Why I Can't Abide Today's Republicans

I know the GOP long ago mounted a systematic, coordinated effort to do whatever it takes to maintain or regain power and rob from the poor to give to the rich. I just didn’t know they have a name for their anti-American strategy: “Starve the Beast.”

This is why I can’t make pleasant small talk with anyone who supports today’s Republicans.

This is why I can’t understand today’s Tea Partiers.

This is why I can’t engage people on the right in polite discussions about politics and public policy.

Because in the back of my mind is the knowledge that right wingers are either a) aware that today’s GOP is truly evil and are fine with it, or b) woefully ignorant of the true nature of today’s Republican party.

On the one hand, I know nothing is clearly black or white, that life is full of gray and ambiguity and open to interpretation, that perception is reality and things aren’t always how they seem and sometimes what’s true on Tuesday may no longer be true on Thursday.

On the other hand, there is abundant, credible evidence that today’s GOP is comprised largely of people who don’t care about anyone but themselves, who are short-sighted and selfish, willing not just to spin but to lie, master manipulators or easily manipulated, whose allegiance is to themselves and their ilk and not the larger community, the country as a whole.

Yes, there are *ssh*l*s on the left too. Yes, politicians are in general only slightly more worthy of respect than reptiles. Yes, Democrats are inept and myopic and self-absorbed. But to my knowledge George Soros is no Koch Brother, Barack Obama is no Eric Cantor, and no one on the left ever pledged to drown our government in a bathtub.

I used to respect, if not agree with, conservatives. There were even some in my immediate family. But no more. There’s a huge difference between what my granddad believed, or what my dad used to believe, and what John Boehner and Newt Gingrich and Robotron Romney and Mitch McConnell stand for. I could provide specific examples and point to particular proposals and positions, but it’s not about domestic or foreign or fiscal policy. It’s not about “tax-and-spend liberals” vs. “compassionate conservatives.” It’s about good and bad, rich and poor, tolerant and intolerant, right and wrong.

Greed is wrong. Lying is wrong. Class warfare is wrong. Racism and prejudice are wrong. Starving the beast is wrong.

This dude can’t abide.