology, if somehow one day the majority of conservatives were in support of those ideals.
Restricting others to that of your own beliefs is un-American. Our Founding Fathers (who seems to come up at every turn at these fake grassroots rallies) were liberals for chrissake, trying something completely progressive by leaving all the existing government models from that time in the dust. They knew that religion should be a personal right, not to be shoved down others' throats, so they wrote the 1st Amendment. That's called empathy, folks. I bring this up because the Conservative Mob often throws around talk of our Forefathers, as though if they were here today they'd be fucking cheerleaders for the Conservative Movement or something. The problem with that is these guys were Liberals, and many of them were critical of Christianity. And if I hear one more time the nonsense that the United States was built as a Christian Nation, I'm going to scream.
"Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle" -George Washington
"The government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian Religion." as explained in the U.S. Senate "Treaty of Tripoli, Article XI", signed into law by George Washington
"I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature." -Thomas Jefferson
"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law." -Thomas JeffersonAnd for being Conservatives, they're not very good at their own message. One would imagine, if Conservatives really wanted to keep things the way they are -- or were when they were children -- they wouldn't be so ready to back large corporations lobbying Congress to destroy our forests and put unsightly, pollution forming oil rigs off the coasts of all our beaches. One would think these geniuses would be concerned that the Arctic Ice Caps, that have been there for the last three million years, are literally disappearing over a few months. The ice caps are the source for the entire gulf stream flow of our oceans, and without that consistent same flow every year, the planet begins to hiccup out giant cyclones before reversing and causing the next Ice Age. But instead of just looking at the goddamn disappearing Ice Caps -- you can see the results for yourself for fuck's sake -- Conservatives denounce Global Warming as some sort of political agenda to take away their Hummers or something. Stupid.
The more I attempt to understand or reason with these Modern Conservatives, the more I find myself just pulling my fucking hair out. Never in my life I have seen such bunch of sore losers. Try to think back the last time you can recall an entire movement backed by one of the parties that had the single purpose of seeing a US President fail. Republicans lost the presidential election, and instead of attempting to get anything done at all, they've set upon a mission of trying to negate every eency-bitty little thing Obama does, no matter what the consequence. I remember this happening when Clinton was elected, but never to this degree, or even close. (And don't even get me started with the GOP ultra-sponser, Rupert Murdoch, and his plan to use his media outlets to "destroy Obama".)
Since the shooting at Fort Hood, I've heard Rush Dipshit Limbaugh, along with two Fox News "news casters", and a few Republican governors and congressmen actually try to blame the shooting by Major Nisan Hasan somehow on Obama. Literally, the words, "it's Obama's fault" or "we can blame Obama" coming from the Right. What the fuck is that?! Even if the incompetent Bush was in office, you wouldn't hear one fucking person actually trying to blame him for this nut's actions. Why? Because it's ridiculous trying to pin the lone act of some distressed lunatic on anyone but the person who lost it. The argument is somehow that Obama's administration dropped the ball with regard to information that Hasan's head was starting to spin. The problem with this is that the information obtained about Hasan was collected on Bush's watch, not that he should be blamed any more than Obama. That's just fucking stupid too.
Or how about complaints from the Right when Obama went to Dover Airport to pay his respects to the dead soldiers coming back from Afghanistan. Doing that dates back to the Vietnam War and people feeling that LBJ was too removed from the reality of the cost of war. And neither Bush nor Cheney had the decency to go to Dover once the entire eight years of starting his Iraq war of choice. Obama's visit was unplanned and definitely not a media stunt. And if I had to make a difficult decision on whether or not to pull out of Afghanistan (just as Reagan pulled out of Beirut), I'd want to pay my respects also before I threw more lives at it from behind my desk. The point is, there's nothing (nada, zilch, zero) that Obama can do that doesn't get criticized by the Right. How the fuck is anyone supposed to work under those conditions??
The real problem I have with the New Republican Party is they operate primarily on FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). Instead of trying to win people over with making people's lives better, they operate on scare tactics like, if you don't vote for us, they'll take your guns, they'll make us all socialists, they'll kill your grandma, or more basically, in the case of Conservatives, they'll change things (oooh, scary!). And Fox News pumps out Right Wing political FUD like nothing ever seen before.
