Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Why Republicans Suck

Nothing clever today.* This is pure rant.

I’m getting pretty fed up with political ads already. The smug Republicans. The weepy Democrats. And the same buzzwords and catchphrases we hear every election cycle. Is there a law? Are they legally required to say these things? Yes, we know that if a policy affects people it affects Americans and families (especially those poor, beleaguered working families), and children (NO! NOT THE CHILDREN!). And the word “big.” What’s so scary about big? Big business, big tobacco, big government. I guess it’s because these politicians are so small-minded.

They all present themselves as the only possible choice, and the other candidate as one who will ruin this country if elected. In reality, a monkey could sit in most of these offices and do no worse than any of the candidates. It doesn’t really matter who gets elected—the only thing at stake is the flavor of rhetoric we hear for the next term. Do we want the bully pulpit to be obsessed with money and taxes and “the right to life?” Or do we want to hear no end of “the working poor,” and “disenfranchisement,” and “the right to choose?” Frankly, I find option B easier to stomach, if only because it involves helping people rather than trying to keep the serfs from plundering the hoard.

And that’s why Republicans suck. Both major parties manipulate and distort. They both use emotional appeal rather than solid argument, and they’d rather win than do good. But what the Democrats urge, generally, are measures intended to help people who need help. The Republicans want to keep power and resources where they are, if not shrink that circle even more. They deplore taxes and redistributive measures because those who have all the loot “worked hard” to “earn it,” even if their hard work was to be born into a family whose ancestor was lucky enough to squat on land with oil under it, and was further lucky enough to get the US government to drive away the people who already lived there. The Republican party platform is selfishness and self-righteousness masquerading as principle.

And the only good thing about Democrats is that they’re not Republicans.

*Note: This does not imply that this space is generally one in which a reader may find cleverness. It merely indicates the lack of such in this post.

2 comments:

Anskov said...

hey, thanks for the comments on my blog, pal. Yeah things are interesting here. I find myself becoming less and less political as I go through life, but since coming to Japan, I have - in spite of the annoying fakery of many political figures and the parties they represent in the US - come to really appreciate so many things. Here in Japan, we have Prime Ministers visiting war shrines that honor war criminals and contain revisionist history museums. We also have to put up with ultra nationalist thugs who drive around in black vans and blast songs about wanting Japan to go back to the pre-Perry days. These guys scare me cuz they give us foreigners dirty looks when we walk by - they don't want us here at all.

Luckily, there are many wonderful people here who do want me to teach them and give them the skills they need to act upon their more global impulses (did I REALLY just write that phrase?).

Anyway, I miss hotdish.

Jason said...

Yeah, I was a little stunned by the "sambo" picture on your blog. I suppose it's easy for us here to concentrate only on the good things overseas, to romanticize "elsewhere." They all have their problems.

Still, the last sushi I ate was purchased at Super Target.