Liars, Scoundrels, Poltroons and Hypocrites

I made up this title two or three days ago. I was going to comment on the annual CPAC meeting. You  know, the most recent gathering of the largest group of the most morally, ethically, and intellectually bankrupt members of what used to be the Republican party. I did not, of course, actually watch this hilarious display of petulant bombast, but as some of it was played on MSNBC, I have a good idea of what transpired there.

While I believe the description above is a pretty accurate account of the various speakers and participants, I find I cannot bring myself to actually discuss them or the meeting. I am just plain tired of having to worry about the activities of this collection of morons, imbeciles, and know-nothings who, having no ideas or solutions to our myriad problems, are united only by their collective hatred of President Obama and everything he attempts to do. I have developed such an utter contempt for them I don’t believe they are worthy of any more attention. Some of them probably should have been carted off to the “loony bin” long ago.

Even so, being contemptuous of anyone makes me feel uncomfortable, even though I think they have earned my contempt. Things between Republicans and Democrats have not always been so bad. When I was a teen, for example, I was a Democrat, because my father voted that way. My best friend was a Republican because his father was a Republican. We did not dislike each other, nor did we fight over politics. This may well have been because we didn’t really know much of anything about politics, but in any case we remained close friends for life in spite of our political identifications. We knew that Republicans favored business and Democrats favored labor but that, I think, was about all.

As we grew older and more aware of politics we did argue at times, but we never had contempt for each other. The fact that some voted for Truman and others for Dewey was just accepted and the outcome of the election was itself just accepted. I don’t recall any bitterness or hate involved. I truly did not want either Nixon or Reagan elected but I never felt contempt for those who did. I did not want the senior Bush as President but it was for me not a particularly big deal. It seemed to me that whether the President was a Republican, like Ford or Eisenhower, or a Democrat like Kennedy, things stayed pretty much the same. I did not have truly strong feelings about it one way or another even though I remained a Democrat throughout.

It was only during the Bush/Cheney years that my contempt for Republicans began to grow, and it has clearly intensified since then. What Republicans did to President Clinton I felt was disgusting. While Clinton behaved scandalously in his personal life they should never have tried to impeach him, and the methods they used were absolutely revolting. No President’s personal life had ever before become the subject of such an inquiry, the fact that Kennedy was a far more serious womanizer than probably any previous President made this quite clear. The Starr report was a disgraceful document better fitted to the National Enquirer than anywhere else.

Things have been all downhill since then. When the Supreme Court made George W. Bush President while Republican Brown Shirts were interfering with the vote count it was obvious the citizens were no longer in charge. And with Karl Rove leading what became little more than a criminal attempt to keep Republicans in charge forever, using means better suited to the Mafia than politics, things became worse and worse. And since President Obama was elected what was once a viable political party simply refused to cooperate in governing entirely, devoting themselves to denigrating and humiliating the elected President of the United States. Congress has been corrupted, bribery is considered a normal part of the political process, and any serious Republican interested in governing has become persona non grata in the once respectable Republican Party. Our country is now run by huge international corporations and their bought and paid for toadies, mostly, but not exclusively, in the Republican Party. While Democrats are also partly responsible for this current state of affairs, it has been engineered primarily by Republicans. Like my friend and I recognized way back when, Republicans favored business, Democrats favored labor. And so it is today. What was once a simple matter-of-fact difference has become a nightmare.

   “Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.” 

Frank Zappa