The Taliban

A friend of mine suggested that I was going too hard on Democrats and that I should focus more of my animosity on the GOP. A Google search on "disgusted Democrat" will get you ten posts from conservative blogs about this or that nominal Dem who has jumped ship to the Republican Party in "disgust," usually over Obama administration policy. In light of these too points, I feel the need to make it plain that my own "disgust" with the Democratic Party stems purely from what I see as its failure to answer the Republican threat with enough clarity, consistency and force.

The Republican Party of today is dangerous, genuinely dangerous to our people's continued well-being. I don't argue that the GOP will institute a fascist takeover of the US or that they would support a Taliban-style Christian theocracy, but that doesn't make the threat any less real. The GOP has devolved into an organization whose motivating goal is the destruction of the Federal Government of the United States as a force for doing, well, anything. And the Republicans don't have to stage a revolution to accomplish this goal. They don't have to go into the streets. They simply bankrupt the government with absurd tax cuts and unfunded wars, use the Senate rules to block any legistlation coming out of that body, and use their majority on the Supreme Court to hamstring the government's ability to regulate industry. The Republicans aren't terrorists, but they are saboteurs. Earth First could learn a lot from the GOP about effective monkey-wrenching.

If I have been relatively silent on the evils of the Republican movement, it's because I don't believe that they can be persuaded. There's no point in arguing with them. Sure, their "policies" are completely incoherent and in the long run will bear disastrous consequences, but if a man is completely irrational showing him where his logic breaks down is a wasted effort; he's already demonstrated that he is immune to logic. Defeating Republicans in debate might make us feel good, but it does little to advance the goal of an effective, responsive Federal Government that enacts progressive policies to better Americans' lives. We have to beat these bastards at the polls.

Onward!