I have been debating on YouTube with Conservatives lately. Most of it is “you Lefty wacko” nonsense, which seems to be the typical response to anyone they disagree with, even Progressives like me. However I did get one intelligent responder who wanted to go beyond the entrenched political boundaries and discuss the differences.
I tried to convey the point that we need to work together and that I see the Democratic Party as a means to an end and not an ideology. I don’t know if I succeeded, yet the effort was there.
Question: If your not a lib and I’m not a neo con what the fuck are we arguing over than?
Good point. As a Progressive, I believe first and foremost in getting things done. In the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt, we need to work from the center to create a peaceful revolution, and our great nation is in serious trouble after the disastrous 8 years of Bush. The Conservatives of Teddy’s time worked against him and the Dixiecrats did too. We must come together to create positive change as democracy is like a boat on a tumultuous stream, change is a constant.
Questioning and being vocal about the captains orders is essential in a democracy, however sowing the seeds of hate against the captain for no other reason than to garner attention and financial gain, like Glenn Beck does, is unproductive. With the hanging of a census worker last month with the words “FED” scribed on his chest on the heel of multiple Right-Wing terror attacks, stirring this pot borders on inciting violence, which, is ILLEGAL in the Constitution.
Mutiny only works when you have a majority of the people behind you. When only 1% of the crew cares (like Glenn Beck’s ratings), you are nothing more than the loud mouth idiot on the boat that most people wouldn’t shed a tear for if he walks the plank. Beck should be encouraging his party to work with the President to shape legislation, not encouraging them to boycott. Doing so will only result on the destruction of your party and the polls are with me on this.
I question Beck for his sincerity and his intentions. He appears to be a deranged cynic with serious social problems. I cannot judge his heart, though I can assess his contribution to society. So far, I have seen no good works resonate from the man. He cries, after a botched hemorrhoid operation about how bad our health care system, a year and a half later he cries about how great it is. He’s a charlatan.
Bush did not extend a hand to the non-Conservatives, he simply tried to jam his agenda down our throats. Obama has opened up and the Repubs simply want to play politics.
As a true Progressive (not a Liberal ashamed of the name) I want to see the Teddy Roosevelt Republicans work with Progressive Dems and the President. Unfortunately, there are only 1 or 2 Repubs left in a party tilting off the ideological edge of radical conservatism into the abyss of fascism (loud, hateful and never wrong, so they say).
This is what we are arguing over. However we do not need to. If people like you question the intentions of fanatics like Beck, Rush or Coulter, the way people like me question Sharpton or the radicals on the Left, we can get things done. While there are so few socialists or radical Lefties with a voice in this country, as a lover of politics who hears them, I still reject their philosophy and contribute to keeping it from becoming a part of our debate.
The Conservatives have not done their part. They embraced the radical philosophies of the Neo-Cons, the hate-speak of the old Dixiecrats turned Republican (the Strom Thurmonds or Joe Wilsons), the fringe evangelicals like Robertson and Hagee (who are very Right-wing, and needlessly political) and the sometimes violent actions of the fanatical anti-abortion movement. They F’d things up so bad that the traditional Wall Street business base has fled for the Democrats (gee, thanks) and is buying them out one by one. Republicans used to be North Eastern, snobby, well-educated business tycoons who hated taxes and government involvement. Now they are the party of the White Southern alleged Christians who are afraid of everything government (except the police, the military, the fire department, the interstate system, corporate welfare [albeit selectively], defense contracts, federal earmarks and so on) who fight for the freedom to purchase guns, finance churches, oppose all things conversationalist (that’s the environment) and desire to inflict their moral views on everyone, while still maintain the role of the victimized end-times Christian. Did I mention the fear of immigrants and the hatred of homosexuals? With the playbook of Karl Rove, I mean Lee Atwater, the party has degenerated into a party of dirty-tricks and deception, fooling the poor Southern base into believing that politics is about values, when it is really about clean drinking water, higher minimum wages, regulated beef, consumer protections, insurance regulations and other things that are not sexy but essential to the political discourse.
The Republican party used to be a big tent. It needs to be again, if it is to survive. I know the leadership is talking of a “waterloo” for Obama and a return to 1994 but it just isn’t viable. This isn’t 1993. There are no Congressional Bank scandals, no rising stars in the Republican leadership, no “Contract with America”. They look like pissed-off opportunists who were kicked out of power. They may win a few elections, but it will be no revolution.
What people on the Right need to do is clean house. Expel the radicals, denounce the fanatics who encourage violence and victory at all costs. Embrace the ideal of getting things done for the people, not stonewalling for the sake of an election. We need to work together to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and economy. The median income has declined under Bush while inflation went up. The middle-class is in jeopardy and we need to fight the corporate interests that have infected both parties.
More importantly, I have no love for the Democrats. I vote with them time and time again because the Repubs have nothing to offer. I have a good sense of direction where the country needs to go and I don’t see it with either party, though the Dems are the far less evil among the two. The corporate establishment has bought our government wholesale. The question of our time is not whether government will take over health care, it is whether Obama will allow a government mandate that will force us all to purchase private company insurance.
With strong polling for the public option, even in the Republican Party (where more are for it than against it), it is no surprise that the politicians would rather have us divided and squabbling amongst ourselves. That allows them to continue their Potomac Fever and get nothing done.
When we fight over social issues, the politicians and elite win. We lose.
Well it is a long answer but I believe this is what I was trying to say.