About the only type of Conservatives that make a lick of logical sense these days are the Old Schoolers and the Racists (and there's plenty of overlap between the two). At least it's easy to understand their motives. The Old Schoolers, like my dad, are Republican because they've always been Republican. That type of Republican is set in his ways, and it wouldn't matter if you put David Duke on the ticket for President, they'd vote for him just because he's Republican. It's kinda sad to think that although my dad also thinks Sarah Palin is an idiot (we agree on something!), he'd vote for her over someone as brilliant as Barack Obama just because he's always voted Republican. But at least I can understand this type of Conservative over the ones who make a conscious decision that way.
And racists, well they're easy to understand. Racism is either fueled by hate or fear, and fear is the primary motivator these days with all Conservatives and the GOP. Just ask the fearful Lou Dobbs. I heard he lost his job at CNN to an illegal wetback who is paid pennies on the dollar (I'm kidding). But he is a dumb ass. Anyway, racial fear is irrational, but at least I can somewhat understand it, having gown up around it my whole life.
Then there's the Reagan worshiping Republicans, who only worship him as the lone symbol of recent Republican presidents not widely considered a failure. Whether you think Reagan was all that or not, factually speaking, he was either a president who lied under oath to Congress about his knowledge of funneling arms to Iran to fund the Contras, or he was completely incompetent in that the Iran Contras could have possibly happened behind his back without his knowledge. Take yer pick.
But these Reaganites don't make any logical sense either. Again, factually speaking, Reagan preached smaller government, but increased taxes 11 (eleven!) times while in office while increasing the deficit. That's a fact. He signed into law gun control (heard of the Brady Bill anyone?) after the assassination attempt on his life by John Hinckley Jr. in order to impress actress Jodie Foster. He supported amnesty for illegal immigrants. He opposed California's anti-gay Prop 6, and hosted the first openly gay sleepover at the Whitehouse. It's also not surprising no one ever mentions that Reagan was a liberal Democrat until he married his second wife Nancy and went on to become the Governor of California. He was called The Great Communicator, kind of like Obama is now, except no one gave him shit for it.
But the main idea these Reagan Republicans hyper-focus on is small government. At the time Reagan was president, government was fairly bloated and needed to have some fat trimmed. After all, no one wants to pay for a government that's over spending and under serving. Although this was a concern at the time (30 years ago), and besides the fact that he failed to do much of anything about it, modern Reagan lovers recite this mantra over and over, preying on people's fear that someday government might take over people's lives. Note to Republicans: no one (and I mean no one) wants that, on either side of the isle. In fact, if the government were to attempt to encroach on our daily lives -- just as Cheney was tossing around the idea of a military state after 9/11 -- and just as Bush and Cheney attempted to by systematically repealing our rights after 9/11 using the Patriot Act and other fucked up tactics -- the Democrats will be the first to fight it. I can promise you this: if government ever does begin to dictate our daily lives, it will be a Conservative making it happen. After all, that's their entire M.O. Make them be like us.
And the hypocrisy is never ending. Case in point: Pro-Lifer Conservatives. What a misnomer. They're not pro-life at all; they're anti-abortion. And Fox News and other Conservative media have the gall to call us Pro-Choice people "Pro-Abortion". Just who the hell is all gun-ho for having a fucking abortion?! Seriously. And talk about the worst way the government could possibly come in between you and your doctor! Conservatives want no government interference with their lives, but want them to interfere in the most personal of all difficult decisions a woman has to make. Plus, if Conservatives actually were Pro-Life Christians, as their name might suggest, they wouldn't be for the death penalty or for torturing people. And what could be more Pro-Life that improving healthcare and saving people's lives?! You see, this is exactly the source of my problem with Conservatives. They pick and choose their moral high ground, and this blatant hypocrisy doesn't phase them in the least somehow.
Another thing I can't understand is how poor people can be Republicans. Although there's some corporate influence on the Democrat side of the isle, it's a well known and absolutely unapologetic fact that Republicans are the party of major corporate interests. You want union busting? Be Republican. You want to turn Healthcare Reform into a Insurance Company government handout without improving conditions for Americans? Go Republican. Or how about when Senator Al Franken put an amendment to vote that simply states the U.S. will no longer tolerate (have on the payroll) contractor companies that fail to allow their women employees to file sexual harassment, discrimination, and sexual assault charges against that company. Simple enough, right? Oh no. Thirty! -- count 'em -- 30 Republican Senators voted against that.
