The Mind of a Conservative: a personal aside
January 24, 2011
I am pleased to announce that there are no more “Republicans” in the state of Texas. None. Nada. Zip… at least, not among the general public. The governor, Rick “Good Hair” Perry is a Teabagger that has become a national embarrassment every time he opens his mouth with talk of “succession”, and the Texas state Legislature now has a Republican Super-Majority thanks to two Democratic defectors, but the last time I personally met a self-described “Republican” was way back in 2000. Not because I’ve lived a sheltered life or live in a deep “blue” state or because they’ve been vanishing like ST:TNG crew members (yes, I’m that geeky). No, I have lived in Texas almost my entire life and probably know more “Conservatives” than “Liberals”. But something interesting I’ve noticed is that while I proudly tell everyone “I’m a Liberal Democrat”, It has been roughly a decade since I’ve met a Conservative that will own up to being “a Republican”. They ALL claim to be “a Libertarian” or “an Independent”, yet someone keeps voting these Republican idiots into power. Apparently, the label “Republican” carries a “stink” they don’t want to be associated with. And can you blame them?
Senator Al Franken (D-MN), back when he was still doing his radio show on “Air America”, gave the best distinction between the two ideologies I’ve ever heard:
“Democrats love America like adults. Republicans love America like a child loves Mommy. Mommy can do no wrong, and no one dare say anything bad about Mommy even when she goes on a drunken rampage. Democrats can criticize their country and still love it because they want their country to be better. Republicans say, ‘My country, right or wrong’ like it were, ‘My mother, drunk or sober’.” – Al Franken
I would expand on Franken’s excellent analogy by adding that Republicans think that if you don’t agree with your Party 100% of the time on Every. Single. Issue, you’re not a “Republican”. Democrats like myself can (and often do) disagree with their Party on major legislation, and still call themselves “Democrats”. It’s why Will Rodgers famously said:
“I belong to no organized political Party. I’m a Democrat.” – Depression-era author & humorist, Will Rodgers
Probably 80% of the “friends” on my personal Facebook page are self described “Conservatives”, and as you know, I like to post the occasional “Lefty” link to see what they’ll have to say. Last week, the Forbes Magazine website posted a story revealing that not only is the health insurance mandate in “ObamaCare” NOT “unconstitutional” or the antithesis of what the Founding Fathers believed like the Tea Party and the GOP claim, but in fact, in 1798, Founding Father turned President John Adams signed into law a bill (see full text of law here) that ordered the building of maritime government-run hospitals for privately employed Merchant mariners, funded by mandating that those sailors purchase private health insurance. Reason: because the country was SO dependent upon imports/exports, that having sailors constantly out of work due to work-related injuries was a threat to the American economy. And if that weren’t enough, the Senate Majority Leader that pushed through the bill was Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, while the Speaker of the House was Founding Father Johnathan Dayton (the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence). Bam. The Republican argument that the Founders would of opposed both “socialized medicine” and “insurance mandates” wiped out in one fell swoop. (The argument that the Founders would of opposed the Federal government “mandating” you purchase anything was already debunked weeks ago as well when the fact President George Washington, at the end of his first term, mandated “every able bodied male citizen purchase a gun, powder and ammunition” under the Second Militia Act of 1792.)
So what do you think the response was among my Righty friends, suddenly faced with yet another core belief sent into its death throes when confronted with facts: suddenly, what the Founding Fathers believed was unimportant. I was accused of “cherry picking” an example and that supported my position and told that Thomas Jefferson… who passed the bill as Senate Majority Leader… actually OPPOSED this policy. His proof of this? Silly you if you’re waiting for an example. And “cherry picking”? No. That’s like claiming we’ve never had a president named “Chester”, then when you mention “Chester A. Arthur”, you’re accused of “cherry picking” a single name while ignoring the 43 others that “prove their point”.
Comments to the videos in our Official YouTube collection also provide me with an abundance of examples of Conservative stubbornness in the face of facts. Last week, a Rightwing YouTuber going by the moniker “FreedomInAmerica” (gee, I wonder if he’s a “Conservative”?) tried to argue that “President Clinton did NOT leave a Surplus” but instead “added $1.4Trillion to the National Debt over eight years.” When I pointed out the obvious, that he was confusing the “Debt” with the “deficit”, rather than concede his error, he doubled down and argued with me for the next four days that he was “NOT” confusing Debt with deficit, and directing me to read his website. I then tried to give him an out, suggesting that maybe he was arguing that “since we still had a Debt, we couldn’t technically claim a budget surplus”, but that wasn’t good enough to satisfy a Republican confronted with the facts. After he started spewing about “borrowing from Social Security”, I tossed him a second lifeline that perhaps he was suggesting that “because the Republican Congress had to borrow from Social Security, that technically they really never balanced the budget?” But no, that too was unacceptable. He steadfastly insisted Clinton never passed a Balanced Budget (he did. Twice. In ’99 and 2000). And this is no kid, if the age on his YouTube profile is to be believed, this numbnut is a “39” year old man.
The Republican controlled House wants the U.S. Budget to “return to 2008 spending levels”. The teanuts want to go one further and “return to 2006 spending levels” (before Democrats regained control of Congress). Are they going to return the U.S. population to 2006 levels as well? The population of the United States in 2006 was 299,398,484. This year (2011), the estimated U.S. population (as of July 1st when the “official” estimate is taken) will be over 311 million people. In “this new era of civility” maybe I shouldn’t suggest that is why the GOP’s first act upon regaining control of Congress was to try and bring back the insurance companies’ “Death Panels” & denials of care for patients with “pre-existing conditions”? Any looney-toons out there reading this, that was NOT a call to violence, capisce’?
Check out this comment from outgoing Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday on the subject of repealing “ObamaCare”:
they will be hit with “big fines and big expenses”, but she’s not about to correct them:
[flv:http://mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/video/Hutchinson_cites_misinformation_for_HCRs_job_supression.flv http://mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/video/Hutchinson_cites_misinformation_for_HCRs_job_supression.jpg 533 300]
If Republicans simply pointed out to concerned employers that they would be eligible for tax credits and Federal funding to cover their costs if they can’t afford it, that small businesses can file a waiver if providing health insurance would cause an “undue hardship”, or if you’re a large established company, you are probably already providing health care and should see their rates go down as a result of these reforms, they might not be so afraid to start hiring again and instead help get this economy moving. But instead, Republicans would rather let these employers remain misinformed and not hire any new employees because of it, rather than ally their fears and spur job growth by providing employers with accurate information. This pretty much tell me everything I need to know about today’s GOP (BTW, if you’re wondering, “No”, no one corrected or challenged Sen. Hutchinson after her comment.)
One last thought: I’m still hearing… mostly from Conservatives that deny they are Republicans… that “there’s no real difference between the Parties”. Sadly, I’m finding too many examples of President Obama enacting Conservative policies, kowtowing to the Right, and appointing Conservative advisers that talk him into giving in on budget-busting tax cuts and/or cutting services (only to then have Republicans use the resulting economic disaster to justify dismantling his agenda), to support that belief. But when it comes to the voters, the differences between The Right and The Left couldn’t be more clear.
(Editor’s Note: I hope to post a “Special Edition” analysis of Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address Wednesday.)
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January 24, 2011
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Admin Mugsy · 
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Posted in: Economy, General, Healthcare, myth busting, Politics, Rants, Right-Wing Insanity, Unconstitutional
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