Saturday, March 14, 2009

I think I've got it now...

I think I've finally got it now...after years of listening to talk radio and reading the right wing bloggers...

1. Everything is Obama's fault...conversely nothing is the fault of George Bush, except that he was just too damn liberal...(i.e. NOT a true conservative)...
2. Pure free market capitalism would solve everything. If you don't believe that then you must read Ayn Rand and F. A. Hayek followed by Neal Boortz...Repeat as often as necessary...
3. Affirmative Action is apparently much, Much worse racism than oh...say...the lynchings of the 20th century...
4. Huge deficits to fund foreign wars such as the one in Iraq will NOT have to be paid off by our grandchildren, but apparently any money spent now on education or infrastructure WILL have to be paid off by our grandchildren...I mention this because some are silly enough try to say that deficits run up under Republicans count, while it is obvious that ONLY deficits run up under evil Socialist Democrats count...
5. "Government" has NEVER accomplished anything...Moon landing - doesn't count; Federal Highway system - doesn't count; World War II effort - doesn't count; and so on...

And yes, for those of you who voted Republican in 2008 and think it was a good decision, I AM being sarcastic in all the above...

I could go on, but I think most folks will get my point. There is a mind set in this country that will never accept anything that doesn't square with their so called conservative beliefs. I say so called conservatives because the modern day right are not true conservatives in the sense of the word that Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley, Jr. ever were. No, today's right wingers want to undo most of the changes in this country since the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. A return to the "good old days" is what they claim will solve all our problems. For a realistic look at what America was like in the "good old days" of 1919 I suggest they (and everyone else) spend some time reading "Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919" by Ann Hagedorn after reading the usual right wing gospels of Rand and Hayek and Limbaugh and Boortz. It might open some eyes.
My closing point, this is a great country not because it is perfect or anointed of God. It has been great to this point because of people who have loved it while still recognizing it's flaws and trying to correct them. People such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Frances Perkins, Ida B. Wells, and Martin Luther King, Jr. to name just a few...
As for the present cast of right wing "heroes" such as Tom Tancredo, Eric Johnson, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Sanford, and Rick Perry...I'd enjoy it if they all moved to a country more to their liking so that the remainder of us Americans can actually try to show our love for our country by trying to work to help it and to (yes) improve it. Just saying...