How could Republicans possibly vote for keeping companies that allow rape of their employees on the payroll, you ask? Simple. It's all about corporate greed. And Republicans are all about the buck.
On July 28, 2005, while working for KBR (an offshoot of Haliburton) in Iraq, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, beaten, and gang-raped by seven KBR employees, then left in a wooden crate to die. She came home to file charges against these men and found that she's signed a contract when hired at KBR in which the fine print says she can't file suit against KBR for those type of allegations. KBR is also well known as being the bunch of fuckheads who wired shoddy electrics to an Iraq building that house(d?) some of our military and subsequently was the cause of the electrocution of 12 U.S. service men. Yes, you read that right. Twelve deaths of US military folk due to faulty wiring by KBR. And how KBR is attempting to scare the victims families into dropping charges is a whole different story altogether.
Gee, why would Republicans vote yes-please in favor of company rape on the U.S. dime? Can you guess? Haliburton. The thing is, Republicans aren't exactly shy about their full-on support of Corporate indecencies. And why should they when their poster child Cheney didn't blink in giving unprecedented no-bid military contracts to the company he was CEO of just before becoming Vice President, Haliburton. No explanation needed. And there's honestly too many examples of Republican corporate corruption and influence to choose from. So why do poor Republicans vote for representatives that don't care about representing them in the least? The same Republicans they put into office attempt to take away their employment rights, kill unemployment insurance benefits, or halt improving their health options at every turn, as if their actual constituents were the corporations and not the people. It's so utterly stupid and baffling to me.
But more than anything, I just can't deal with the Conservative fear factor. They'd like to think that us liberals are the pussies of the bunch, and that they're the tough guys with the guns and stuff. But the only reason they're for mindless, constant military action is they're scared. Fearful of another 9/11. Or fearful in the form of racists who are scared of "those towel heads", don't understand their culture, don't want to, and think we should just wipe them all out. (You wouldn't believe the conversations I've had in Indiana with folks about this very idea. Some of them were military folk, too, which is even scarier.)
Misguided Conservatives worship the likes of Dick Cheney, not realizing for a moment, that behind all that gruff exterior, Cheney is nothing more than a scared old man who made poor and selfish decisions in an attempt at containing his fear. He lied us into a war in order to lash out at the Muslim world, all in the name of flexing the might of the U.S. military and hopefully scaring would-be terrorists into taking a hiatus. Every lie upon lie that Cheney has been caught in has been to insulate himself from repercussion while attempting to rewrite our Constitution, all in the name of making himself feel safer. And richer. (Let's not forget the lies he's told in order to make himself richer along the way. Narcissistic bastard.)
A bully is someone who acts all tough in order to compensate for their insecurities and fear. Well, I'm not scared of terrorists. And in not being scared, I'd prefer we deal with threats to our country in a diplomatic way first, and in failing that, eliminate direct threats as they come up militarily. That way, we keep our principles that made us great, and not be scared into repeatedly unproven stupid shortcuts, like torture of instance, that deplete our good standing in the world.
I don't want a war on our soil any more than anyone else, but since when did America become such a bunch of fearful pussies who'd rather preemptively start a disorganized, scattered war in fearful hopes of scaring opposition away from our shores. I say, if al Qaeda wants a fight, bring it on. When they come here, I'll stand up and fight them anyway I can, while Dick Cheney digs up paperwork to keep his hands from getting dirty, just as he filed for and received five deferments to the draft in Vietnam. As I said. He's a scared old man.
So with all this hyper, hyper hypocrisy, outright falsifying facts, poor people who support Congressmen who only look out for their corporate lobbyists, Sarah Palin, all the tricks motivated by hate and fear, rampant Narcissistic Personality Disorder in only caring for their own interests, lying about Global Warming for corporate interests with no regard for the planet they live on, how am I supposed to accept intelligent Conservative friends into my life?
I'll continue to try, but it's getting harder and harder to return those calls, as it's becoming an oxymoron to be Conservative and intelligent at the same time.
