|
CHRISTIAN RIGHT What you have to believe to be a Republican "Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay first came to power promising to restore democracy to the House of Representatives, supposedly suffering from then-Speaker Jim Wright's tyrannical regime. Even after the Rs drove Wright from office, however, bipartisanship was out of the question for DeLay. In the budget fight and government shutdown of 1995, for instance, DeLay rejected compromise and famously said, "It's time for all-out war." "I never minded DeLay being a tough guy--it was his syrupy claims to carry the banner for Christianity that I found offensive, as he frog-marched the House toward being a cash-operated special-interest machine. The idea of putting pressure on lobbyists to gie only to Republicans, pressuring lobbying firms into hiring only Republicans and then letting lobbyists sit at the table during committee meetings where legislation was written--it was just screaming overt corruption. "Tom DeLay and Newt Gingrich turned the US House of Representatives, "the people's house," into a pay-for-play machine for corporations. Put in enough money, get your special tax exemption, get your earmarked government contract, get your trade legislation and your environmental exemption, get rid of safety regulation" (Molly Ivins. "WWTD: What Would Tom Do?" Texas Observer, April 21, 2006: 14).
"Neoconservatism--the term was Michael Harrington's--originated in the 1970s as a movement of anti-Soviet liberals and social democrats... "..in the 1980s.. its growing contempt for international law and its exaggeration of the Soviet threat. Today's neocons are a shrunken remnant of the original broad neocon coalition... "..the example of Israel has inspired American neocons to embrace tactics like preventive war and "targeted assassination".. "..the naton has value only as the host or carrier of a potentially universal ideology, which must be spread abroad by force of arms and subversion... kind of crusading secular messianism... "The redefinition of American patriotism as zealotry... disrespect for actual American institutions... "The neocons claim to be Wilsonians, but it's hard to see much of Wilson in their celebration of Kipling-style imperialism" (Michael Lind. "A Tragedy of Errors." The Nation, Feb. 23, 2004, 23-29).
"For the past couple of years, these messianic global manipulators have quietly been out to topple Hugo Chaves, the duly elected president of Venezuela. What threat does Chaves pose to us? None. Zero. Zip. What's his "crime"? He's too "leftie," not beholden to the oil giants operating in Venezuela, not properly obedient to U.S. power... "Reams of internal documents have now surfaced showing a startling effort by the Bushites to undermine the legitimate government of Venezuela -- a blatantly antidemocratic effort that, ironically, they rationalize by asserting that Chavez is not democratic enough to suit them. Last year alone, they funneled a million of our tax dollars into opposition groups seeking to overthrow Chavez and install Venezuela's moneyed class in power" (Jim Hightower. "Government Scripted 'News'." Texas Observer, 4/23/04: 15).
"..Bush's doctrinaire economic agenda is to return America to a pre-Roosevelt, laissez-faire, robber-baron era. He's actively dismantling the legal framework that for nearly half a century has assured a middle-class.." (Jim Hightower. The hightower Lowdown, June 2004: 5).
""Stepford Republicans"" (Molly Ivins. "Molly's Fans and Foes Weigh In." Texas Observer, 7/30/04: 14).
"Their stated and open aim is to strip from government all its functions except those that reward their rich and privileged benefactors... the public's property?... Privatize it. Sell it at a discounted rate to their corporate cronies... "It is the most radical assault on the notion of one nation, indivisible, that has occurred in our lifetime... "...they bask in the company of the new corporate aristocracy, as privileged a class as we have seen since the plantation owners of antebellum America and the court of Louis XIV. What I can't explain is the rage of these counterrevolutionaries to dismantle every last brick of the social contract..." (Bill Moyers. "This is Your Story. Pass It On." Texas Observer, 8/13/04: 4-9, 38).
"Robert B. Reich takes on the Bush conservatives in his new book, dubbing them 'Radcons' -- radical idealogues who see true democracy as an obstacle to be overcome" (http://www.alternet.org/, June 17, 2004). "... the Taliban wing of the GOP... they bar the door to new moderates... hound senior House members who deviate from relgious-right stances on abortion and gay rights or who display a willingness to work with Democrats" (John Nichols. "Hunting for RINOs." The Nation, Sep. 13, 2004: 31).
"Christianity in this country has become almost synonymous with right-wing fanaticism, conservative politics and -- courtesy of Mel Gibson -- a brutally sadistic version of religious experience" (Dan Wakefield. "The Anti-Warrior." The Nation, July 12, 2004: 34).
