The morning after the 2008 Presidential elections, a unified voice was raised throughout the Republican Party; make President-elect Obama a one term President.
It is understandable that a political party would value its power base, but it’s unforgivable when a political party places itself above the people they allegedly serve.
A young Presidency, with an inexperienced politician is bound to have many gaffes and blunders, until a team is put in place to assure the seamless process of governance. President Obama had less blunders than one would expect, due in part to the gracious departure of George W Bush, who was abandoned by his own party and was anxious to begin his retirement. Meanwhile the loyal opposition on Capitol Hill was drawing lines in the sand, determined to diminish the newly elected President at any costs. They were not going to be the Party of No, but of Hell No.
Three mistakes plagued the Obama Administration from the outset. The first was the assumption that the opposing party wanted what was best for the country, when in fact their only goal was regain control of the White House. The second was the young Presidents belief that Republican opposition was about ideas and therefore compromise would be possible if he incorporated some of those ideas into his platforms. Third, and maybe most fatally, the assumption that a loyal opposition was loyal to the people of the United States of America, instead of being loyal to an ideology paid for by lobbyist, and inspired by the divine rights of Kings.
The Holy Roman Republican Party was born the moment fiscal conservatives adopted the religion of social conservatives in order to form a more perfect union, dedicated to the proposition of creating a permanent single party system. There would still be a loyal opposition party, but they would never have any power to speak of, and without access to the corporate dollars necessary to get elected, their relevance would be negligible. This is a familiar formula, and seems ironic that those who spoke so passionately about spreading Democracy around the world were the very same individuals engaged in near fascist single party manipulation.
The Republican Party has hidden behind the banner of their founders who valued freedom for all individuals at any cost. The same founders who were willing to fight a civil war to “preserve the Union” would be aghast to find their party is now populated by secessionist neo-conservatives who place the rights of corporate share holders above citizens health and well being. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, cannot possibly include affordable healthcare, clean air, and non-toxic rivers. Freedom of religion only applies to various forms of Judah-Christianity, and freedom of speech only applies to members of the Tea Party.
The frightening thing is not that the Party of Lincoln would engage in such soulless endeavors, but that the Fourth Estate, whose primary purpose is to preserve the citizenry from power run amuck, is firmly placing its head in the sand and praying their ratings don’t slide any further. Newspapers are struggling for survival in a world where information is everywhere, but attribution and verification have gone the way of the Dodo bird. Fact checking is easier than at any time in human existence, yet a Reality TV star could still use a misnomer like the existence of the Presidents birth certificate to generate enough interest to actually rate high in the national polls. Misinformation and falsehoods make up a majority of the public debate on so many varied issues that even those in firm control of the facts have a hard time setting the record straight. Creative editing can make people say what they never meant, or mean what they never said. Few in the “new media” are interested in unvarnished facts, and those that are marginalize themselves with stated political agendas. A curious fact that newspapers and magazines began as publications with a specific agenda, this was seen as appropriate because they were written by humans with opinions and bias’. Now the concept of “Fair and Balanced” has become a punch line for late night talk show hosts. Television has denigrated to the point that an entire generation is getting its news from a comedian whose main topic is how stupid the news media has become.
Government for the people must be held accountable by the people. Which means that misinformation is not an excuse for jettisoning the civic responsibility for watch dogging the scoundrels elected to represent us. Yes many believe that they are exercising their civic duty when they go to Tea Party rallies, yet when the question of raising taxes on the top 1% of the population in poll after poll 70% of Americans of either political persuasion said yes, but the politicians said no. Tea Party was convenient for election purposes; the real agenda doesn’t flower until all the manure is spread. Occupy Wall Street, but don’t forget who owns Main Street, or we might wake up to a country where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has a price tag we can’t afford, and a label “Made in China”.