Eric asks the question “Are these Republicans serious?” in An issue as ahead of its time as counting chickens before they hatch. I answered in part:
Sadly, I believe they are. Perhaps at the Rand Paul level the effort is a cynical one to raise money and a following. But at the level of the following where the money comes from they are serious.
Further – it is becoming more and more evident that the Republican Party is not a political Party in the conventional sense. It is a religious movement.
I do believe that as usual I’m a bit ahead of my time. I have declared myself a heretic and have committed self excommunication. No doubt it is a failing in me but I have generally preferred communists to theocrats. Why? Well in general the communists are satisfied with my money and a cynical obeisance. The theocrats want my soul. They have no chance at it even unto ” ’til death do us part. ” Molon labe.
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20 responses to “Are these Republicans serious?”
Well in general the communists are satisfied with my money and a cynical obeisance.
You are excessively optimistic, white man.
Oops. I’m apparently not to be trusted with italics.
Oh, and by the way re-read your Orwell.
Theocrats, as you have pointed out, want control over your body. What you put in it, what you put it in, and your location on Sunday morning.
Communists want your soul. Want control over your very thoughts and the language you use to express them.
Neil,
True. Except for one point. Technocrats are given considerable latitude.
I’m a technocrat.
As you point out it is a choice of tyrannies. I believe I will do better under the communists. But it is a crap shoot.
Maybe the Republicans will wise up and give up on tyranny. We shall see. I have my doubts.
Hmm. You’ve got a point. I’d do better under the communists too, until I refuse to BELIEVE. At which point I’m under a firing squad. The religous fanatics at least will only toss me in the nearest stream to see if I’m a witch. And I can swim a LONG way underwater…
If the “right” of a woman to end a life for the crime of being possibly inconvenient is so god-damned sacred to you, why don’t you help things along by going down to the nearest playground with a rifle? If aborting babies is a sacred act, murdering them must be fine and dandy.
This isn’t freedom, this is insanity. You aren’t a free man. You want your god-damned weed and consequence-free sex and are perfectly happy to be one of Huxley’s Gammas.
Screw that, and all of you. Republicans may be politically inept, but they understand the difference between real freedom and these insane “rights” to destroy babies and brains that you seem to think are so fucking important.
Trimegistus feel self-righteous in your adherence to what you believe. But don’t expect to win any elections that way.
More people believe that abortion should be legal some of the time than believe it should be illegal all of the time. Even the polls from the Right show that.
The country isn’t up in arms over the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Only the bigots are.
And even the old stand-by, Republican get-out-the-hate-filled-vote of stop the gays from marrying failed. Repeatedly.
As for the “weed.” I thought the Right was all for less government intervention in our lives, more freedom and more personal responsibility. Apparently that doesn’t apply when the topic is one you don’t like. Like the abject failure of the War on (some) Drugs. (A big government program that has failed to deliver and the response is “more of the same.” Doing the same thing ans expecting a different result… )
Trimegistus, my father was a general practice MD who helped bring life into this world and also helped women, illegally & on rare occasion, abort a fetus. He was a practicing Catholic. But he couldn’t watch women in desperation use back alley quacks, coat hangers, or simply kill themselves because of a pregnancy. The reasons didn’t matter to him. Saving the life of the woman was all that mattered.
People like you who have a belief not based on scientific fact, which is, that there is a God given soul created at the moment of conception, have every right to believe it. But when you choose to enforce that belief, which is NOT supported by any logical or scientific evidence, on society at large, you have become no better than the Mullahs in Iran.
And that goes for your desire to proscribe what pain killers or drugs people use. Who gave you the authority to forbid someone from drinking, smoking pot, or even taking heroin? I am not your child. I am an adult. And what I choose to do with my life is none of your fucking business.
As one of those ‘inconvenient’ lives you so want to protect, I’d like to ask you if you think God should punish us for our (birth) parent’s sins? Because adoption, as it exists now, is certainly an indication that he does. I was born before Roe vs Wade. And I will NEVER know why.
I have no more right to my roots than any slave. But that’s fine. At least I’m alive? Great. Lovely. Go see those I agree with.
