Are the Republicans actively TRYING to be evil?

[LiberteToujours]

I mean, I just don't get it. They act like they read 1984 and are using it as their field guide. Every single thing they do is the worst possible choice for the country. They almost seem fictitious, too ridiculous to be for real. How can they actually believe that they're doing the best thing for the country?

[blackangrydem]

1. Drunk with power

[Hekate]

2. At this point it's about consolidation of power...

The ends justify the means. Anything is permissible in that case. I'm sure there are plenty of rationalizations going on in their heads, and that no one thinks they personally are evil.

But you know what the adage about power is: Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

So do I think some Republicans are actually doing evil? Oh hell yes.

Hekate

[blackangrydem]

4. We must have faith in the Constitution, it is being tested in a way here.

[JaySherman]

7. Throughout history, the most dangerous and destructive figures

have been those that believed the end justifies the means. Hitler and the Nazis, Stalin, the Bolsheviks, the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. The list goes on and on. What really baffles me is how we as individuals and societies keep entrusting them with proverbial keys to the car. When will we ever learn? Will we ever learn? Europe for the most part appears to have learned, but it took 2000 years of conflict and 2 cataclysmic wars to finally hammer the point home. How much more death and destruction is it going to take for the rest of humanity to get the point???

[bowens43]

3. No, but neither were the Germans in 1939.

Nationalism and fundamentalism are probably the two greatest evils faced by the world today. Those who are fundamentalists and nationalists sincerely believe that they are doing the right thing. They are ignorant and arrogant.

[Indy_OK]

5. Evil?

Don't forget greed. Greed has tremendous power to rationalize.

[TaleWgnDg]

6. The rightwing political element in this country has . . .

an agenda. Much of it turns around legalities. Their agenda is to turn back the legal clock of time to Lochner, (1905).

This was a time before President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Big Deal" expansion of the federal government that gave our congress great power to over-ride state laws.

So in effect, the rightwingnuts want to erase about 100 years of congressional and U.S. Supreme Court laws. Seriously. It would call back the time when corporations were untouchable, ran rampant over the country and allowed what at that time was called "the gilded age" and "baron robbers."

Envision the movie "Titanic" and the split between the classes of the ship's passengers being only two: upper class and "steerage" of the low class. No middle class. None. That's when corporations had no boundaries, no laws to regulate them, and when they trammeled over the (no) rights of individuals.

This is the GWBush agenda. And GWBush has *snowed* and mislead and lied to people, pandering to their religious fears in attempts to pull together a coalition of voters in order to achieve his agenda.

Which is why the more educated people across the nation did NOT vote for GWBush. And which is why GWBush and Company belittled educated ppl, etc., etc., etc.

Simple, really.



.

[Vickers]

11. Wow, FANTASTIC post, thank you!

:yourock:

That really is it in a nutshell, ain't it? Wow.

[lawladyprof]

14. Which is why I refer to them as Reactionary Republicans--eom

[ArkDem]

18. >congressional and U.S. Supreme Court laws

It's always been my understanding that the Supreme Court only interprets the law.

[TaleWgnDg]

29. Yup, you are 100% correct . . .

1.) the executive branch "executes" the laws via its many subordinate regulatory agencies, regulations, blah, blah, blah . . .
2.) the legislative branch promulgates (writes) statutory laws . . . and
3.) the judicial branch interprets and applies both the statutory laws and the constitution (which is the highest law in the land) as well as past case law of the courts.

Yes, the words are "case law."

Case law is court opinions, orders, when courts interpret the laws as in #3 above. Hence, yes, courts "make" laws (case law) when they interpret the laws promulgated by the legislative body and u/ the constitution and prior case law.

Rightwingers love to twist, contort and confuse the uninitiated in law, plastering political rhetoric to mask governance 101. For example, rightwingers love to tag things as "judicial activism" "social policy" "legislating from the bench" or other such stuff when, in fact, they are merely disagreeing with the opinions, orders, and rulings of (court) case law. It's got simplistic (but erroneous) sound bite "quality" to it. It sells. But it's merely political rhetoric.

Tis as simple as that. Read closely, for example, what GWBush says below . . .

*****************************
"I believe that it points up the fact
that we need common sense judges who
understand that our rights were derived
from God. Those are the kind of judges
I intend to put on the bench." - GWBush,
June 27, 2002, explaining his theocratic
litmus test for federal judicial nominees.

"I’ll put . . . people who will strictly
interpret the Constitution and will
not use the bench to write social policy.
I believe that the judges ought not to
take the place of the legislative branch
of government, that they’re appointed for
life and that they ought to look at the
Constitution as sacred. I don’t believe
in liberal, activist judges. I believe in
strict constructionists. And those are the
kind of judges I will appoint. "
- GWBush, debating w/ Al Gore, presidential
debate, Boston Massachusetts, October 3, 2000.

