Republicans Are Shortsighted

From time to time in my comments and posts on Facebook and also on Reader Supported News I suggest theories about the Republican Party in general as well as about neo-cons like Dick Cheney, and Right Wing extremists like the Tea Party. I may even mix and match within the same comment as if they were all of one philosophy. The Republican sub-groups are not of a singular mind and “we” all make the mistake of thinking they are.

I must stop and explain who “we” are. I use the nomenclature “we” to refer to persons that tend to think similar to myself. I have recently decided to call myself a Progressive, Liberal, bleeding heart, Socialist-Democrat.  Why not just one of these labels? That is because each has their own strengths and negatives. Progressives are frequently too doctrinaire and often suffer the same problem that many of those on the Extreme Right Wing and the the Neo-Cons. They are often too quick to accept some of the same misdirection tactics used by both the Extreme Right Wing and the Neo-Cons. On the other hand, Progressive solutions are the ones I am most likely to endorse. Liberals are the old stand by, but from my perspective  most liberals today have accepted the Corporatocracy and work to appease it, not tame it. On the other hand, the principles of Liberalism as laid out by JFK stand the test of time. Does bleeding heart need any description? I add that to my description because it has great historical meaning and it is a good name for my political mantra; People First. Lastly, Socialist Democrat because I believe that the answers to many of our economic and social issues require a Socialist solution via the mechanism of democracy.

Taken altogether that is who I mean when I say “we”, and if you put yourself in just one of those categories it makes you a part of “we”. The split in Republican thinking is much deeper and more diverse than all the factions that exist in the We Movements (If I may coin a term? ).  Even the most doctrinaire of the We Movements (WM), the Progressives, have relented for the common good  and voted for the horrendous Budget bill. On the Republican side of the solar system, somewhere in the vicinity of the former planet Pluto, You have the Tea Baggers threatening action over the debt limit. Why? Because they believe that it will force the Congress to introduce more cuts so money becomes available to pay the nation’s bills. The Neo-Cons don’t really like that because they can do the math and realize that it has to mean cuts in military spending in order to get the kind of cuts required to pay the nation’s bills without a debt ceiling increase. Libertarians, who align with the Tea Baggers for convenience, agree with the Tea Baggers, but for the opposite reason of the Neo-Cons, they want the military budget slashed. Lastly the plain old fashioned Republicans agree oddly enough (or maybe not) with the majority of Democrats. They want to split the difference in some lame bipartisan compromise. What are the motivations of the groups under the Republican umbrella? Do they want to destroy America as they know it? Do they want to transform it into something new and better? Or are we to believe the rantings of many on the left? That they want to enslave us in a modern Fascist state, or resurrect feudalism with Corporate titans assuming the role of kings?

Personally, I really doubt that the destruction of America and/or its economy is the intention of any of those groups. The majority of those that belong to one of the Republican groups believe that we must have a balanced budget before any other issues can be resolved. They really believe that America is being destroyed from within and must be saved, that others are taking away their jobs, their freedom, and even their religion. The real problem is that folks like (and there are a lot of these folks) the Koch Brothers don’t see or care about the consequences of their actions. The real problem is that our system more and more allows the laws to be bent in the direction of the wealthy and their corporations. The many various people are not aware of how they are being duped. They are not drinking the koolaid, they are buying into a pack of amoral lies and misdirection thinking it will bring them their jobs, their wages, their dreams, and their values back. They are asking for their country back, and they are right, it has been taken away. But not by the people they blame, it was taken by the very people they think are on their side.

Author’s note: This was published in 2013 under the Title “Let’s See Where This goes”  It has been edited only for grammatical type corrections