IF you believe in a God who sends all to hell who aren’t baptised in your church… well, I think your God needs a good kick in the butt, but I understand. If you don’t believe in that evil god, perhaps you need to rethink.
As for firing squads only being wielded by the communists… or is the fielded?
Charlemagne put 4500 “non-believers” to the sword. Took his army more than a week to kill that many.
The Inquisition was explicitly religious. The Expulsion of the Jews from Britain, the Pogroms of Eastern Europe, the Holocaust were all a mix of religion and politics – but all were the Christians killing the Jews.
The whole Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/etc. war was Christians “cleansing” an area of Muslims. Srebrenica was Christians exterminating all the Muslim men in a city under the nose of UN peacekeepers – even with material support of UN peacekeepers.
The whole reign of terror of the Taliban…
You could go on quite a long time about what the religious fanatic (of any stripe) will do to the infidel.
Kathy,
The communists don’t care what you do in private as long as you pretend to believe in public. Similar to the Marranos of Spain.
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Tri,
Our agreement on fiscal matters is not enough for you. OK.
It is fairly obvious that you do not want libertarian votes. I’m going to do my best to make your wish come true.
If Illinois is any indication the Republican base represents 30% of the population. I’m sure driving every one else from the coalition will be no impediment to winning elections.
When you decide you want my support you know how to get it.
Yet again the True Believers insist on imposing their idea of what should happen on everyone else.
How long before the period police insist on inspecting every woman’s blood to make sure there isn’t an early miscarriage in there – and that she didn’t somehow do something to “cause” it?
That is where idiocy like this leads, which is why sensible people refuse to have anything to do with it.
Incidentally, communism is a religion. It’s a godless religion in which the Holy Prophet Marx and his earthly acolytes must all be honored in every way. Usually manifests in personality cult behavior… Hm… sound familiar?
Umm. Yeah. Learned that from the “Baghdad Blogger” way back when. He was describing voting for Saddam. And forgetting his glasses – and asking one of the monitors to point out the boxes to check. Yeah. Just change a word
“The TYRANTS don’t care what you do in private as long as you pretend to believe in public.”
Kathy, that is perhaps the best definition of “true believer” of any stripe.
They feel justified in forcing their dogma/ideology on you because they are right and you are wrong. They are the saved and are only trying to save your Heathen soul. And if you don’t respond to impassioned pleas, then you stop merely being one of the damned, and you are assigned to being on the side of the devils.
After that, they schedule the pogrom.
The Christians have done it. The Muslims have done it. The Communists have done it. The Greeks did it (in ancient Greece) Probably the Romans too. It seems most of humanity wants everyone to agree they are right.
(Me? I don’t give a damn what you believe until you try to force your beliefs on me….)
Simon, most recent Gallop poll has the following in the US population.
Abortion Illegal in ALL cases: 20%
Abortion Legal in ALL cases: 25%
Abortion Legal in SOME cases: 52%
(Clueless came in at 3%)
Your 30% estimate for the Republican base of SoCons may be high.
If the “right” of a woman to end a life for the crime of being possibly inconvenient is so god-damned sacred to you, why don’t you help things along by going down to the nearest playground with a rifle? If aborting babies is a sacred act, murdering them must be fine and dandy.
I can tell the difference between a tree and an acorn. Can you?
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But OK. The Republican Party as constituted can’t tell the difference. I’m leaving. And taking as many as I can with me.
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BTW you have never mentioned how you propose to deal with Orthodox Jews who consider abortion MANDATORY if required to preserve the mental health of the mother.
Why does the Religious Right always revel in hyperbole? NO ONE ever said that abortion was a sacred act.
The only thing anyone ever said is that they don’t want the government making decisions for them on a personal level.
If one disagrees with a True Believer then one is a servant of the opposition, which always holds the most extreme version opposite the True Believer’s.
Therefore, if one does not hold abortion to be an abomination from the time a fertilized egg becomes a potential person, then one must hold abortion as sacred and required on demand right up to the point of birth. Baby killer.
Zendo,
I object to the police state required to enforce such laws.
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