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writing for godot

$24B --- the Cost of the Republican Disdain for Democracy . . .

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Written by Albert Z Lewis   
Thursday, 17 October 2013 01:14
Whenever you hear a Republican, whether it be John Boehner or Ted Cruz, say "The American People", realize what they really mean is "a Minority of a Minority of the American People." This is important. A Democracy is where a citizenry aggregates upon the principle that everyone should have their say, but that our personal beliefs should bend to accept and support an opposing position, when the majority interest is relatively clear and not utterly evil.

Yet the Republicans seem to support Democracy only to the extent that they believe the vast majority of Americans agree with them. They made up the fiction of "A Silent Majority" to disguise their disdain for those who didn't care much one way or the other, and to make believe that they had some legitimacy to speak for "The American People." And now, to listen to them, you'd have to think Obama and all the Democrats were elected by 1% of the electorate, in some magical undemocratic way, orchestrated by foreign illegal socialist aliens working to destroy the USA by any immoral means.

Democracy is not easy. It requires honest discussion, another bitter pill that Republicans hate to swallow, as when Nixon's Commission on Pornography relied on scientific data and analysis to arrive at the "wrong" conclusion, a faux pas that was ultimately corrected by that bastion of "correct analysis" Ed Meese who carefully orchestrated the lack of data and analysis into a conclusion based on politically charged anecdotes. Science seems suspect to Republicans, somehow immoral, like the "theory" of global warming, or the destruction of family values by programs like Head Star or WIC, or criticism of the trickle-down economics fantasy they protect so fiercely.

Democracy requires a inclination to compromise, to hear the other side, to recognize validity when it exists and seek to accommodate an acceptable solution. Could anyone reasonably describe this Party in those terms, a Party that claps and cheers to think of any possible way to "write off" 47% of the electorate, that fears the vote so fiercely that they propose laws which will primarily disenfranchise the poor all over the nation, and is so gleeful at their good success in gerrymandering so many electoral districts that their House Majority actual represents a minority of actual citizens? And still lecture everyone as to what "the American People" want or think?

No, the Republican Party does not accept the limitations of Democracy. Which is not to say that the majority is always right. Sometimes there are principles which may warrant a filibuster, or some other more extreme act, perhaps vandalizing a private shipment of infusion products, or blocking traffic, or even self-immolation if one is that distressed. But does that have any limits, and include a suicide bomber killing innocents, a sniper shooting an abortion doctor, or a destruction of the financial system which hurts all in a society?

Twenty-four (24) billion dollars is the calculated cost of the recent antics of the Republican Party, in refusing to pay for the normal functioning of our government, in accordance with legislation passed and implemented over the years. And many of them believe it was worth it, to hurt the economy, to hurt the confidence people have in government, to inflame more passions, to damage the implementation of health-care for those that don't have it, to hurt the respect other nations have for our ideals and form of democracy. Why? The reason is a fundamental distrust of our democracy, often tied to Saint Ronald Reagan's homily about "government" being the problem. To this type of Republican, action which hurts the government in any way is good. The more distrust the better. The result will be that "The American People" (whoops, I meant "the Minority of the Minority") will have their way, funded by the moneyed interests that should control the levers of the state, the military industrial complex, the companies, the morally superior wealthy.

24 Billion Dollars. This is the most recent direct cost the Republican Party of Pain demanded to feel good about themselves, for "fighting the good fight" as Boehner put it . . . but really for the purpose of hurting the trust and confidence of the actual American people, in hopes that their Minority of a Minority will then be able to control the levers of national power, for their own minority purposes. Much like the Taliban, a suicide or two, or five, or however many it takes, to cause chaos and confusion that may enable their success as an element of stability, in an otherwise unstable failed democracy. Destruction, Pain, Anger, Distrust --- these are the tools of a Republican Party that has forgotten what it means to have a Democratic Republic, a country that accepts the need to "hang together" rather than to divide and conquer.

The Republican Party forgets that Democracy is a form of Government. Even John McCain, distressed as he was at the cost and pain his Party was willing to inflict for its "ideals", tried to channel Ronald Reagan as if the problem were only the size of government, as if the size of the economy or education or complex systems had nothing to do with such sizing. Yet the rhetoric takes no prisoners . . . "Government is the Problem." What the Republicans really mean is "Democracy is the Problem" and they still work steadfastly to make that a reality.

Can they redirect themselves, redefine and reconstitute themselves as a legitimate supporter of our democracy and democratic government? I hope so. It is "Attitude" . . . it is "Faith" . . . it is "Belief in our Democracy", which necessarily includes all the American people, AND our Government, and all its Civil Servants, not an Autocratic, Patriarchal Republic . . . but a "Democratic" one.

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