Why Dysfunction?

It seems to me…

“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte.

Our political parties have fundamentally different visions of what kind of country we should have and neither is feeling sufficiently politically weak to agree to the other side’s vision; there remains essentially no room for independent thinking within the conservative movement.

There has been a move to the right in U.S. political leadership where measures frequently are discussed or proposed that would have been anathema to conservatives under the Eisenhower or even the Reagan administration. This shift to the extreme right cannot be characterized in any way other than as a development of a radical political movement that threatens the very stability and character of the U.S. as we have known it. Isn’t it time for common sense and reason to return to political discourse? The radical right attempts to label the Democratic Party as “socialist” when in reality, the Democratic Party also has moved to the right and now espouses policies more characteristic of the Republican Party not that many years ago.

The greatest threat our country faces is not external to the U.S.’s geographic borders, it is the internal threat from the extreme rightwing. There doesn’t seem to be any limit to their capriciousness. The goal of rightwing ideologues is to abolish social welfare programs most people consider fundamental to our way of life. Their obvious intent is to destroy our social and economic system.

One of the greatest hoax of the last couple of decades has been the ability of the rightwing to co-opt members of the struggling lower and lower-middle class and pretend they speak for them while enacting policies further enabling the super-rich. They’ve used wedge issues like gay marriage and abortion to alienate people from their own economic interests, feeding them a steady diet of malevolence toward minorities, the educated, and science so as to create a voting block of people so guided by hatred of the ‘other’ that they refuse to listen to rational facts exposing the lies they have come to accept and believe (REALLY listen sometime to what is being said by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and others in the rightwing-dominated media). Rightwing extremists have a level of anger and hatred not apparent in mainstream liberalism. A significant percentage of the extremely wealthy are conservatives attempting to take over the U.S. political system whereas liberals are more inclined to abstain from politics believing they can save the world – wealthy conservatives make political “investments”; wealthy liberals are more inclined to contribute to healthcare, education, and research.

It is an irrefragable fact that Republicans for some reason are much more inclined to respond to any hint of criticism by aggressively claiming Democrats only complain rather than offering any positive recommendations of their own. In truth, Republicans refuse to listen to any reasonable suggestion unless it originates from within their own ranks or is in total agreement with their ideology. They increasingly have become close-minded and inclined to even reject scientific facts if they are not in accordance with their biased view of how they wish the world to be.

The Supreme Court is neither fair nor impartial, it was packed by GW Bush with rightwing extremists. Numerous reviews of their decisions have clearly shown them not to have been in accordance either with established jurisprudence or prior decisions. (Even evangelical Christianity is not usually defined by the simplistic theology, cultural isolationism, and stubborn anti-intellectualism many Republicans seem to have embraced.)

Rather than the Hobby Lobby and similar decisions being in support of religious freedom, those decisions represent a clear abridgement of majority rights and beliefs. Supporters of those decisions say that if employees are dissatisfied, they are free to find employment elsewhere – that is not freedom of choice. Yes, I agree that “the First Amendment prohibits rules that trump religious conscience” yet that is exactly what this decision has done.

Rightwing ideologues claim that “the president, in a dizzying display of arrogance, simply announces his next bypass of Congress and dares anyone to stop him”. When rightwing political extremists consistently block every attempt at legislation, they have effectively abrogated their right to govern. Thank God for Obama attempting to keep our country functioning. While I do not always agree with him – he apparently still believes Republicans care about what is good for our country and is open to compromise – he at least is doing something.

That’s what I think, what about you?