"...a direct association exists between the magnitude of a man's femiphobia and his tendency to embrace right-wing political opinions" --from the book The Wimp Factor, by Stephen J. Ducat (Advertisement. The Nation, Oct. 11, 2004: 25).
"...neoconservatives [are] admirer[s] of the late political philosopher and refugee from Nazi Germany Leo Strauss... Strauss' idea of hidden meaning... suggests that deception is the norm in political life... in Straussian thought, a degree of public deception is considered absolutely necessary" (Alterman, Eric. "When Presidents Lie." The Nation. Oct. 25, 2004: 22).
"In the ranks of the new conservatives, however, I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush.... "The Iraqi War is serving as a great catharsis for multiple conservative frustrations: job loss, drugs, crime, homosexuals, pornography, female promiscuity, abortion, restrictions on prayer in public places, Darwinism and attacks on religion. Liberals are the cause. Liberals are against America. Anyone against the war is against America and is a liberal. "You are with us or against us."... "This is the mindset of delusion, and delusion permits no facts or analysis. Blind emotion rules. Americans are right and everyone else is wrong. End of the debate.... "That, gentle reader, is the full extent of talk radio, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal Editorial page, National Review, the Weekly Standard, and, indeed, of the entire concentrated corporate media where noncontroversy in the interest of advertising revenue rules" (Paul Craig Roberts, http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050120&fname=usconservatives&sid=1&pn=1, 1/25/05). Subject: Psalm 23, updated
Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days
of thy term, (Source: email from Irene Scharf, 2/25/05)
Things you have to believe to be a Republican today:
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime,
The United States should get out of the United
Government should relax regulation of Big Business
"Standing Tall for America'" means firing your
A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of
The best way to improve military morale is to praise
Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents
A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our
HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an
Government should limit itself to the powers named
The public has a right to know about Hillary's
You support states' rights, which means Attorney
What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is (from Lionel's Reading Room). "Conservatives complain relentlessy that they do no get a fair shake in the university, and they want parity--that is, more conservatives on faculties. Conservatives are lonely on American campuses as well as beleaguered and misunderstood. News that tenured poets vote Democratic or that Kerry received far more money from professors than Bush pains them. They want America's faculties to reflect America's political composition. Of course, they do not address such imbalances in the police force, Pentagon, FBI, CIA and other government outfits where the stakes seem far higher and where, presumably, followers of Michael Moore are in short supply. If life were a big game of Monopoly, one might sugggest a trade to these conservatives: You give us one Pentagon, one Department of State, Justice and Education, plus throw in the Supreme Court, and we will give you every damned English department you want" (Russell Jacoby. "The New PC: Crybaby Conservatives." The Nation, April 4, 2005: 11-16).
"The United States Government is currently run by a group of people for whom verifiable truth holds no particular privilege over ideologically inspired nonsense... demonstrating Bush's willingness to mislead the nation in the service of his ideological obsessions... "...the unhappy fact is that almost everything this Administration tries to sell to Americans is snake oil, and the mere act of reporting it without comment implicates the media in the fundamental dishonesty that is this President's modus operandi. When he says "freedom," he means the freedom of the United States and its allies to jail and torture anyone they choose. When he says "liberty," he means the liberty of other governments to profess to share the alleged aims of US foreign policy and then--like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Egypt--jail and silence all critics without inconvenient criticism from the United States" (Eric Alterman. "Better Red Than Dead?" The Nation, Feb. 28, 2005: 11).
"Without question, if we all used the same vocabulary, the neoconservative movement would collapse. That's why the government has to pay columnists, favricate its own news and invent its own language to win the war of public opinion... "... Bush-speak... touts a culture of lise, this while promoting permanent worldwide war... "And so rather than rebuking the illegal war culprits, the neocons simply change the meaning of words and reward each other with new appointments... "Nowadays, military death squad killings in Afghanistan and Iraq have become "targeted assassinations." And the president is completely against torture, as long as he defines its meaning, this while ensuring that US troops act with impunity and are exempt from the International War Crime tribunal. "At home, politics trumps science and delusion is now the national pastime. There is no global warming. Propaganda promotes freedom. Corruption occurs abroad and pollution-friendly rules are now "clear-air" initiatives. Universal health care is satanic, and bankruptcy is now only an option for big business. And his deficit-inducing tax cuts that favor the rich are propelling the economy... "...the deceptive use of language by the US government... we are supposed to perceive ourselves not as "savages," but as under siege from savages" (Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez. "The culture of life." Progressive Populist, May 1, 2005: 18).
|