In a discussion triggered by my disgust with the lazy thinking of those who gripe BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME my friend Gail Hunn posted the following eloquent breakdown of why the two major parties are NOT the same. GET OUT AND VOTE DEMOCRAT NEXT TUESDAY! And read this for a powerful list of reasons why to do just that: I dont think its the apathy that keeps democratic leaning voters (and liberals and progressives) from voting. I think its the despair. But, as you say, it is a despair based on the false premise that the two parties are exactly the same, or so similar as to make no difference. But all it takes is to look at the behavior of the GOP at the state and federal levels over the last 6 years, and compare it with democrats. Leave out the corporate toadying, and they are worlds apart. Republicans tear down civil rights, try to eviscerate the social programs (all of which actually work when properly funded and left alone to function); actively work toward destroying public education (and replacing it with privatized schools that are little more than corporate propaganda mills that train but do not educate). They actively work toward building a theocracy at all levels of government. Theyve completely subverted the SCOTUS to promote their agenda They take tax money as payment for a bald refusal to do their jobs until they get the president THEY want, regardless of the will of the people that elected the president they dont like. They have absolutely nothing to offer in health care, except to tear down and defund programs that work, like Medicare and Medicaid, and they spend millions of tax dollars trying to thwart a health insurance program that conservatives created and that conservatives once thought was the best idea ever - simply because a democrat signed it onto law. They have passed dozens of laws that effectively return women to the status of chattel by taking away their dominion over their own bodies. Every single republican senator and representative in congress signed a treasonous pledge to adhere to the wishes of a private individual over the needs of their own country. They punish any member of their own party that doesnt fall into their narrowly defined lines by keeping them off committees while in office, and primarying them when running for re-election. They deny science. They deny fact. They deny history. They have brought the federal government to the brink of default, and caused the credit of the United States to be downgraded for the first time in history. They continually pass laws to make it harder for democrat-leaning voters to vote. They take and take and take from the poorest people - and give more and more to the wealthiest. They are actively trying to tear down the EPA, and regain the right to pollute at will, without fear of having to remediate their pollution. This list only scratches the surface. Democrats do none of these things. They resist these efforts. They attempt to compromise with the opposition (which, these days, is impossible, but they keep trying). They sure as bloody hell arent perfect: as a party, they are ineffectual, lazy, completely uncoordinated, and lacking any discernible vision. They are reactive rather than proactive. But they do NOT spend all of their time trying to find new ways to destroy all the gains this country has made in the last century: in civil rights, in pollution control, in social programs that help the old, the young, the poor, the disabled, those struggling with debt, and those struggling with the failure of an economic system that overwhelmingly favors the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. They are not trying to privatize every public service, even the ones that work well. They recognize that when corporations refuse to provide good-paying full-time jobs, the governments duty is to step in and provide those jobs by building up infrastructure that corporations have no interest in fixing because they see no immediate profit in it. The GOP says that 1) government does not provide jobs, and 2) when government provides jobs, its socialism. This is patently ridiculous. There is a VAST difference between the GOP and democrats, and anyone who refuses to see it is pulling the wool over their own eyes.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 16:05:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015