Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Republicanism is dead - lets bury it and get it over with


John Dean discusses authoritarian conservatism. One more and perhaps, the main, reason to consign Republicanism to the ash heap of history. It's a party that has outlived it's usefulness. It, like Zionism, should join "Communism," Fascism, The Whigs, The Know Nothing Party, ( to which today's Republican party bears a striking resemblance) The Bull Moose Party etc. etc. etc.

To do any less would only invite it to resurrect itself and some day another ruinous Republican administration will "fool all of the people some of the time" and take the reigns of power in Washington digging this country into a hole and another Democrat will have to ride to the rescue of the nation.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Day of Reckoning

Here's my take on what's at stake.

McCain/Palin = policies that continue to benefit the rich and Fortune 500 corporations, especially the oil and arms industries

  • Endless war
  • More socialism for the rich (trickle down voodoo economics & tax cuts for people and corporations that don't need it) & corporate welfare (see $700bn bank & Wall Street Bailout, deregulation allowing the fox to guard the henhouse) & corporate lobbyists running government; in fact most of his top campaign staff are lobbyists and are likely to go back to lobbying after the campaign. Those that don't will likely join his adminstration and do favors for their buddies in the private sector - that's the way it works folks... we all know that.
  • Continued erosion of our Constitution i.e. spying on innocent Americans without a warrant, continuing Bush's policy of torture and illegal detentions & renditions. McCarthyite tactics to stifle legitmate dissent. (See the mass arrests of legitimate protesters and credentialed journalists at the Republican Convention) the possible end of a woman's reproductive rights!
  • Continued belligerence and bluster in international relations - see "bomb bomb bomb bomd bomb Iran." He has a military mind that favors force over diplomacy.
  • The least qualified VP candidate in history. I shudder to think that a someone who can't even name a Supreme Court decision (besides Roe v. Wade) or a single newspaper or magazine she reads to keep current could be one 72 year old heartbeat away from having her finger on the nuclear trigger! What are we thinking? Electing a potential spokesmodel-in-chief? A Vanna Whitehouse? Please let's get serious here folks.
In short a McCain/Palin adminstration would continue the most egregious, ruinous excessive laissez fair capitalist policies that created this mess we're in today. With poverty levels and income equality not seen since the Great Depression, unbelieveably high deficits, state bankruptcies, high unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, wasteful, useless spending in the arms sector, corporate pork & erosion of Constitutional rights; McCain's policies will solve very little beyond palliative measures and exacerbate the decline of the USA while plundering the resources of the people to continue a quest for some kind of world-wide American Empire. Why do we need 750 military bases around the globe?

Obama/Biden = polices to help the middle class, working folks and the poor - the rich and the Fortune 500 don't need it
  • Two self made men, family men, that have risen up to the highest levels of our society through hard work and talent. Nothing was handed to them. Unlike George Bush and John McCain they came up the hard way by earning it and represent the best of our country.
  • End the occupation of Iraq responsibly - we've already won the war folks, victory is ours - Saddam is dead. Its over. Continuing to stay is just Cheney's and the neocon's plan for American Empire dominating militarily the Middle East, Central Asia and its oil reserves. If Iraq can muster an $80bn surplus while we spend $10bn a month they are well enough along for us to begin a significant but measured withdrawal down to a force to protect our Embassy. Without deadlines people don't perform. Its human nature.
  • Domestic economic policies designed to help the people that actually need it. McCain/Palin call this socialism? If that's socialism I've got a bridge to nowhere for sale. When FDR created the New Deal it was called good government. When Teddy Roosevelt busted the trusts and reduced the power of big corporations it was called reform. The GI Bill, Social Security, Medicare, roads, bridges and other infrastructure, good schools, firefighters, police, National Parks; all these cost money. The rich, having suckled at the breast of America, need to pay their fair share to help those that aren't as fortunate as they. Republican policies since Ronald Reagan have systematically redistributed wealth to the wealthy by cutting taxes and deregulating corporations while starving programs for the people and attempting to tear down these basic social safety programs. Aren't you glad that Bush wasn't successful at privatizing social security? Can you imagine trying to retire at this point in history with the worst stock market meltdown since 1929? Using a socially conservative agenda to trick the American people into thinking they represented the common folk while in reality the Republican power structure cares no more for the people than did Marie Antoinette.
  • Fair trade - let's stop the outsourcing of our jobs. Ross Perot was right. There has been a giant sucking sound of jobs leaving the country. Its just business folks, its completely amoral, money like water seeks it own level. If you can make your automobile or refrgerator or TV set in a country where you can pay workers $100 a month with no environmental controls or social rights instead of $100 a day, and shield your profits from US taxes (which are the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the industrialized world - which McCain wants to reduce even more) then you'd be a fool not to take advantage of these enormous loopholes.
  • Respect for work - allow people to organize without fear - which is a right enshrined in law in this country just as healthcare should be
  • A benevolent healthcare system so peope aren't held hostage to their jobs and are covered regardless of their health status. A government takeover of healthcare? If only, Medicare spends 3% of its revenues on adminstration while the fat cats at United Health, Aetna etc. suck up 30% of revenues for administrative overhead. Obama will not nationalize healthcare just make it nearly 100% accessible and reduce its cost.
  • Diplomacy first - force as an extreme last instead of a first resort - rebuild our alliances and regain respect and our moral standing in the world - cooperate not dominate
  • Respect for the Constitution and appointment of Supreme Court Judges that will as well
  • End torture - illegal wiretapping - illegal renditions - close Guantanamo - end the "War" on Terror - treat it as the criminal problem it is
  • End the quest for Empire and go back to being a Republic
  • Capture Osama Bin Laden and go after the people who actually attacked us instead of those that had nothing to do with it. Osama still has a job - do you?

And finally - competence - after 8 years of the most incompetent, morally and intellectually bankrupt presidency in history it will be a relief to get things working again. Stop the flight of qualified people from government. One reason we're in this economic mess is that the organs of government have become so politicized by Bush/Rove that many of the best people just left; leaving us with political cronies and hacks without any experience to run things. (see Alberto Gonzales) John McCain can't even run his campaign without lobbyists and his campaign has been a disaster swerving erratically from one extreme to the other. What makes us think he will run the country any better? Obama's campaign has been a model of organization and efficiency. Its brought millions of new voters into the democratic process and we finally have an opportunity to elect a leader who inspires hope instead of fear; competence and intelligence instead of crony capitalism and intellectual dishonesty; reason instead of superstition.

We can't let the fearmongers scare us. We're Americans, we're not scared of anything! When the going gets tough America gets going! We've done it before and we'll do it again. Obama is the absolute right choice at this crucial moment in our history. He isn't perfect but he's miles ahead of McCain/Palin who are a throwback to fear, superstion and the dark ages. Its time to evolve....