Beneath Contempt and with Little Hope

Republicans have now reached depths of depravity so profound as to have virtually abandoned politics entirely in favor of the purely despicable. One of their Superpacs has produced a video game so disgusting as to be truly beneath contempt. There is a cartoon figure of Hillary being slapped repeatedly by a large cartoon hand, her eyes rolling around stupidly, the object being, I suppose, to encourage people to slap Hillary’s face, ridicule and humiliate her in the most offensive way possible. In addition to being juvenile (even infantile) in the extreme, and obscenely disrespectful to an exceptional woman who has given most of her life to successful public service, it is a terribly bad omen for the future of our once wonderful country.

First, it is an obvious example of the bloodbath to come in the next Presidential election. It reflects (in spades) what we already know; Republicans will stop at nothing to trash Hillary in every despicable way possible. What they have done to her in the past will appear insignificant in their new desperate attempt at keeping her from the Presidency. This will become even worse as they have themselves nothing whatsoever to offer the electorate except their usual hypocritical mantra, “smaller government, fewer taxes.” Extreme “roviation” will be the main order of their day.

I am assuming, of course, that Hillary will indeed run for President. This seems to me as inevitable as the sunrise. She has no doubt wanted to see a female President probably most of her life and is now herself uniquely qualified to become the first woman President of the United States. I seriously doubt she is going to let this opportunity pass her by. She is experienced enough, and tough enough, to withstand the blizzard of invective, lies, slanders, and disgusting comments she knows will come her way. I suspect she will win the Presidency for a number of reasons: (1) she is unbelievably popular, (2) she is unusually well qualified, (3) the demographics will be on her side (women, Blacks, Hispanics, etc.),  (4) she has, and will be able to raise as much money as she needs, (5) she will benefit from the exceptional Obama organization, as well as from her previous mistakes, and (6) the country, I am pretty sure, is now ready, perhaps even eager, for a woman President (it is pretty obvious the “old boys” have failed miserably.

 But assuming she does run, and assuming she is elected, we will probably be facing the same Republican strategy of destruction we have been experiencing during the Obama Presidency. That is, Republicans hate Hillary as much as they hate Obama. If they decide they will not cooperate with her, as they have deliberately not cooperated with Obama, we will be faced with another four to eight years of the same stalemate and chaos we have now, another few years of non-government with nothing accomplished, no forward progress, no jobs, more poverty, gun violence and crumbling infrastructure. Republicans will have succeeded in shutting down government through their inactivity if not their outright rebellion. The consequences of this are so potentially devastating we cannot allow it to happen.

Unfortunately, the only way we will have to stop this potential disaster is through the ballot box. That cannot be assured as Republican Governors are using every means they have to stop people from voting at all, mainly Hispanics, Blacks, young people, and others. What Republicans have chosen to do during the Obama years is to prevent government from functioning by refusing to collaborate in governing. In my opinion this is unprecedented and near treasonous. As the perpetrators of this attempt to “shut down the government” cannot be arrested and jailed for “crimes against the state,” as they might or would have been (and probably should have been) by now in many other countries our only means of defense is to vote them out of office. I fear that if Democrats cannot keep the Senate and take back the House we may literally be doomed. Given the absolutely shameful behavior of Republicans during and since the Clinton administration I cannot understand how anyone could possibly vote for them, but I am apparently not surrounded by the same aura of insanity, ignorance, and greed that seems to have enveloped them.

“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” 
― Edward R. Murrow