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Ambivalence is a word that is usually misused, and its proper definition aptly describes my current sentiment. I feel strongly about throwing the Democrats out of office and also am repulsed by Republicans, how about you?
The triumphalism of the right-wing chattering classes over the Brown-Coakley race, exchanging knowing, insider comments about what this means for the Democrats is premature. It only means that the American people are as sick of the Democrats as they are the Republicans. This is the same country that threw them out of office over the past few years, but somehow they want to forget that. I think it’s worth reviewing how we got to the state of affairs that put the Democrats in charge in the first place.
Only a few years ago, the Republicans held all the reins of power. Many Republicans who aren’t Bible thumping reactionaries were sickened by the likes of George Bush, his ideology and incompetence, as well as Tom Delay’s brutish political machine. We were in two wars, with both showing signs of being terribly led. In case you’ve forgotten , remember how we took over Iraq and let it sit there until a hostile power could take over and then start fighting us, costing thousands of American lives. Or how we undermanned Afghanistan, letting the conflict there stew until the Taliban could re-emerge to set up shadow governments in every province? We were running up deficits then too, with business as usual corporate cronyism running policy. Bush never questioned the Fed, and while he pushed back at Fannie and Freddie weakly, he lacked the confidence to take a stand against their recklessness and in fact backed some of it with his “ownership society”. We’d failed to capture or kill Bin Laden – I could go on, but I have hopefully jogged your memories a bit about what it was like to have Republicans running the show. It made me leave the Republican party.
In fact, one can make the case that the Republican’s failed leadership gave rise to Obama. He drew sickened moderate Republicans, independents and young people who (while mostly poorly informed) were embarrassed by George Bush, who so debased the value of being a Republican that the populist promises of Mondale and Dukakis seemed fresh and new. The best the Republicans had to offer to oppose Obama was an old crank – McCain – who’s lack of critical thinking skills made him seem like an independent thinker in the hackneyed field in which he ran. Oh, btw, who was the only candidate talking about financial ruin via the housing bubble, the criminal behavior of the Federal Reserve or the truth about the consequences of our military adventurism? Ron Paul (which Glenn Beck recently admitted he wished he’d voted for), who was roundly dismissed by the powers that be as a whack job. His silly talk of constitutional government, individual liberty and responsible government fell on deaf ears – but isn’t that what everyone is so pissed off about now?
I’m not here to promote Ron Paul. What I want to ask you to do is think about what problems we face as a nation? If you think it’s out of control government which incessantly reaches into our lives, our wallets and our children’s wallets, do you really think that the Republicans are going to solve this problem? If you think that maybe we should re-examine our foreign policy which has our military in 130 countries, do you think the Republicans will change a thing? If you have started to realize that the Federal Reserve and our entire banking system is systemically corrupt, do you think that the Republicans will reform it? Have you been woken up by Glenn Beck to see what it really means to be free? Are you beginning to understand the revolutionary (but peaceful) change of our government that is required to actually make a difference? Remember, ACORN got a lot of money under Republicans! The Republicans have made a deal with the devil to try and hold on to small bits of power, but dare not take on the out of control monster that our Federal government has become. They don’t want to, because the thing that Beck won’t tell you is that they have built their own institutions and money machine to fund their own pet causes, that they are fine with Wall Street playing it’s rigged game, that they are in the pockets of large insurance companies who have learned to make the existing government interventions work for them and just want to go on with business as usual. They won’t admit that Fox is feeding you pablum, exciting your furies to be nothing but tools for Republican power. I mean, do you guys know who Roger Ailes is? Do you for a moment not think that he’s about supporting the Republicans?
The Tea Part movement gave me some hope last year, following that trader’s plaintive call from the exchange floor in Chicago. But now I see that Sarah Palin is going to be speaking at the Tea Party convention? Let’s call a spade a spade – she is a populist with a very poor understanding of government, economics, history and foreign affairs. Anyone who thinks she is qualified to be president has let their ideology trump their reason. Did you watch the press conference where she resigned the Governorship of Alaska? I swear, afterwards, I wasn’t actually sure she resigned. She was so bumbling and imprecise, I say this reveals her weak mind. Did you see her admit on Fox this week that up until being briefed for the Vice Presidential debates, she thought that Saddam Hussein was likely involved somehow in the Al Qaeda attacks on 9/11? Do you have any idea how ignorant that is? Btw, she basically admitted recently that she believes she’s on a mission from God! Maybe that makes the evangelicals out there happy, but those of you who don’t think that teaching intelligent design as an valid alternative to evolution is a good idea should exit the doors of the Tea Party movement immediately.
No, this is the canary in the mine shaft for the Tea Party movement. They have been fully co-opted by the right wing fundamentalists of the Republican party. If you vote these guys in again, our country will still go down the tubes – just a little bit slower, that’s all. Those of you who are concerned should stop falling for the Republicans games – they don’t care about you, they only want the power back.
There is a real alternative out there – the Libertarians! I know, Rush Limbaugh is telling you that a third party is bad for the cause, but I say this is the only chance we’ll have. If enough people support Libertarians, we have a real chance of pulling people from the left and right by the time the next presidential election comes round. There is a Libertarian running in Mass, his name is Joe Kennedy (no relation to the drunken killer, Ted Kennedy, may he burn in hell). He polls at 3 percent, which is a miracle in and of itself, given his meager resources. The Libertarian Party is working very hard to put up viable candidates all across the country – so take a minute, look at what they stand for and ask yourself, which candidate has the best chance of dealing with the problems as you see them? Stop, think – Libertarianism is what it really means to be conservative anyway.
Ronald Reagan said it best: “If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.”
