Political Perspective

by William Jellick

Boulder, Colorado. So how did we get to this point? Are we now, like California, so deeply divided that as a nation we're becoming ungovernable? I have a feeling it has something more to do with the Republican Party than anything else. Employing strategies and tactics characterized by a scorched-earth, win-at-all-costs ethic requires them to fight against everything proposed by the Democratic administration (even supporting the troops (gasp)) lest their opponents bask in the glow of some success.

Analyzing their behavior, Republicans appear to have 3 goals, in this order: 1) gain power and dominance, 2) prevent those who have the power they crave from using it and 3) destroy whatever government they happen to belong to regardless of whether or not they happen to be the governing party.

When out of power they throw all their energy into destroying those who are in power. Their tenacity and focus is remarkable. In fact, if it wasn't so deadly it would be admirable. They have no pretense of trying to work with their opponents - they simply denounce all opposition with a zealousness of conviction that echoes a religious cult. Any action that they did not initiate, and some that they did initiate that might now have the potential to help an opponent, is tagged as ruinous to life as we know it. If this reckless policy is not imminently dangerous, it’s likely to be "the first step down a slippery slope to certain oblivion."

Democrats are deemed “evil” and unpatriotic if they don't work (agree) with Republicans in power. And because of goal #2 above, Republican rules prohibit supporting any Democratic initiative, even if it is one that they would typically champion. They make their position brazenly obvious: a Democrat can never be right on an issue, even if it's a position that is usually considered to be a “Republican” issue. An opponent can never be strong enough on (pick one) a) National Security, b) supporting business, c) patriotism. “A Democrat can never be right”, to paraphrase Mary Matalin.

Their rhetoric, always designed to mislead, is riddled with exaggerations, innuendos and outright lies, and is delivered with a righteousness that Moses himself would envy. They expect bi-partisan cooperation from their opponents but do not reciprocate. Everything they believe (and those “beliefs” are frequently as changeable as the weather) is unquestionably right when they alone express them. Everybody else is wrong.

We cannot function as a democracy with our 2nd largest political party in the grip of such insanity. Why must Senate Democrats have a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority to get ANY legislation passed, but turn into “patriotic” rubber stamps for Republican policies when the Reps. have less than a 60-vote majority? It’s like dealing with a hysterical person - or a child. Reason is futile.

So what to do? Since think-tank programmed propaganda will fall like atomic rain no matter what, should the Democrats just push through their agenda and brace for the fallout? What Democratic political capital would be jeopardized that isn't already eroding because of hesitation brought on by---fear of Republican hysteria influencing the next election? It will happen anyway, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. So is it best to just leave the Republicans to their hyper-politicizations and get on with the business of governing without them? Absolutely.

A thread of the Republican narrative myth says that the “left” has been using these same tactics for years and therefore it's only fitting that Republicans should follow same. But when you read everyday Americans’ opinions you often hear that they are fed up with Washington or that they want the parties to stop bickering. They don't pick sides, although they really should because knowing who is instigating the bickering would help them understand what is happening to our government and inform their vote.

Now it may be that the Democrats actually did provide the inspiration for the Atwater/Ailes/Rove Willy Horton-style of dirty, misleading, divisive and incendiary politics that have come to be synonymous with the Republican Party. However, that (if ever true) is ancient history and gone from most peoples' memory. The Republicans, with their “only we can be right” posture stand naked and alone - exposed as practitioners of a political style that thwarts democracy and creates divisions deep in our body politic that promotes extremism and radical actions.

It is time for President Obama to recognize this. His opponents aren't tough negotiators - they don't negotiate at all. Their “our way or the highway” approach is their only position. He has precious little time left to take action before our fickle, uninformed, low-information electorate “throws the bums out” and returns the carpetbaggers to power. And one thing they do have down is what to do with power when they get it.

William Jellick is an Information Technology consultant.

wjellick@yahoo.com