GOP: Look Over Here! The Gays and the Terrorists Are Taking Over! Fortunately Big Mac Can Save You! [Scare Tactics for Halloween?]

The Party That Elevated Ignorance & Incompetence to an Art Form

Well, it's no secret I am a liberal--the name of this blog probably already gave you a hint. I'm also an elitist--but not elitism based on a life of privilege, lineage, wealth, and religious conformity. We should welcome elitism if it's based on effort and personal achievement. That's the kind of elite leadership I prefer. The kind of elitism that has an open admission; the opportunity to fulfill one's own potential.

[added to post on 10/13/08] Jefferson put it nicely: Fake aristocracy is based on birth rights, vanity, and royalty. Natural aristocracy is based on talent and virtue!

What does the McCain-Palin ticket and the Republican Party represent today? Seriously, folks, what is their policy proposals, their ideology, and their track record? Look behind the bumper-sticker slogans and the emotion-button-pressing campaign.

I reject willful ignorance and policies that impede progress. It's no surprise, therefore, that I reject Republicans, the GOP, and their embrace of ignorance. This kind of conservatism is bad for your health, and it's bad for our country. We've given too much respect to the superstitious, the bigoted, the ignorant in the name of presenting "the other side's argument." Of course, we have to debate and discuss, but when, for example, we examine the theory of evolution, test & retest, evaluate the evidence, etc., we can't turn around and say, let's now entertain notions that oppose this theory while providing no evidence or even rudimentary reasoning. In short, any theory/view without such can be dismissed without a reason!

Another example: why do we have to respect the view that birth control and family planning are bad things? The Bush administration, and, yes, McCain-Palin, don't want to provide birth control on moral grounds. This results in unwanted pregnancies [The US has the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in the advanced world], more abortions, and mothers dying during childbirth. It's insane.

The good news for the Dems is that the GOPers have screwed up big time. What's left for them is fear. You can see this in their latest media campaign and during their rallies. Even though it demeans our political discourse, I like their self-destruction... while they're trying to describe Obama as having links to terrorists, etc. Not that this tactic hasn't worked before [gosh, John Kerry knows this very well], but this time it's the economy, stupid. Should it be? Not according to Palin, who says abortion should be a bigger issue, behind BO's love for those who hate America!

The economy should be a very important factor in determing our votes, but I think this issue has to be part of an ideological approach: the role of government!

Since FDR, Democratic governments have improved the economic condition of the lower and middle classes. The rich do just as well. We need for of an activist government that makes sure this country doesn't turn into a feudal society... because our governmnet acts to protect the commonwealth.

The Dems have to be brave and dispell the notion of the "tax and spend liberal." It's the Repubs who spend uncontrollably and for things that do not improve the life of ordinary people! Trickle-down economics leave too much to the top, while a rising tide lifts all boats, provided you have a boat and, if you do, it is not closely tied to the dock!

The same with the label liberal. FDR was a liberal who saved capitalism, and implemented programs Americans like and expect from their government. When Palin quoted R. Reagan, "one day we'll tell our grandchildren this country used to be free," he was talking about medicare... a social safety net he (and most Republicans) wanted to kill. Sure, it's about freedom. The progressives have to define what freedom means. It's about access to opportunity, legal equality, and a progressive culture of life. It's not the freedom to work for McDs or Burger King because you can't afford to go to college; or the freedom to marry only the gender approved by the government! Or, to speak freely against our enemies, and to be free to worship Big Brother!

I could understand a party that argues about the best road to an objective, but to embrace ideas fit for the Dark Ages is another thing. Why should we respect someone who says the earth is flat? Especially when he offers no evidence and no rationale. Likewise, why should we even possibly entertain the possibility of a VP (and perhaps a Prez) who does not believe in evolution or that the Earth is older than 6,000 years? Or, that the soul exists in a petri dish (so stem cell research is equal to murder!), and that humans walked along dinosaurs. Such a "leader" could only serve as a spokesperson for ignorance.

Speaking of sex.. It's a split-personality condition for the cons: sex is disgusting, must be regulated... but, many of their GOP leaders fall victims to ..Satan and engage in immoral activities (cheating, homo sex, etc). Back in 2004, they used the same-sex marriage issue in several battleground states [i.e., in Ohio were I worked for the Kerry campaign and saw it first hand] to drive the social conservative Americans to the polls. This year, they're trying it in California, but, again, this issue isn't getting much traction nationally.


Connecticut's Supreme Court, rightly so, decided that equal but separate is not a legal principle, and ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriages. CT is the third state, behind MA and CA, to do so. More states will follow and eventually the Supreme Court will have to decide. The Supreme Court is on the ballot as well.. do not forget this! The next president will appoint several justices to the high court whose decisions will affect all of us for several generations! We cannot afford a McCain-Palin presidency!

Did I say I reject ignorance and the party that has embraced it?


PS. You know when people don't want to accept something they find all sorts of excuses but face reality. The Conservatives are in denial and are still clinging to an ideology of the past. But, they believe their ideas and their conservative attitude [conservatism is a disposition] by blaiming individuals that failed conservatism. We've seen this before with communists....

Oh, it's not the idea of self-regulation that's the problem, it's the people who fail. Hmmmm, they asked and got a self-regulating Wall Street, because they said they were special. Obviously we know that markets cannot be self-regulating because they lead to extremes. Same with all sorts of private business.

Funny thing, those who don't want the government to interfere in and regulate the marketplace wouldn't get into a self-regulating taxi to go to a self-regulating restaurant, or take drugs from a self-regulating pharma co.

PS2. The Democratic challenger to Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) does NOT deserve our support. Bob Conley has embraced ignorance! He's rejecting the scientific consensus that humans are responsible for adding to global warming. What a dolt.

I understand the argument that it's better to have a Dem instead of a Repub but given that the Senate will remain Dem, Conley should not be supported. Graham isn't my favorite, but, without endorsing him, I have to say that he's been a war critic and one of the less-crazed cons in the Senate. The Dems need to recruit better candidates. The people deserve informed public officials.