Black & White and Cardinal Red All Over

The Party of No

Conservatives have opposed every major social change in our country’s history:

1. abolition of slavery, 
2. equal rights for women, 
3. equal rights for blacks, 
4. social security, 
5. voting rights for women,  
6. voting rights for blacks, 
7. health care for the elderly, 
8. health care for the poor, 
9. marriage equality for gays, 
10. health care for all. 

They collectively said, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” Fighting change and progress is the byword of conservatives and particularly of today’s GOP. The status quo suits them fine even when the status quo is crumbling all around them. It’s not surprising when you have no new ideas and you see the world changing without your permission. It’s a hell of a record to run on. Thankfully, they have found a number of minor issues (like gay marriage and school prayer and tax cuts) to drum up support with that obscures their intent once they achieve national office. Too bad President Obama came along and blew their charade of a party out of the political water. His focus on health care for all (once he cleans up the fiscal mess republicans left us) scares the bejesus out of the GOP and rightly so.

There are not a lot of social issues left that have gone unattended in the last 50 years and the few that have seem to be a priority for President Obama much to the consternation of rightwingers of all stripes. He has a lot of political momentum right now and he appears to want to strike while he carries that banner high. The public is with him because he keeps reaching out to republicans (who keep brushing him off) and then asserting his power like a stern schoolmarm on resistant children. The people also seem to realize that, finally, the President is on their side instead of being an apologist for big businesses and corporations.

It is pretty clear that the agenda of the Radical Religious Right is going nowhere and has no traction with the public at large. It is also clear that tax cuts for the wealthy is a failed economic strategy that merely exacerbates our fiscal hardships instead of resolving them. They were unified in opposing a measure that would put to right what they let go wrong but that’s nothing to brag about except in a bizarro world sort of way. What else do the republicans have going for them? 

Nothing.

At one time they stood for smaller government. Chimpy and Company pretty much blew that out of the water. They stood for fiscal responsibility but eight years of runaway spending under George Bush pissed all over that concept. They stood for lower taxes and Trickle Down Economics but all the lower tax rate did is made the wealthier wealthier and poor a whole lot poorer while screwing the middle class but good and the Trickle Down part dried up before it left the upper tax brackets. What else do they stand for?

Nothing.

Now the Party of Lincoln that unified our nation and actually stood for something has become the Party of No that stands for nothing, believes in nothing realistic and, in eight long years, accomplished nothing. Starting two wars they couldn’t finish doesn’t count. Neither does breaking the financial system by ripping out all the regulations that protected the people from harm. Letting a major American city drown while patting each other on the back and telling folks what a good job they did doesn’t cut the mustard either. Abandoning our troops once they finished serving their nation isn’t any kind of accomplishment and certainly nothing to stand up for. Ignoring international law and breaking agreements that previous administrations consented to only made us look like hypocrites. Kowtowing to corporate interests that polluted our environment and discounting science in the area of global warming cannot be a rallying cry or a source of pride. What the hell is left?

Nothing.