UNDERSTANDING REPUBLICANS

I have to admit, I do not understand Republicans, even though I have genuinely tried to do so. The way they look at life seems to me to be totally bereft of the virtues we need as human beings, qualities like compassion and generosity. I also find it difficult to figure out why Republicans seem to have the "Party Line." If you talk to one of them, he or she will say the same things that the next one will say. Do they have bulletins that arrive in the mail to tell them what opinions they should share and communicate? Or is it a universal love of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, who gives them their "Opinion of the Day."

I have friends with whom I have discussed this situation, and one friend tellsl me that this ideology is taught to the very young. Each baby, he said, is looked upon, not as an individual, but as a future Republican to chant the same phrases the rest of them preach! We've all heard it....."Why should I pay for some lazy slob that refuses to work?" "Why should I help feed children whose parents are so worthless they fail to take care of their own?"

Another friend of mine has the opinion that there is really only one Republican in this country....and the remainder are clones!

They all hate taxes. The Republican Valhalla seems to be a situation where no taxes are charged. At the same time, they are as irritated by big potholes as everyone else and set out their trash on Garbage Day. To expect services without paying for them is a huge dream in a Republican mind. They not only hate to pay for those services, but they want to make sure their contribution is not going to help out anyone else.

The thing is...they dislike the Federal Government. They believe that State and Local Governments should handle it all! However, I have faced a Zoning Board for a minor change in the title to property......and I can testify that this is much more difficult, and costly, than one might think. Local governments are often filled with petty, power-mad people who sit around making up Ordinances that make life more difficult for you and for me. The Federal Government is not petty. They may not be perfect, but they do not care if you cut down a tree, park your boat in your yard, sell a portion of your land, or feed a stray cat.

We've all heard it...."Give a man a fish and he'll eat that day. Teach a man to fish and he can eat every day." I have heard this idiotic phrase from almost every Republican I have ever met. The truth is, this theory works if you are in proximity of a river, a lake or a stream. If you are sitting in a ghetto, with no businesses or factories hiring, with no hope for getting a job, no hope of feeding your family, or catching a fish," this trite little saying is totally worthless.

Republicans all seem to hate Unions. They hate Unions although many worthwhile people are unionized. Firemen have Unions. Policemen have Unions. Postal workers have Unions. I have never heard a Republican criticize any of these. It is just the Auto Unions that have aroused their ire....the huge Democratic Auto Unions that bring a gleam of distaste to their eyes. Most Republicans believe that all Auto Unions are crooked, especially the people they call "Union Bosses." This, in some instances, has been true....but now let's look at Congress!

The Republican Congress and the Democratic Congress have been beset with problems of corruption of various kinds. There are Congressmen like Senator Tom DeLay, accused of money laundering, accused of making a quick buck off the cheap labor of a Caribbean clothing factory, as well as supporting K-Street, where lucrative deals were made with lobbyists, and DeLay allegedly forced junior Senators to vote as they were told.

Inevitably, the scandals in Congress involve either love or money. People in power often have trouble avoiding the temptation of an easy buck. It also takes millions of dollars to finance campaigns, so often these Senators take the easy way out. How, may I ask, can Republicans who believe that the Unions Bosses are corrupt not take a few moments to look at their own organization? It seems they have a Blind Side and use their prejudices to spread their misconceptions in every corner of the country they can reach.

A short time ago, a young Algerian boarded a plane and tried to blow it out of the air. Since that time, President Obama has been criticized, almost to a point of being accused of deliberately allowing the young man to climb aboard that aircraft. He waited three days to speak to the nation and this, Republicans said, is a serious dereliction of duty. Dick Cheney even once again climbed out of his Undisclosed Location to chide the President and accuse him of pretending we aren't at war.

Pretty silly words to aim at a President who just announced that 30,000 more soldiers would be sent to Afghanistan. Pretty silly words to aim at a President whose Nobel Prize speech was entirely upon the subject of the necessity of some wars.

First, during the Bush Administration, a man named Richard Reid tried to bring down a plane. We call him "The Shoe Bomber," and President Bush did not speak about it to the nation for five full days. Not one Republican Senator spoke a word of criticism about that!

Secondly, Richard Reid was allowed aboard the plane and used the same powdery explosive that this Algerian used. No heads rolled in the CIA over this incident and the similarities of the two aborted terror attacks is largely forgotten today.

Third, the Visa allowing the Algerian young man was issued during the Bush Administration. This is also the time that his name was placed on the Watch List, along with more than 750,000 other people. It seems that this Algerian problem was inherited by Obama, along with the economy, along with two Middle Eastern Wars, one of them needless, one of them engendering more Presidential exaggerations and lies than in our history before.

Republicans have won elections with ugliness and falsehoods, hiring people like Karl Rove to dream up slogans and appeal to the Uneducated and Nonpolitical among us. A neice of mine, discussing John Kerry, said...."Oh, I could never have voted for him! He can't make up his mind!"

So, Karl Rove's "Flip Flop" slogan lives long after the election and a capable man like John Kerry is branded for life! Republicans cherish their slogans and spread their ugliness...Birthers...Deathers...Guns...Greed....as well as Evangelical radicalism, such as illustrated the author that wrote a Children's Book called "There's a Liberal Under Your Bed!"

If there is a Liberal under your bed, child, rejoice, you'll get your breakfast tomorrow! If there's a Liberal under your bed, rejoice, you'll find him as Christian as anyone else in this country can be! I don't know why Republicans try to paint Liberals as non-religious, evil sinners, nor why they believe that faith in God is a Republican trait! I know quite a few Republicans and find them as prone to human fault as myself....and I have never called any President a monkey, because I consider apes to be far more intelligent than some recent Republican Presidents I could name. Yet these so-called Christians parade around with ugly posters of a monkey-faced Obama, calling him Socialist, Communist, Fascist. Such is the Lust for Power stronger than the Love of God's Commandments!

I have trouble understanding Republicans. One of the reasons I voted for Barack Obama is because he said...."I am my brother's keeper!" This, to me, is true religion, true spiritual faith...for Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as much as we love God! Jesus was truly a Liberal, preaching love, peace, understanding and forgiveness. I am trying to do this with Republicans, Lord, but I find the task impossible to accomplish!

Nor do I understand this silly business about Christmas. If a restaurant owner with customers that are primarily Jewish wants to hang a banner saying "Happy Holidays," I completely understand and I hope this restaurant thrives, makes a profit, and hires a jobless Chef! Does this mean I am against Christ and want to remove him from Christmas? If you believe that, you should tune out Glenn Beck for awhile and donate a few bucks to the Salvation Army bucket outside your local store!