ends justify the means, part I

(Note: this piece will have several posts, this is part I

Republicans aren't bad people. The Republican party is a bad party. Seriously, the vast majority of Republicans are great people who love their country and contribute in some way to it's health. They work, raise families and are passionate about what they believe in. You won't find me saying what they believe in is necessarily bad. Much of the time it's a difference in opinion. The main thing wrong with individual Republicans is they have no spine. They have no guts or courage to stand up to those in their own party who corrupt, lie and cheat to further an agenda which is now so far to the right, Eisenhower would be considered an extreme liberal. Hell, by today's standards, Reagan would be a left center Democrat. The main thing wrong with Republicans as a party is they too, have no spine.

The Republican party is morally bankrupt and have been for at least 50 years. Your average Republican has stood by as bit by bit their souls, the part of you which knows right from wrong has been picked apart and devoured by those within the party who live by the motto "the ends justify the means". Or in other words, we will do whatever it takes to remain in power. We will oppose those things we know are in the best interest of our country as longs as we get reelected. We will lie, we will slander, we will oppress whole classes of people, we will wage war, we will terrify our own people, we will empower the rich at the expense of the working class and we will punish the poor, we will sell our souls to the devil because we know that once in power we will be able to shape this country and this world into our own choosing. This is what the Republican party does. The average Republican stands quiet and says nothing.

I use 50 years because this is the approximate date of the fight for the Civil Rights Act. Many could argue that their sins go much further back but I use this date because I believe it ties itself to the modern era of the GOP and to the current party. The Civil Rights Act and the movement which bears it's name, divided the country like no other issue since the civil war. The premise is simple, the no man should be denied equal rights and protections under the law for any reason, race included. This seems simple enough. It seems to be the honorable, humane way a country with the highest ideals should treat it's people, except the GOP didn't think so.

At the time of the Civil rights movement the South was a staunchly Democratic region. Poor white people in the South had always chosen the party that fought for them. This did not sit well with the GOP. They knew they were in trouble because blacks were flooding the Democratic party with new voters by the millions. Sinister elements in the GOP had an idea, "what if we could scare all them white folk in the South, by baiting them incessantly with race? We'll tell em' how scary black people are and remind them that black people vote Democratic". This was called the "Southern Strategy". This is not rumor or theory or urban legend, it is fact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy. It is fact based upon Nixon appointees and their own accounts. From that moment on, the ugliest elements within the GOP have relentlessly pursued the "Southern Strategy" with great success. Today the South is the only real power base the GOP has left. Any normal person would find this to be abhorrent. I find it vile. But what about the average Republican? Have they stood up and said that this strategy is immoral? Maybe one or two, but as a whole they are silent. Remember, with the GOP, "the ends, justify the means".

The evil of Nixon couldn't be hidden for long. Evil like that is hard to hide, though many of those involved with the formulation of the "Southern Strategy" moved on into all the subsequent GOP administrations to include the former Vice President Dick (Sith Lord) Cheney.

Every single chance ever since the GOP has used race as a lever to divide our country along racial lines.

Era by era, GOP prez by GOP prez there are examples; Nixon, whose administration devised the Southern Plan. Reagan in large part rode into power on the wave of the Southern Strategy. George HW Bush used a convicted murderer, Willie Horton who was furloughed by Massachussetts' Governor Micheal Dukakis' administration, and later went on to rape a white woman, like a racial battle bugle to get elected to the White House. The bugle notes were clear, "Don't elect Mike Dukakis, he'll let other scary negros out of prison to rape your white women". Apologists will argue the campaign was about crime. Horseshit, it was about continually beating the race drum until white America was terrified of it's black neighbors. Katrina, wasn't George W Bush's fault. The aftermath was. Again, apologists can make up excuses and if were not a half century of calculated use of race you could almost give him a pass. Now, there is Shirley Sherrod, an honest and noble black woman who has been the victim of a lifetime of racism. She did not let that hate into heart though you could understand if she did. Her life was forever transformed because of a "the ends justifies the means" punk by the name of Adam Breitbart. He along with the assistance of Fox news followed by the rest of the brain dead national media, slandered this woman.

Additionally, the "Immigration debate" is just another way for rousing the ire of the same constituents the GOP uses in it's Southern Strategy. I find this particularly stupid considering that Hispanics will soon (if not already) make up the largest ethnic group in the U.S. Combined with all the other ethnic groups, they will be the majority in 20-40 years. This does not bode well for the GOP. In their defense, they will search and search until they find a way to divide Americans again just so Republicans can attain power.

To pretend for one moment that the GOP is not racist is to admit one of two things; 1. that you are ignorant or 2. that you are stupid.

This is not the point of this article. The point of this article is to highlight the apathy of the individual Republican. Like I stated at the beginning of this piece, most Republicans are good people, but their silence in the affairs of their party are damning in the same way people of regimes throughout history were silenced when their party terrorized or mistreated citizens of their own country. When, you Joe Republican do not stand up to your party or the media members acting on behalf of your party you are complicit just the same. When you sell your soul because you really wanted that tax break so you could upgrade your BMW from a 5 series to a 7, or when Joe Six Pack blindly follows the race baiting at the expense of his own well being, then you too are guilty. In the Republican party "the ends justify the means".

