It is a sad fact but true, that the Republican Party in the year 2013 C.E. is hard at work shredding our democracy, our freedom, and our Constitution.
It is no secret that the Republican Party is the party of the rich, the very rich and the super rich. It is also the party of the powerful. While some Democrats have fallen victim to the theory that might makes right or the ends justify the means or those with the most money win, it is by and large the Republicans in Congress who are routinely bought and paid for by the corporations, Wall Street, and other pooh-bahs who control and manipulate our system. Freedom, democracy and our Constitution are all at risk when this corrupt state of affairs prevails.
From the first day President Obama stepped into the Oval Office, the Republican Party, open and unabashedly, stated their goal for his first term was to do everything possible to bring him down. They would not cooperate. They would use whatever smear tactics worked best. Their would be no compromise for the good of the country. Their goal, above the good of the country, was to destroy Mr. Obama and ensure he would not be re-elected.
Although Mr. Obama was re-elected, they are continuing their desperate attacks on his person, his ideas, and his programs. Looking ahead to the Congressional elections of 2014, the Republicans have redoubled their efforts to cast aspersion on the leader of the Democratic Party and the leader of our Country in order to serve their need for power. Senate Republicans continue, through the threat of the filibuster among other things, to refuse to confirm the president's nominees for many important positions in the government. In recent weeks, various prominent Republicans have threatened to shut down the government if they are unable to defund or otherwise destroy Obamacare!
Democracy can work only when opposing sides treat each other with respect and when they recognize that compromise is not only important but crucial. Ideology must be abandoned in favor of pragmatism. The important things are not philosophical or religious beliefs for these most often have no basis in fact or in science and can change at a moment's notice. What's important is that which works, which functions, which has proven value. Furthermore, while majority "rules" in our system, our system cannot work unless the rights of the minorities are upheld and respected. The prize upon which each of us must keep his or her eye is what's best for the country.
Because the Republican Party openly disavows such an approach they are destroying our democracy in a display of arrogant partisanship more reminiscent of the Roman Church in the Middle Ages than a political party in the 21st Century! The Republican Party speaks much of freedom, but they're not talking about freedom for those with whom they disagree. What they want is the freedom to impose their belief system upon the rest of us. Thus, on a national level and on state levels we are experiencing unprecedented attacks on Roe v. Wade, on a woman's right to choose, on the right to use contraceptives and on the Constitution principle of separation of church and state.
In state after state, well-funded right-wing groups with Republican legislators in their pockets are forcing through attempts to privatize our schools, to demand that religious nonsense such as creationism be presented as a valid alternative to evolution, to pass draconian gun laws that would make the outlaws of the Old West quake in fear! We have seen the United States Supreme Court, dominated by conservative Republicans appointed by conservative Republican presidents, openly side with those factions that would take over control of our government. The Supreme Court opened the floodgates relative to campaign funding by allowing secret corporate/political organizations to infuse huge amounts of cash into our election process thereby controlling the message and electing their candidates. The Supreme Court has also seen fit to do away with one of our Constitutional controls which functions to ensure that every eligible person is allowed to vote.
Again, moneyed entities are leading this attack on democracy in our state legislatures by gerry-mandering state districts to ensure that conservatives are most likely to win; and by passing draconian voter ID laws which effectively deny the vote of persons likely to vote Democratic.
But perhaps the most egregious example of the Republican Party's hatred for freedom and fear of democracy, is the recent threat by the Republican National Committee to withhold the right to film the 2016 GOP primary debates if CNN and NBC does not cancel a documentary movie in the works dealing with the life of Hillary Clinton. CNN is intending to show this documentary in theaters and on TV. NBC is developing a miniseries on Clinton's life starring Diane Lane.
Evidently, the GOP is afraid that these programs will help Ms. Clinton should she decide to attempt a run at the presidency in 2016. The Republicans are afraid, very afraid. Ms. Clinton could be a formidable candidate and would probably make any Republican running for presidency look like a complete fool which would most likely be the case.
What the chairman of the RNC, Mr. Priebus, would have us forget is the fact that the GOP has its own television network - FOX News. FOX News promotes the Republican line all down the line and has done so for years! Do you think he would object if FOX News was to show a documentary about a possible Republican candidate? Would the RNC threaten FOX News if it planned a miniseries on Chris Christie?
Of course not. But then the Republicans are not about freedom or democracy or the right of free speech - they work against the good of the country every day to gain a partisan advantage! And mark my words, in the coming election cycle the RNC and Republicans throughout the country will do anything, literally anything, to try to gain a political advantage in the White House and in Congress. The RNC's threat is just the tip of the iceberg.
They're afraid; they're very afraid
I hope CNN and NBC do not cave to the GOP. It is highly unlikely that the RNC would follow through on their threat. They want people to see those primary debates. Which is quite funny, actually, for it is very likely that watching those primary debates might just cause most people to vote Democratic!