By
Josh Sager
FULL DISCLOSURE: If you read the title of my blog
(SarcasticLiberal.blogspot.com), you may have discerned the fact that I am a
liberal and thus might be somewhat biased against the conservatives.
Note:
I am not talking about the historic Republican Party in this post, but rather
the Republican Party of the last 40 or so years. The Republicans spent decades as a
legitimate political party, with an ideology based in reality, but in recent
decades, they have degrades into a shadow of their previous selves.
Ah, the Grand Old Party also referred to as the Gas
and Oil Party, or Greed Over People party by those who pay attention. The
Republican Party has three central ideals that a vast majority of its members
believe in: 1) Lower taxes and Cut services/abolish the welfare state, 2)
Shrink government and give power to the people, 3) Impose their social conservative
views on the rest of the country. While these three ideals are the central
tenants of conservatism, there is a dichotomy of beliefs in the Republican
Party in that for every ideal that they hold, their policies express the exact
opposite sentiment.
1) Lower taxes and cut services/abolish the welfare
state --- This Republican ideal when expressed in policy boils down into
cutting THEIR taxes and cutting OTHER PEOPLE' services and economic welfare
programs. The same people who are the first to complain about unemployment benefits
to the poor or single mothers would have a collective seizure if their Medicare
or Social Security were ten seconds late.
In addition to the endemic selfishness in the
policies of taxing and cutting, republicans as a group seem to have no
comprehension as to what pays for defense, roads, disaster relief, and
education. The Republican base seem to see no connection between the taxes that
they pay and the services that the receive, instead attributing the services to
something akin to magical fairies fixing the roads at night; but god help their
representative if the roads start breaking down or if the underpaid and
disrespected teachers are unable to teach their 50 student classes well enough
that every one of their children gets into a good college.
2) Shrink government and give power to the people
--- Republicans, as a group, hate what they see as government overreach into
their lives while at the same time want the government to reach into the lives
of other in order to regulate their behavior. Classic examples of rights
Republicans demand but are inconsistent upon are personal rights such as the right
to bear arms and, the freedom of religion.
Many Republicans want to be able to own any gun
including assault rifles and to carry it anywhere they want. At the same time
Republicans are using 10th amendment arguments to secure the right to carry
bazookas; they disregard the exact same argument in favor of gay marriage. A
parallel situation to the guns/gay marriage double standard has also arisen in
the debate over freedom of religion. Republican fundamentalists demand the
right to not only practice their religion but insert it into the public
discourse while at the same demonizing other religions, particularly Muslims,
and attempting to take their rights. The abortion and gay marriage debates are
perfect examples of how republican religious fundamentalists have attempted to
insert their own beliefs into public policy. Ironically, the same people who
are pushing for a Christian theocracy are those who demonize American Muslims
for the Sharia laws of other Muslims half the world away. This situation makes
one wonder whether they dislike the idea of Muslim laws or whether they are
simply jealous that the Sharia law proponents have succeed in controlling the
population and oppressing women, while they haven't been nearly as successful.
3) Imposing social conservative views on the country
--- The Republican base is for the most part socially conservative and feels
the need for to impose these views on everybody else through legislation. While
a majority of the Republican base feels the need to impose their views through
legislation, they react extremely badly to what they perceive as others
reaching into their lives.
Apart from their common ideology, there is a
personal characteristic that is far more common in Republican politicians than
in the Democratic Party or the past Republican Party: The current Republican
Party has developed the habit of supporting unbelievably stupid or ignorant
politicians to represent it. The modern Republican electorate, starting in the nineties,
has developed the habit of electing unbelievably stupid candidates to office.
Politicians such as Bush, Palin, Bachmann, West, and Perry are all examples of unbelievably
stupid Republican politicians who have garnered enough support to get elected
in recent years. I can find no elected Democratic politician who matches these
Republicans for shear lack of knowledge or intelligence. While it is entirely
excusable for a few ignorant politicians to get elected based upon their
charisma or just luck, the volume of ignorant Republicans is so high that it
indicates a party wide problem rather than a few isolated cases.
The combination of stupid politicians, large amounts
of corporate money and illogical, religiously based, beliefs has turned the Republican
Party into a caricature of its past self. Even Ronald Reagan would be
considered too liberal to survive in the current Republican Party; a party that
has adopted a kamikaze like mentality where the government and economy can
crash and burn while they get paid just as long as they have their bibles and get
paid by their true bosses (See: The 2011 debt ceiling fight as an example).