In part II, I'll outline more disturbing actions and policies the GOP has used, from war, slander, terrorizing it's own people to the assault on science and intellectualism all in an effort to remain in power.




(Reagan era, black poverty levels rose, do research. Bush, war on Iraq, dumbing of the GOP, attacks on science and smart folk. Current, racist attacks on Obama, tea party, sherrod, leadership silent while rabid rw attack dogs, defame)

more on the Southern Strategy; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/13/AR2005071302342.html,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,399921,00.html

http://freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/912

Dems need to grow a pair.

Democrats need to grow a pair. Or at least ask their wives or partners if they can take them to work every now and again. Seriously, when have they shown any huevos at all in the last decade? Oh, they talk a good game. They pound their fists and tell everyone how it will be when they get back in power. Then when it happens they roll over like a scared puppy and piss all over themselves. It really is discouraging.

Democrats steam rolled into power after a disastrous G Dub administration, with a sense of urgency and conviction. Then the country elected the most improbable candidate in modern history. Seriously, we elected a mixed race dude with a funny name and big ears. Why, because he promised change. He promised real change and with Democrats controlling both houses in congress there was nothing standing in his way.

So with a mandate from the people, Democrats decided to take on the big one, Health Care. The monster that is health care took down the Clintons, but Dems were sure they could do it this time. They had 60 votes in the Senate and with a couple of republicans, who would surely sign on that was more than enough. They already had a large majority in the House. So what did they do wrong? Two things; first, they thought they could negotiate with Republicans. Big mistake. That was never going to happen. Politicians in general and Republicans specifically, no longer do what's right for America. They do what's right for self and for party. The Dems had all the political clout they ever needed to pass health care in the manner in which they promised on the campaign trail. For some stupid reason, thought they could actually talk to the republicans. We all know what happened next. President Obama held out hoping for a bipartisan bill which never happened. All this did was allow the republican disinformation machine to take over. Death panels would kill old people and young people would be forced to work in coal mines to pay for the killing of old people. Oddly enough, the public thought this was a bad idea. The second thing they did wrong, they forgot how to negotiate. The ultimate goal for many Dems was national health care. What they would settle for is single payer. So what did the Dems offer to the republicans who weren't going to accept anything, anyway? A watered down version of single payer. Really? Here's my poor attempt at an analogy, The Dems had a car to sell. It was worth $5000 dollars. Break even was $2000. The republicans at that point had little choice but to accept the offer. So the Dems began negotiations at $1500 and the Republicans balked!!!!!! The republicans ended up getting the car for nothing plus free gas for a year! Dems should've grabbed a pair and forced the republicans to filibuster. They should've forced them to stand in front of a microphone and defend their pimps in the Health care industry to the American people. Instead they folded like the Lions fold to the Packers every year.

We're in a unique position to watch once again the lack of stones on the Democratic side. With SCOTUS Judge Stevens pending retirement, we get to see what the Dems are made of. Who are they going pick as a replacement? Will it be a progressive leaning candidate to balance the far right learching court or will it be someone to appease republicans? Drumroll please.......Oh forget it, you already know the answer. President Obama this week nominated US Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Now, I'm not here to argue for or against her. What I am going to say is that for the Democrats, SCOTUS nominations are generally an exercise in stonelessness (yes, I just made up a term). When the republicans are in a position to nominate a SCOTUS, they go all out. They don't fuck around. They nominate a guy that even right wing zealots say, "whoa that guy's out there!" Don't believe me? Take a look at an article in the US New and World report dated May 12, 2008 http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/05/12/ranking-the-politics-of-supreme-court-justices.html. The article show that four of the top five most conservative judges of all time are currently serving on the court. I'll give republicans credit when they wield power they do not play around, they go all out. Dems on the other hand generally look for someone everyone can like. This of course really doesn't please anyone. Jim Hightower famously said, "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos". There's a lot of truth to that. In the lead up to her announcement there was quite a bit of concern among liberals that she was not progressive enough to balance the court. I'm aware there are nuts on either side but these aren't who I'm talking about. The concern came from lawyers and politicos respected by both sides. Her choice again illustrates the gutlessness of the Dems.I understand the reasoning, with upcoming elections and the polls leaning to the right, the Dems fear that a progressive nominee would result in a protracted fight and push more voters to the right. Instead of holding to their convictions, they did the politically astute thing.

As we head to mid term elections in the fall we'll see who the real cowards are in the Democratic party. We'll watch how some will be more in line with Rush than with Obama just to get reelected in red leaning states. Instead of standing up and convincing voters why health care reform is important and why they passed the bill, some will hide from it. Instead of standing up for working class families some will sell out to big bidness. Instead of fixing the deregulation mistakes of the past they'll allow the republicans to dictate the argument.

So here's my plea, Mr and Mrs Democrat in congress or running for election, please, please, grow a pair. If you had a pair, please find them. Beg whoever is holding them for you to let you use them at least when you go to work. The future of our country depends on you showing your balls once in awhile.