The new Republican reality: no policy is too right-wing

[emad]

Independent
Conservative pipedreams are suddenly part of America's mainstream. Andrew Gumbel reports from Los Angeles
08 November 2004


Where should the United States invade next? Iran, Syria, or Cuba? Will George Bush merely slash taxes on the rich even further in his second term, or will he have the courage to abolish income tax altogether? Will gay marriage simply be outlawed state by state, or will a much-threatened constitutional amendment come into being?

These might once have been idle questions for conservative Washington think-tanks. But now, with President Bush safely re-elected for another four years and increased Republican majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, such radical right-wing notions are no longer pipedreams. They are the active stuff of policy discussion.

Grass-roots conservatives, many of them religious fundamentalists who paved the way for President Bush's victory in the suburbs and the rural heartland, are positively salivating at the prospect of having their efforts rewarded.

"I don't know if we're going to abolish the prescription drug benefit , but we'd like to. It's just an expansion of government," the Republican strategist and direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie said over the weekend. "We'd like to see oil and gas exploration increased in the continental United States. We want a constitutional amendment on marriage. We want the culture of life expanded."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=580547

[Jasper 91]

1. They might as well have added

We want the destruction of mankind . They're already destroying the planet .:grr:

[Tyler Durden]

3. Almost makes you lust for the coming crash, doesn't it?

I'm beginning to think that the sooner everything goes to shit, the faster we can start re-building?

Maybe Nader was right.

[ironrooster]

13. the great depression made social security possible

The bus Bush is driving is going to crash - we all need to just hang on tight. It's only a matter of time. I think this years loss might actually be the best thing for Dems(in the long term).On the face of it - of course, it sucks. However, things are so bad right now Kerry would have been stuck trying to fix this shit & he would have gotten blamed for it no matter what he did. Now pardon me while I go laugh at the religious right & the 'security moms'.

[The Minus World]

18. We won't survive.

You've gone to quite some length to find a silver lining on these clouds of war. In fact, Bush's re-election is mankind's condemnation to another four years of American theocracy building.

If you believe that Democrats are not simply a political body in this case, but rather the representation of right versus the wrong that Bush has been committing, it is impossible to state that Bush's illegitimate victory allowing him to grab the reins of power for four more years was anything but a disaster.

Letting your opponent destroy the world for another four years so that you actually look good in comparison is not a good strategy.

[Skittles]

25. I would have to agree with this assessment

I remember thinking if Kerry won, in four years he would only barely put a dent in the damage that has been done by this misadministration. But at the very least things would not have gotten WORSE. Now all bets are off - it's gonna be painful.

[The Minus World]

16. Sad, isn't it?

We have strayed so far off track - favoring corporations over humans; the rich over the destitute; religious extremism over rational thought - I have doubts that we can overcome this problem through the use of democratic means.

And don't think for one second that they don't have a plan to maintain power once "everything goes to shit" either.

[KayLaw]

22. Yes, Tyler

I know how you feel and am having similar thoughts.

[TahitiNut]

2. "Be careful what you ask, for you may get it."

The dinghy will sink but the yacht will party on.

[Piperay]

26. Yeah, my thoughts exactly

'have at it'. x(

[Dhalgren]

4. Pull up a seat, boys and girls,

and watch America die! This is a one-time show and can't be repeated, so watch closely and try not to blink! If you thought watching the old Soviet Union die in agony was a treat, just wait till the American behemoth comes crashing down! It is happening even as we speak!

[okoboji]

5. they don't get it - do they

did these people sleep thru their gov't and economic classes in school?

Let's see - abolish the income tax ... even if all government so called wel-fare programs were to be ended (Medicare, Medicaid, veteran benefits, head start, social security, unemployment compensation, public education, pell grants, housing loans, etc etc etc) WHAT will fund their WARS, what about homeland security?

abolish the prescription drug benefit? OMG ... go for it

let me see if I understand here...

saving fetus - good
greed - good
destroy the earth - good
poor sick child - bad
poor sick elderly - bad
gay people - really bad


whatever happened to love thy neighbor? didn't Christ take care of the sick and poor while he was here? what the hell are these people drinking?

