Step #4 of the GOP grieving process: depression

The Republicans have officially entered the depression stage of the grieving process and are feeling the dark loneliness that often accopmanies depression. According to a recent pole, 25% of Republicans don’t even like their own party. This admission, coupled with the rumblings of possible change to a more “modern” political ideology, as well as a few early admissions of outdated views by the party from some of it’s more liberal members, and it is clear that a cloud of despair hangs grimly over GOP members, when thinking about their future.

 

Recently, the GOP tried to tell us they are fundamentally conservative, but they should also consider other viewpoints in order to stay intact. This is exactly the kind of backpedalling that is signaling a huge identity crisis within the party. Older party leaders who still view this country with an eye towards the past vs the younger party members who look to the future. This could be the perfect time to realign the GOP platform’s ideology with the rest of America. I know it’s sometimes difficult to admit when you’re wrong, but if you really listen to an argument, if it makes more sense than your own, it could be time to consider changing your position on the subject, not just agree to disagree.

 

One example of the GOP being wrong is on it’s attitude towards Gays and their actively advocating second-class status for a group of Americans because they don’t agree with their lifestyle. It’s okay not to want to be gay, but it’s not okay to treat people with less respect and offer them less in regards to human rights, than currently offered to the heterosexual citizens they do agree with.

 

Bringing this same view to immigration, as the GOP continue to postpone progress towards new legislation that will give our de facto citizens real legitimacy and therefore access to basic human rights, they will keep these workers and neighbors under protected, under represented and over exposed to abuse. If  these same GOP members were to view this type of behavior in another nation, they would call it discrimination. If they didn’t like that nation, they may even call it oppression. They might even call for it’s immediate end, and possibly call for sanctions to be imposed until it did.

 

Our country has been evolving into a much more democratic society for over two hundred years now. Our progress on human rights has been a slow, gradual process, and the Republicans, by no means, have been the only ones at fault. We have enjoyed fits and spurts of human rights progress, coupled with major setbacks, such as: the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and it’s subsequent Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943; the Braceros program in 1949, and it’s subsequent “operation wetback in 1954.” We have been working towards achieving the high standards of human rights we set before ourselves, and push for our earthly neighbors to achieve, for a long time now. Surely we understand the difficulty in surmounting the many obstacles that have kept us from reaching our own lofty ideals thus far.

Standing in the middle of the road and shouting down progress will not give much life to anyone’s political future.  This is what happens when you do the majority of the talking and relatively little listening. This is sometimes called: drinking too much of your own Kool-Aid. Every once in a while, even the most successful politicians need to sit at someone else’s table and see what they are drinking.

 

As my mother used to tell me, “Try it, you just may like it.”

 

And if, for some reason, you do find that the opposing views make more sense than your own, changing sides does not have to mean failure. It could just mean that you are now on the side of the winning. It’s hard to be depressed when you’re winning.

Republican Party Defeat stage #3 Bargaining

Continuing with the 5 stages of grief the Republicans will go through, we find ourselves right in the middle of stage 3– Bargaining.

The old Republican guard has been negotiating their way back to power through the Fiscal Cliff issue. Refusal to cooperate was their only card, and they plaid it for all it’s worth, waiting until the last minute to get the smallest deal they could in order to save face and make it look like they are still the people in power in Washington.

Is it me, or does John Boehner look like he’s trying to be co-president?

Ever since McConnel’s remark about making sure Obama was a one-term president, he’s been acting like he lives in the White House. (or wants to)

Unfortunately, with all the hubris the Republican party has been showing this past two years: acting like spoiled children; refusing to play nice with anyone (even themselves); insisting on keeping tax breaks for the richest Americans at all costs; telling women that getting pregnant after being raped is a decision they have control over. (i’m not sure how that one works)  I think their arrogance will cost them more than they know. The America they long for, two cars in every garage, Jobs for life, white majority neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. . . This may have been a Norman Rockwell snapshot of  “the good ol’ days” but times, they are a changin’ and we need to keep up with them, or we risk holding ourselves back and watching emerging countries become the king of the heap while our way of life gets more backward every year.

We don’t want politicians who care more for their party and financial supporters than they do the people who put them there and rely in them to take care of our countries business for the sake of the people.

If the people are not the #1 job they wake up to each and every day, then I think we can surely find better.

Let’s hope the freshman that were elected this November remember why they are there. It’s obvious many of the senior members of the House and Senate have forgotten.

It will be too much to ask freshman coming into a new job, in an unfamiliar environment to break out and lead those whose guidance they are surely now seeking.  But let’s hope that their Bulls#!t radar is functioning properly so they can at least distinguish between those who work for the good of the country and those who work for the good of each other.