The super hypocritical thing about all this push to legalize obstructions to voting and the practice of gerrymandering is that these very obstructionists are the hardest flag wavers in the country.
One person one vote is held as the ultimate symbol of all that is American; except, it would seem, if the flag wavers are panicked about losing an election.
These flag wavers would boast that the United States is the fairest most honest country on the planet, that all the world should follow our voting practices, that corrupted voting abroad is a bastardization of democracy. They would say with great pride that here in the United States we are staunch champions of the fair fight; that we hate filthy cheaters; that we despise athletes that cheat with performance enhancing drugs. We even pee test horses after races to make sure the races are fair and free of artificial advantages. Cheating is seen as a shameful weakness, a character flaw and those who practice it should be shunned. A fixed prize fight or (God forbid) point shaving in a football game is a disgrace, it’s simply unAmerican. These flag wavers would tell you that America is the Poster Child for the level playing field . . . . except, it would seem, if they are panicked about losing an election.
Our wildly flag waving Tea Party was founded on the bumper sticker “no taxation without representation”. Where are the Tea Party folks now that this most sacred of American rights is under attack? Quiet as a thief in the night. Would they argue that there is a category of Americans who can be taxed but who don’t merit representation? If there’s an election at stake in America is the catchy slogan suspended, does the end justify the means for an inauguration?
Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times talked to donors on their way to one of Romney’s several fundraisers in the Hamptons.
“A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. “I don’t think the common person is getting it,” she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. “Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.” We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies – everybody who’s got the right to vote – they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income – one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”
So waving the flag while wagging the tongue . . . . that pesky common person vote, it makes maintaining power much more of an effort than it should be for her people; the people who know best.
Power to the People
Port Tack 
Republicans: A Few Dichotomies
3 OctMost would agree that republicans are not usually described as the warm and fuzzy people. They are not considered the “mommy” party and most republicans would say that that description is just fine with them. Most have no tolerance for anything that could possibly smack of female coddling or nurturing of the citizenry. Every man for himself and all that, rah rah. But the ironic thing here is that they’re not the stereotypical masculine party. They’re weenies. They broadcast panic like little children. The sky is falling, all will soon be lost. The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming. There’s socialist monsters under every bed and black Muslim bogymen in every closet (especially the black bogymen). Republicans are constantly spraying fear and paranoia like skunk juice. Rightly or wrongly, this is not a stereotypically male image. Why would anyone vote to put a bunch of scaredy cats in charge of anything, except maybe the back door?
Then there’s this whole republican embrace of the economic survival of the fittest doctrine. Boy they love that one. Everybody just pull themselves up by their boot straps and if you can’t, well too bad for you, guess you didn’t pull hard enough or something, too bad for you, survival of the fittest. And yet they steadfastly maintain that Darwin is a pile of crap.
Now the republican push to delegalize most forms of birth control, there’s another odd one. We have to estimate that at least 50% of the republicans are men, sperm shooting men. We just know that the over whelming majority of them are not having sex strictly for procreation purposes alone. Please. Likewise it’s fair to assume that again the over whelming majority of them are not practicing abstinence (for any reason). Very hard to believe that these married men want to risk adding more unplanned children to their families or especially that single men want to add child support to their personal budgets. Logically one would think these republican men would want to shut down this nutso delegalization thing. And one would think that the republican strategists would also want to shut it down. After all, what did the last census tell them? We are currently undergoing the browning of America. People of color are the fastest growing populations in the United States. Do republicans really want “these people” without birth control? Do they know that by in large “these people” do not like them? Are republicans that short sighted or do they just calculate that they will be dead by the time this manifests into material votes?
Power to the People
Tags: Birth Control, hypocracy, Political Fortitude, politics, progressive commentary, republicans, Survival of the Fittest