Paul Pelosi was attacked early Friday morning and is lucky to be alive, hospitalized, and on the mend. But what was the grievance of this (un-named) perpetrator against Paul Pelosi? That he was the husband of Nancy Pelosi? What had Mrs. Pelosi ever done to him? What had we Americans done to those who ransacked the Capitol building on January 6th? Why, nothing really, except to have won an election, one that Republicans wanted to win, badly.
The most compelling notion that I have ever seen to explain why you hate us so much is that we don’t respect you, we look down on you. Which in many cases is true. But not because you are stupider than us, not because you have low IQs; we have as many stupid voters who vote our way as you do. Not because you don’t have college degrees, as many of you have college degrees as we have. No, the reason that we don’t respect you is that you make stupid political choices. I’m not talking about your anti-Welfare bias, where you think that we encourage freeloaders to vote for us, a charge that has some merit. You remember the joke about the Republican voter who stands up in the middle of a liberal Democratic Town Hall and shouts out “keep your government hands off my Medicare.” Or, when your legislators vote against federal legislation that will help millions of Americans across the land; but celebrate when they bring it home and take credit for it, even though they voted against the legislation. Or, when you insist on a lie that you know is a lie, because otherwise your tribe – most of whom know it is a lie – would get so damn angry that they would never speak with you again. Or, when you married your sincere Christian faith to the modern Republican Party, when you know full well that Jesus would not have approved of most of what your party stands for.
FDR did NOT bring socialism to a capitalist America, FDR saved capitalism from itself (those of you who think that free-enterprise capitalism is the way to go – is America’s true path – should read Adam Smith, the spokesman extraordinaire of capitalism). FDR didn't send out Welfare checks, he put people to work, doing jobs that the private sector would never ever provide. EVERY modern economy in the world is a mixed economy, with capitalism at its core. Yes, even Denmark and Sweden. A pure capitalistic state would have fewer winners and many more losers than our mixed economy. The Socialistic programs soften capitalism’s cruelty.
Democrats have not delivered to their base for a long time, and I get that; and many of our voters have turned away from us and vote with you now. But not enough of them seem to understand that why we haven’t delivered on our promises is because today’s Republicans vote against our agenda, even legislation that will help YOU! And you’re OK with that, as long as you receive the benefits from whatever legislation we do finally pass.
How many Republicans really want to kill Social Security? If you have elderly parents, you should be grateful that they can live decent lives without being totally dependent on you. If you’re young, you hate Social Security because you believe that it won’t be there when you retire; and if Republican thinking prevails, you will prove correct. The same for Medicare. Unemployment Insurance. Health insurance that no longer can be denied to someone with a pre-existing condition. I suspect that very few if any of you really want these social safety net programs to go away.
But the cardinal differences between us is this: you believe that a man is entitled to what he earns for himself, and some of you believe that taxation is theft; while we believe that we are all in this fight together, and we help each other out when someone needs a helping hand. We believe that we are our brother’s keeper, you believe that we should pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Both of these are noble principles, but neither is always right for everyone. Perhaps surprisingly, many Democrats who believe in helping the less fortunate (through tax redistribution) are pretty successful themselves. But our real differences may stem from our geography. Democrats live in cities; Republicans live in the countryside. There are no police walking the beat in rural America. There are no hospitals within a ten-minute drive for most rural Republicans. So, I get your concerns. I really do. If I were to transplant myself to a country home, I would get educated about firearms, I would own firearms, I would become more like you. No offense, I mean it!
But I don’t get your hatred for your fellow Americans.
Maybe President Barack Hussein Obama was too much for many white Americans to stomach. The Tea Party was born less than a month after his inauguration. It transformed the Republican Party. Its principles remained the same, but the intensity and the rage of its members were revved up 100-fold. The Tea Party's rage made Trump’s hateful rhetoric acceptable and gave rise to MAGA-Republicans, who are not committed to any old-fashioned Republican values but who ARE committed to following their flawed leader, no matter where he leads them.
Just one more thing. Your guys, your talking heads – Hannity, Tucker, Levin, Savage, Beck – have all accused liberals of trying to start a civil war. But why would a liberal ever talk openly about a civil war when you guys own all the firearms, and when the police seem to be on your side. If it came to that, this civil war's battlefields would not look like other civil war battlefields; it would look like guys with guns breaking and entering into our homes, and murdering us in cold blood, just like Southern whites used to come after unarmed blacks a century ago. American carnage. At the end of the day, after all the one-sided slaughter, it would no longer look like a democracy because everyone who survived – the guys with the firearms – would all believe the same things. And how is that possible? Why, only when everyone follows a single god-like leader. Is that what you want? Above all else, the Republican brand has always stood for individual liberties and beliefs. I once was a proud Republican, so I know what I'm talking about. All alternatives to democracy (where different people believe different things) are forms of tyranny. Is that what you really want?
We have to learn to live together, to be kind to each other, to respect each other – our differences notwithstanding – before our hate, before YOUR hate – rips this country apart, rips our democracy apart, proving to one and all that we were just LUCKY that we made it this far. Until you guys decided that your hatred of us was more important than a stinking democracy, your Christian virtues be damned!
As long as you would rather fight than debate, against an enemy with no fight, we have no chance, our democracy has no chance.
Please be careful what you wish for.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I encourage praise, gratitude and especially criticism that is useful. Be polite. Tell your friends.