"Soon after becoming governor, (GW)Bush
declared tort reform an 'emergency issue'
and appointed judges who made it all
but impossible for Texans to bring class
action lawsuits against polluters."
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., environmental
activist and environmental attorney,
quoting from his book entitled, "Crimes
Against Nature."
*****************************



.

[Stephanie]

20. I keep thinking of the freeper on "we're not sorry" whose sign said

something like f*ck you "elites". The poor souls have no idea who the true elites are and what they've done and what they have in store. I'd like to show them Leo Strauss's views on elites and demonstrate how they're being systematically lied to while their pockets are picked and their future is destroyed.

But what's the point. They wouldn't listen.

[robbedvoter]

25. therefore, the "party of the middle class" needs to rethink its base.

/agenda. because, as you correctly pointed out, the middle class is decimated by this fascist regime. So, what will be the party of the majority then?

[m berst]

26. great post twg

I think that it may be worse. I think they want to turn the clock back 500 years, or more. They not only want to revoke the New Deal, but the Civil War, the American Revolution, Enlightenment and the Renaissance, as well. Destroying the the Constitution is the goal we should be most concerned about IMHO, and it predates the New Deal.

[TaleWgnDg]

31. thanks, and

yes, I agree w/ you that the rightwingers are sleaze!

However, that being said, it's their coalition that must be broken by the Democrats. Because the rightwingers are a minority. It's those that they've *snowed* into voting for them that we, Democrats, must bring them back into the Dem Party fold or introduce them to the Dem Party.

That's no small nor easy task. But we are up to it!

*******************************
"George Bush doesn't want to talk
about the real issues. I mean,
what's he gonna do? Come out and
say (he) lost 1.8 million jobs?"
-- John Kerry on Jon Stewart's
"The Daily Show," Comedy Central
Network.
*******************************

[lgardengate]

30. Not exactaly. Titanic had second and third class too, but

Women and Children from first and second class survived.(and the ship owner and a couple other men).Not that this matters in this discussion.

[leftofthedial]

8. power power power

corrupts

The agenda-setting neocons ARE actively, intentionally evil.

Some of the others are just gutless. Some are drunk with power. Some are just witless sheep.

A very few, for example, the religiously insane contingent, actually believe their death-dealing, truth-despising ways are good.

[No Mandate Here.]

9. And they're open about it !!!

Cheney says "We will get our due. We earned it."

I will not let them spit in my face.

[LiberalEsto]

10. They're not TRYING,

it just comes naturally.


:grr:

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Okay, let me illustrate what has happened to the Republican party:

When Reagan came into office, something important happened. The War on Drugs took the focus off white collar crime and put it on poor people, and in particular, minority groups. In the meantime, without regulation getting in their way, CEOS and corporations entered into a dynasty of deceit. They were allowed to beef up the bait, the bait being balance sheets and bottom lines. All they had to do was look good in the short term in order to "attrack" (new word meaning to attract and attack.) stock holders. Over a period of years, this is what our government ALLOWED them to do:

(1) Cut jobs in order to cut overhead. (And then rewarded themselves with huge bonuses.)

(2) Take tax incentives without creating new jobs. (And then they rewarded themselves with huge bonuses.)

(3) Then they boilerplated these ideas and all those new MBAs who came up the line just duplicated the old "cut jobs" formula to improve the bottome line, instead of coming up with creative new ways to make things better in America.

In all this, they were never seen as evil. Somehow, most of America protected their right to make as much money as they wanted, any way they wanted because that was the American way. Certainly, those mostly white CEOS were not the evil darkies selling drugs to their kids and the latter met the description of criminal behavior.

As CEOs were allowed to come under the radar, they learned that their mass pots of money could do other things. They could buy government and they did it, the same way they would perform a hostile take-over. They spread ugly rumours about their competitors(government) and convinced the stockholders (us) that they could do a better job. Little by little, they began to knock out career public officials who understood the concept of fiduciary responsibility and replaced them with their own kind "people who would sell their souls for a price."

Once in power, they continued the assault on government and the people thusly:

(1) Destroy any reglating government agency that would challenge them.

(2) Limit awards from any common person who would challenge them through our product liability laws.

Now they're in the "maintain power" phase of their take-over of our government. They do this by:

(1) They use a voir dire method of selecting their voters. They KNOW the people that will vote Republican: People who believe that criminals are darkies selling crack to their children. People who see white CEOS who go to church as infallible. These prospective voters buy products that single them out as conservatives: Kotex instead of Tampons, lots of WD40, blonde Clairol coloring, guns -- that sort of thing (half-joking). Then, they market themselves in areas where there is a large number of these people. And, of course, Wal Mart is only too happy to provide the Republicans with this kind of consumer information.

