First, some context as preface. If I were to recap the events of the past few months, and how it has informed the realization on the sad, twisted state of the GOP; that would, in itself take months. Fortunately Mike Papantonio, co-host of Ring of Fire Radio, gives a concise brilliant summation of how we all got to where we are today.
So this is what America, under Romney-Ryan will become. A rabid right wing home-schooled theocracy. Where what is left of government, serves the needs of only the wealthiest of the wealthy. A nation of Tea Party idiots, who wave the Constitution like a banner, but understand none of it. American Talibangelicals, who scream hysterically about the threat of "Sharia Law", but want to impose their own fundamentalist extremist beliefs on everyone else.
Should my fellow Americans be so stupid as to forget the consequences of their choices in 2000 and 2004 and 2010, rest assured Europe and Asia won't be following the U.S. off the cliffs of economic, social and cultural insanity that Romney, Ryan and the GOP would go hurtling off at full speed.
Why not indeed.... I guess for me, the problem is unlike Sarah Palin and the scared gullible bigots that hang on her every twitter posting, I really do believe that the greatness of the United States lies in our diversity. "E Pluribus Unum" - Out of Many , One. At the end of the day, I may live in Great Britain, and may be married to Brit, and yes I may even occasionally eat baked beans on toast for breakfast. But I am an American and yes I care what happens this November.
The GOP says they "want their country back". The vision of America they hold as "their country" is one where an ultra-conservative religious social agenda is made into Civil Law. Women's Rights to control their own bodies, Affirmative Action, Gay and Lesbian Rights, Separation of (their) Church and State, the social safety nets of Medicare/ Social Security and Public Education are all abolished. I care because the Republican Party has lost its mind, and sold its soul.
For the good of America, for the good the Republican Party itself, President Obama needs to be re-elected, by a landslide. The GOP has lost all sense of who they are, and what they have stood for since the days of Abraham Lincoln.
Friends of mine here on this side of the Atlantic, including my husband, have recently asked me why do I care who wins the U.S. Presidential Election? After all, the eight years of insanity the world endured during the Bush-Cheney Administration were far worse for Americans than it was for Europeans. If the American electorate is stupid enough to vote against their own best interests, gullible enough to swallow the steaming pile of bullshit that the GOP would serve up to protect the interests of the top one-tenth of one percent, all at the expense of everyone else. If Americans actually do elect Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, well then, Americans deserve everything they get.
After all, while the United States engages in an all out cultural civil war over the idea that the Bill of Rights, actually applies to all Americans; Here in the United Kingdom, same sex couples like Eric and I will still enjoy all the same rights as opposite sex couples, and those rights will even grow, as Britain's conservative government pushes ahead with the expansion of Civil Unions, into full and equal Same Sex Marriage.
After all, while the United States mortgages the lives of 99 percent of it's people by turning the American health care into economic Darwinism - Survival of the Richest. All to bankroll the greed and privilege of the top one percent; Here in the United Kingdom, the National Health Service along with sensibly regulated private insurance providers, (Yes that's right Fox News dimwits. The UK has both), will ensure that in average life expectancy of a child born in 2010, whereas the UK will continue to climb from its current rank of 13th in the world, the best the United States can hope for is not to slip too far down from its current ranking of 38th.
Should my fellow Americans be so stupid as to forget the consequences of their choices in 2000 and 2004 and 2010, rest assured Europe and Asia won't be following the U.S. off the cliffs of economic, social and cultural insanity that Romney, Ryan and the GOP would go hurtling off at full speed.
While the United Kingdom moves on to harness renewable energy and tackles the challenges of climate change, expands the boundaries of medical science and addresses the issue of Abortion by dealing with the causes of it, rather than simply attacking women. Romney and Ryan will turn back the clock for American Women to the 19th Century. In that same spirit, after handing over America's National Parks to Oil Companies, Timber Companies and Mining Corporations look for the GOP to eliminate science from public schools. As the likes of Michelle Bachman and Mike Huckabee demand that American students are only taught that the Earth is 6,000 years old, and the human race began with two fully formed people, who rode around a garden on dinosaurs, chatting it up with talking snakes.
My friends smile warmly and assure me that the rest of the World will, for a little while, feel bad about America's demise. But soon, everyone will get over it, quite content to move on without the United States. China, Russia, India, and many others will smile and applaud, as the GOP completely destroys what is left of the American Manufacturing sector. Mexico, Japan and South Korea will quietly cheer as the talking heads on FOX News gleefully report on the end of the rights of unionised workers. While at the same time, insisting that multi million dollar bonuses (at middle class taxpayer expense) for Wall Street executives are necessary to "keep America's Job Creators strong."
So why should I care? After all, there is no point in trying to reason with American Conservatives . Reason involves facts and reality. Two things the American Conservatives have learned to be quite comfortable living without. People who rather than just come out and admit they can't accept the fact the President of the United States is Black; instead rant and rave about a coming "UN Invasion" as Barack Obama's UN Stormtroopers are going to come "for your guns".
My friends smile warmly and assure me that the rest of the World will, for a little while, feel bad about America's demise. But soon, everyone will get over it, quite content to move on without the United States. China, Russia, India, and many others will smile and applaud, as the GOP completely destroys what is left of the American Manufacturing sector. Mexico, Japan and South Korea will quietly cheer as the talking heads on FOX News gleefully report on the end of the rights of unionised workers. While at the same time, insisting that multi million dollar bonuses (at middle class taxpayer expense) for Wall Street executives are necessary to "keep America's Job Creators strong."
So why should I care? After all, there is no point in trying to reason with American Conservatives . Reason involves facts and reality. Two things the American Conservatives have learned to be quite comfortable living without. People who rather than just come out and admit they can't accept the fact the President of the United States is Black; instead rant and rave about a coming "UN Invasion" as Barack Obama's UN Stormtroopers are going to come "for your guns".
Why not leave the United States to the racist, homophobic misogynistic theo-facist nutjobs who believe it should be easier to buy an automatic weapon than it is to vote? Why not just let America go the way of the dinosaur, After all, the rest of the world will smile and thank the GOP for all they have done to eliminate their competition
I care because I love my country and believe that even when we fail miserably to live up to our stated ideals, we remain far more potential than we have ever been actualized.
For the good of America, for the good the Republican Party itself, President Obama needs to be re-elected, by a landslide. The GOP has lost all sense of who they are, and what they have stood for since the days of Abraham Lincoln.
The GOP is addicted to crazy, and like many addicts, the only way they will ever kick their destructive habit, is to finally hit rock bottom.
Oddly enough, this time. It's the truth. The United States is at a cultural and economic crossroads. Will we all move forward together, or will we sacrifice the future of the many, to subsidise the very few? Will the United States of America vote for the future, or stumble backwards to a fearful, small minded past where the American Dream exists only for a select few?
I care because I want America to keep moving forward.
Presidential Elections are always rife with superlatives. Sweeping statements of how THIS election is the most important in our lifetime. How the choice Americans make at the ballot box this November will be pebble thrown in the pond of history, the ripples from which, will be felt for generations to come...etc..etc.
1 comment:
Great post, I think that you have gotten it so right! I truly hope that America makes the right decision and moves forward. I don't want my country to be torn apart and discarded in the trash like the republicans want to do. If any party dose not actual love America, for what it is, for what it stands for and for its promise, it is the republican party. It really dose scare me to think about being trapped in a country like the Republicans want to turn america into. (and as someone that can't up and leave the country should it be turn to that it is a very real frear)
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