Republicans on Facebook

Like many people I have made the mistake of friending a few casual acquaintances on Facebook, and this has inevitably exposed me to some fucking idiots who annoy me.

Thankfully, several months ago, I started using the hide option so I don't have to read their crap on my wall.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind someone identifying as Republican if they have an intelligent reason for doing so. But among the ones I've met around here, for many it seems like they are merely supporting a football team, or following in the footsteps of their Republican parents.

The latest 'friend' to annoy me this morning posted an app that counts down the days until Barack Obama leaves office. I simply cannot fathom this kind of nonsense.

Initially Republicans mocked the man for doing nothing at all, just as the racist tea baggers began calling him every offensive word they could think of without using the N word. Then Republican politicians began to cock block every single bill the Democrats tried to pass. And now this 'do nothing' President is annoying them by actually trying to do things (successfully, I might add).

The reason I have such a hard time understanding this sentiment is because Barack Obama is about as centrist as you can get. He's hardly a liberal. He's hardly pushing through radical liberal/socialist laws. Just some basic common sense stuff that is needed if we are to have a successful country.

We cannot continue to let people die, just because they are poor. We cannot continue to allow corporations to do whatever the fuck they like without some kind of sensible regulation.

The only conclusion I can come to is that many Republicans are pissed because a black man is telling them what to do. I simply cannot imagine this level of animosity over such bland policies were it to come from some dude that looked like Glen Beck. Yet when it comes from a black guy, there is sudden anger and fear, for no logical reason.

What I find even more sad is that many Republicans and so called Libertarians, seem to want to push the Republican party even further to the right. The Glen Becks of this world get on their radical soap box and suggest incredibly radical positions, that many dumb Americans get all excited about. To me this is one of the truths I have noticed over the years; the typical Republican is stupid.

Okay, it's more complicated than that. But if you look at the average right wing viewpoint, it is overly simplistic, and appeals to the masses (of idiots) because it involves less thinking. To Republicans there are no gray areas, no weighing of facts. It's so easy for Republicans to stymie the efforts of the Democrats, when the whole party can march in lock step, around simple principles that need no real thought:

• Abortion = Killing Babies. Yeah, the issue is just that simple.
• Murderers should be executed. How easy it is to paint the whole picture Deathwish style, where an innocent family is torn apart by a murderer, and revenge should become part of justice. Of course you have to conveniently ignore the truth that states with the death penalty typically enjoy a higher homicide rate. The other reality that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison. The racial element of the death penalty, where it seems to 'favor' African Americans (for execution). The real social issues and poverty, created by bad politics, that leads to a lack of value in human life, are also largely ignored (poor people should just pull themselves up by their boot straps).
• The government should tax less; we should cut government spending. Sure, that would be nice. No one likes to pay a tax bill. But the same Republicans (and Libertarians) who want a nice small government that doesn't interfere, don't seem to be objecting to 369,000 of our troops being in 150+ countries around the world. And these same people don't seems to realize that the spending that the government is going to cut, is out of social policies that help society. Education programs, programs to get people off welfare and into employment. Programs to keep kids out of gangs, and reduce future crime. In other words, programs that make for a safer, better society.
• Trickle down economics. Make the rich people even more rich, and they will simply use that cash to create jobs and help everyone get rich. Of course that concept is total crap; it never happens that way. Mr. Ritchie Rich simply stashes his extra cash in some off shore investment account where he can pay even less tax, but go to sleep happy that his net worth just went up 0.837%.
• Maintaining the sanctity of marriage. By discriminating against homosexuals, we can follow what the Bible tells us and aim for that 1950s utopia that Republicans pretend existed. We can also try and claim that being gay is a 'lifestyle choice.'
• Common sense. One of my favorites! Republicans present a highly complex issue in an extremely simplistic manner, and then QED, problem solved. All it took was some 'common sense.' Of course the solution proffered is actually a dumbass solution, that doesn't address the complexities of a problem, but to a stupid person it seems to make sense, and can therefore be sold to them as common sense.
  

I could go on, but I don't have all day.

In conclusion, Republican politics saddens me. There are so many problems with America including grinding poverty, a lack of a safety net for poor people, intolerance, violence, out of control gun ownership, poor education, the widening rich/poor divide, crumbling infrastructure, trying to maintain an empire, drugs, obesity and horrific food choices, lack of access to health care and so on. Many of these issues could be solved with intelligent social policies and a caring attitude towards our fellow human beings. But instead, racists, idiots and rednecks are counting the days until Sarah Palin takes office and drags this country further to the right, pursuing the same failed policies of Bush and Regan that created so many of these problems to begin with.

And yes my Republican friends, I did just put Regan in the same category as George W. Bush. He may be your poster child, but I think he was an idiot, just like W.