The geopolitical structure in the US is so polarizing, in fact, that we've got nutcases like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck with their talk shows, and FOX news with their infamously biased news articles blasting blatant propaganda everyday. The Republican Party obviously does not support these views outright, as it would be political suicide to do so. But we only have to turn to idiotic remarks by GOP senators and leaders to see that their views correlate very, very well. There's always "socialism", "spreading the wealth", "elitism", "death panel", blah blah blah...such nonsense. And the GOP wonders why they don't get support from people with college educations.
The thing is, Republicans are struggling with all their might to cling onto anachronistic and outdated viewpoints; so much, in fact, that their message on key issues which transcend boundaries are lost in the clamor of things like anti-gay marriage, or resistance to action on climate change. Republicans need to face it: there are issues which are becoming almost prerequisites for support. To support gay marriage is one of these prerequisites...the argument against it is simply outweighed by the argument for it, especially in a secular society like the US. To base civil rights on religion amounts to theocracy, and in that sense Republicans are on the same page as countries like Iran and Israel. This push for "small-town America" support is also quite ridiculous, if not insulting, and it speaks loads about the declining American societal values. Palin's intelligence should be an affront to everybody who calls themselves American...yet some people listen to her brain-numbing interviews and actually believe she is a valid candidate for president. Finally, Republicans can call themselves "pro-business" or whatever (all the good it did during the Bush Era), but when one denies global warming as a fact and continues to prevent any action from being taken to remedy the emission of greenhouse gases, one tends to look EXTREMELY STUPID AND UNEDUCATED.
And therein lies the problem. I supported Obama initially, but I think what the Democrats are doing right now with the government is moving in the wrong direction. Healthcare reform should not be the top priority - reforming the education system should be. I had a talk with one of my friends the other day, and it was not until then that I realized what a black hole the American school system seemed to be, compared to the Canadian education system. On the war - I don't support the surge in Afghanistan, especially with Karzai as the ineffective president. On the financial side - I didn't support the bailout (it's absolutely ridiculous, the way the money moved from the hands of the people to the hands of the corporations). But despite all this, I would still pick Democrats over Republicans. Because they are the LESSER OF THE TWO EVILS.
That's the Republican Party's biggest failure: failing to present itself as an effective platform for the basis of ideas and policies. With opinions in finance, reform, and even foreign policy, there's a lot of leeway in opinions. With social issues such as abortion, gay marriage, the environment, or even the promotion of stupidity (aka Palin), there's a very small leeway for opinions. The Republican Party needs to wake up, retool its image, and present itself as a competitive party to that of the Democratic Party. They need to embrace intelligence, purge the negative social stigma that currently brands Republicans as intolerant rednecks, and only then will educated voters be tempted to vote for the GOP on the basis of more important issues such as finance and foreign policy. The Republican Party seems to be deluding themselves into believing that their current platform is actually competitive against the Democrats platform. It's not, because they don't even have the prerequisites to be in the competition.
America is a multi-party democratic system. The people need different parties, with different policy ideas, to choose from. The Republican Party's failure at this will slowly push the US more and more towards single-party rule, and further and further behind on education, as the GOP continues to blast their incoherent propaganda to the uneducated public in an attempt to remedy the situation. This will only serve to increase the dangerous disconnect between educated and uneducated people, and to make the US more bipolar day by day. I hope the day comes soon when the GOP will realize this, and I am looking forward to the day that the GOP again becomes an effective balancing force against the Democratic Party in US politics.
-FCDH
Posts
Conan O'Brien: "Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have done for fake news what Fox has done for....fake news"
ReplyDeleteI go a step further and blame democracy.
ReplyDeleteI take issue with several of your statements, and would like take the following few paragraphs to explain my outlook. Socialism and spreading the wealth are not in any way idiotic terms. Socialism means that a system will operate not under market rules but under the principles of equality and fairness. In that way, the health care reforms that are on the verge of being passed are socialist (negative connotations aside) because they strive to promote equality among people. Spreading the wealth is another oft-used term that applies to most all government intervention in society. Government collects money in the form of taxes, and disburses that money as it sees fit. Generally, the wealthiest people contribute more money in taxes than they receive in benefits, whereas the poorest people receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes. In this way the government is redistributing wealth for the common good, or 'spreading the wealth' if you will.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to say that the support of gay marriage is a prerequisite is quite a generalization. When you look at popular votes to legalize gay marriage, the country is split fairly evenly. So is it not reasonable to expect that our political parties are split fairly evenly? The members of our political parties are selected to represent the PEOPLE, and it would be an insult to American democracy if the parties were allowed to decide which subjects were no longer available for debate.
Finally, I would like to make the point that financial security needs to be our utmost priority at this time, and it should predicate any other actions that we take. Financial games to disguise the true cost of the health care bill are appalling, and shows how those people drafting the legislation care little for the financial health of the nation. We are in a particularly precarious situation, with debt rising as the value of the American dollar falls. This is a two-headed beast. On one hand our trade deficit is falling due to the lower exchange rate, so the supply of dollars in the rest of the world is shrinking. On the other hand, we are looking for the world to lend us even more money, something they are less and less willing to do, due to the shrinking supply of dollars. We are following an unsustainable trajectory, one which threatens to bankrupt our country as foreign powers stop lending to us, and our domestic spending continues to rise. Without confronting the financial health of our nation, every other initiative that we are working on is in danger of failing, just as social services in California have been drastically cut in order to save the state from default. That is why I support the Republican party, regardless of the argument over other policies.
To Anonymous from above:
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly my point. You make excellent points for supporting the Republican Party, several of which I agree with (the financial aspect most prominently). I disagree with your views on gay marriage, but that's my opinion and I respect your opinion.
The Republican Party is based upon many different inherent values than the Democratic Party, which I understand and you obviously understand as well. But the radical shift of the Republican Party is what is dragging it down and turning people off. I don't mind if the Republican Party is not for gay marriage, that's fine. But the manner in which it treats the issue of gay marriage is what is hurting it (unconditional rejection + insulting homosexuality). Or the way it treated Dede Scozzafava in New York's Congressional Race, I think it speaks a lot for what the Republican Party is turning into.
Obviously I think there are still redeeming policies of the Republican Party that I support...that's the whole point of my blog post. It just needs to get rid or at least mitigate the seemingly radical shift of many prominent Republicans (McCain being one of them...he's no longer the "maverick" he once was") if they want the support of educated voters back.
-FCDH
the GOP doesn't attract educated people? Tons of professors and professionals are republicans. College students tend to be more liberal because they are relatively naive.
ReplyDeleteJust because you think you are educated and you don't like the GOP it doesn't mean that other educated people don't like GOP. College students are rebellious and the easiest ones to be fooled.
ReplyDelete