[liberal N proud]

7. This is the new christianity

The New Crusade, but first you must beat the peasants into submission.
Good christians are poor christians, they must feel the pain in order to follow along.

The republicans are doing a good thing by rushing the process along.
They want to be responsible to starting the rapture. It should make them hero's in the eye of God.

[ilovenicepeople]

28. It wouldn't surprise me one bit

if the "New Christianity" sprouted horns:evilgrin: now who was that guy they called the great deceiver?

[Amigust]

30. A previous GWB incarnation?

[Neverarepublican]

15. they are drinking

Kool-aid

[alfredo]

6. The back of the hand Christians don't understand the

golden rule, or think it doesn't apply to them.

[ixion]

9. yeah, they're not to hot on their 10 Commandments, either

rule 1: THOU SHALT NOT KILL

what part of that don't they understand?

[William Seger]

17. I have come to the conclusion...

... that most right-wingers are really not very religious. They just think that everyone else ought to be religious, because they see religion as the only "glue" that can hold society together. First, they see it as the source of the power (authoritarianism) that legitimizes the established order; and second, they fear what their neighbors might do if not possessed with either the Fear of God or fear of the "legitimacy" of the established order.

That's why the emphasis, not just on religion, not just on Christianity, but on a right-wing "Christian America": other religions, and indeed liberal interpretations of Christianity, are politically dangerous to society, as they wish it to be.

With right-wingers, for all their hypocritical pretense, the issue isn't religion; the real issue is just their right-wing politics.

[maxrandb]

19. Do you ever think that deep down they really live

miserable lives, and they just want the rest of us to suffer along with them?

[Lerkfish]

20. one of the more insightful posts I've seen today, thanks. eom

[alfredo]

21. I remember Falwell said that commandment should read

Thou Shalt not commit Murder. He went on and said that war is not murder.

He then spoke later in the show that his followers were at war against the liberals.

[ixion]

27. ah yes, the old war isn't really killing argument

that's a real hoot!

[alfredo]

33. I guess a defensive war is not murder, but

an aggressive war is murder.

[July]

8. And the overreaching begins. nt

[arikara]

10. "We want the culture of life expanded..."

What the hell is this "culture of life"? More wars for the rest of the world; more poverty at home, more billions in their own pockets.

[PurityOfEssence]

23. That's the cute new anti-abortion, anti-birth control line; like it?

The fundies are the stove in the wooden building; the monied powerthugs think they can use the uberfaithful and do as they please, but it's not going to be that easy. What conceivable argument does the Administration have for not paying back their debts to the faithful? After all, they've said what a huge mandate this all is, and that translates into ability.

They've stiff-armed (heil, baby) the evangelicals with the excuse of a powerful bunch of Liberals nipping at their heels, but that excuse just won't fly now.

[ixion]

34. in Bushspeak

the 'culture of life' translates to the culture of death. :-(

[bemildred]

11. More like any desperate distraction will be thrown out there.

(From the election.)

[idiosyncratic]

12. Scary, very, very scary!

:scared:

[shawn703]

14. So when are they going to add shipping Jews to Israel to their list? n/t

[Skittles]

24. and people voted for this garbage

it's beyond sad

[0rganism]

29. Solidifying the New Corporate Feudalism

We will boldly roll back the enlightenment, and relive the medieval thrills of serfdom and enforced religious obeissance.

[VegasWolf]

31. Trying to figure out what would be "too RW ", utter insanity maybe?

[SemperEadem]

32. well, if prescription drug benefits are an expansion of government

then so is FEMA. So is blue state subsidizing red states, when they should stand on their own feet and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. So is governmental intrusion in the private lives of its citizens. Expansion of government is wrong in every application there is. This is not a one way street.