The Republican Agenda

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The Republican Agenda

On Tuesday morning, my first thought upon waking was this:

I hate John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rand Paul, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Ron Scott of Florida, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Perry of Texas and with the possible exceptions of Tom Coburn, Saxby Chambliss and Mike Crapo, every other Republican in Congress and in the states along with their unelected accomplices such as Alan Simpson, Rush Limbaugh and Grover Norquist.

It's not that their faces, voices and words never fail to sicken me. It's much more than that.

I don't just hate them. I HATE THEM. I hate them so deeply and viscerally as to wish on each and every one of them unto the end of their days the trials of Job and every disgusting plague recounted in the Christian Bible they pound so sanctimoniously. And I want to be present at their suffering too.

Uncharitable, you say? Over the top? Mean? Destructive to my own mental health? I don't think so.

I think it is a perfectly reasonable response to people who want to kill me – after, of course, they and their gluttonous, corporate sponsors bleed me dry of my home and my entire puny bank account for their personal use.

It's hardly an exaggeration to say they want me – and every other person who receives benefits from Social Security, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid and the military – to die for lack of those benefits we pay for with our tax dollars.

And while they are at it, they will include all workers who ever tried to afford private health coverage and feed their kids at the same time or to organize themselves against the corporate overlords who continue to cut their salaries and fire them.

You don't need to trust me on this. They are completely open about it. On any given day, read any newspaper or listen to sycophant, media enablers on every television news program.

Every proposal and demand that falls from Republican lips is designed to lead the rest of us to an early grave and without fail, the media gives them a pass by not pointing out their lies. This, in 21st century newspeak, is called “fair and balanced reporting” and it's not only on Fox News.

Undoubtedly, I woke on Tuesday with these hate-filled thoughts because the last input I had from the outside world the night before was the Republican “debate” in New Hampshire. Okay, only 45 minutes of it; I turned off the television then in lieu of throwing the remote through the screen.

That was no debate, a concept that implies – or in a less extreme political world, would deliver - thought and an exchange of constructive ideas. Instead, it was a bunch of grandstanding egotists shrill in their consistent Republican talking points.

The general commentary the next day was that Republicans are not as batshit crazy as some people expected. Oh, yeah? Weren't those pundits listening? Newt Gingrich, who is repeatedly held up as the intellectual star of the Republican Party, was unintelligible. Even Sarah Palin makes more sense. The rest spent their time giving mini stump speeches – none too coherently.

If I can go all sane for a moment, Republicans universally believe government should be run as a business. Hello! Government is not a business; it cannot possibly be run like businesses which, by law, are required to maximize profit for their shareholders. Profit is not the purpose of government.

And anyway, that's not what Republican candidates mean when they tout their – usually non-existent - business credentials. What they want is to zero out taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals and make up the difference by destroying every good thing in the United States.

Here's something we all need to think about: if the Republican agenda succeeds, the United States will become a third world nation. Already, we don't produce anything except fraudulent Wall Street paper. Give India and China another ten years and the world won't need us anymore.

If Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress and the White House, Social Security, Medicare, etc. will be gone. No government money will be spent on roads and bridges and climate change and police and firefighters and education and national parks. All business will be deregulated. Every job possible will be sent to India and China. The wingnut religionists will post the Ten Commandments in every government office and school in the land.

Most of the mechanisms needed to support Republican goals are already in place, one of the most important being the Supreme Court Citizens United decision allowing unlimited and unreported corporate funding of political advertising not connected to individual candidates.

Those ads don't need to support Republican candidates by name; they need only to demonize opposition ideas and there are enough dumb people in the United States to believe them.

This isn't your father's Republican Party - even Barry Goldwater must be spinning in his grave. These people want to rescind the First, Second, Tenth and Twelfth Amendments and undoubtedly a few others.

And watch out, women. When Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are no longer useful to them, they will abolish the 19th Amendment too.

Republicans are hell bent on returning the United States to some mythical past when, they believe, everything was perfect. You know, back before there was a middle class; when municipalities didn't pick up garbage; when couples had 12 kids because only one or two survived; before government tested food and water for safety; before it provided help in natural disasters; before there were public schools; and life expectancy was 45.

The Republican mainstream is now so far right, they would scare ol' Attila. The United States is in terrible, terrible trouble and it is getting worse. Republican ideas and acts got us here, they want to take it further and when everything crumbles, the wealthy will be fine – they've already squirreled away all our money – yours and mine - offshore. They deserve my hatred.

Whew. It feels good to get that off my chest. These are the things that keep me up at night.