(2) For some of those hard to reach Independents, the Republicans rely on organizations that call them under false pretenses. They simply lie about their political affiliations in order to acquire the trust of the person on the phone, and then they proceed to harvest information.

Now, they have a profile on their consumers (voters) and they say anything out of their mouths that will get them to vote for them and keep them in power.

So, Republicans lying is only an evil thing, if you think that a corporation is allowed to exist under any circumstances.

[Atlant]

13. No, it just comes naturally to them. (NT)

[robbedvoter]

15. Evil? But jebus blessed them. Or was it Koresh? Anyway, how dare you?

You are excommunicated. It is them who say what's evil and what's not - and you are to tudy THAT reality, you hear?


''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And
while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll
act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and
that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you,
all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''
Bush aide to Ron Suskind

[sendero]

16. Remember...

... according to most interpretations of the Christian faith, you can do anything, ANYTHING, and still go to heaven as long as you believe in Jesus.

Is it any wonder that so many Americans think they have a karmic blank check?

[GreenArrow]

17. yep

The First Prince of the Theocratic States of America

It happened quietly, with barely a mention in the media. Only the Washington Post dutifully reported it.<1> And only Kevin Phillips saw its significance in his new book, American Dynasty.<2> On December 24, 2001, Pat Robertson resigned his position as President of the Christian Coalition.

Behind the scenes religious conservatives were abuzz with excitement. They believed Robertson had stepped down to allow the ascendance of the President of the United States of America to take his rightful place as the head of the true American Holy Christian Church.

Robertson’s act was symbolic, but it carried a secret and solemn revelation to the faithful. It was the signal that the Bush administration was a government under God that was led by an anointed President who would be the first regent in a dynasty of regents awaiting the return of Jesus to earth. The President would now be the minister through whom God would execute His will in the nation. George W. Bush accepted his scepter and his sword with humility, grace and a sense of exultation.

As Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court explained a few months later, the Bible teaches and Christians believe “… that government …derives its moral authority from God. Government is the ‘minister of God’ with powers to ‘revenge,’ to ‘execute wrath,’ including even wrath by the sword…”<3>

George W. Bush began to wield the sword of God’s revenge with relish from the beginning of his administration, but most of us missed the sword play. I have taken the liberty to paraphrase an illustration from Leo Strauss, the father of the neo-conservative movement, which gives us a clue of how the hiding is done:


“One ought not to say to those whom one wants to kill, ‘Give me your votes, because your votes will enable me to kill you and I want to kill you,’ but merely, ‘Give me your votes,’ for once you have the power of the votes in your hand, you can satisfy your desire.”<4>

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm

Start learnin' your Bible.

[mtnsnake]

19. They look evil, too. Ridge, Rove, Rush, Rumsfeld, & that's just the R's

Oh wait a minute, I almost forgot Rice. She just happens to resemble the evil doll, Chucky.

Bunch of evil looking fuckers, almost all of them. Well, maybe Pataki doesn't look so evil, but give him time.

[htuttle]

21. It's their nature, they can't help it

Like in the parable of the scorpion and the frog.

[callous taoboy]

22. I know-

A friend said it's a little bit like being in a room with someone who has really bad B.O. You know that they have to know that they STINK and you realize that they just don't care.

[American Tragedy]

23. I've never doubted that people like them exist. That doesn't bother me.

What disturbs me is that the American people are doing nothing to deter them; indeed, they are reinforcing it. Democracy is no different from tyranny if it doesn't have the critical participation of an informed electorate. It makes me wonder how much this administration could get away with and still florish. Given Bush's statement about spending his political capital, I'm sure he is considering the same thing.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. The top leaders are probably sociopaths, which means that

they don't care whether what they do is evil or not. The rest are either corrupted by power or the possibility for gaining power or they are too stupid/uninformed to care.

A friend who lived in Spain during the Franco dictatorship told me that people there had a saying: "You can't be moral, intelligent, and a Franco supporter at the same time. If you're intelligent and a Franco supporter, than you're immoral. If you're moral and a Franco supporter, than you're not intelligent." Substitute "Bush" for "Franco."

[Tigerlily]

28. That's interesting, Lydia

The saying in Spain re: Franco. Makes sense, unfortunately. :(

[lasttrip]

27. the reality is the only thing they believe in is

doing whats best for them. they will eat their own if it benefits them in any way. me me me and screw everyone else.

[tavalon]

32. Karl is

I think the rest of them are just power hungry. Not to say Rove isn't the power hungriest of them all, but he is also evil.

[LittleClarkie]

33. Absolute power corrupts absolutely?

I thought DeLay was esp. evil sounding this week, considering he dodged a bullet and the Repubs who voted to let him off the hook sounded somewhat repulsed by the act.

Smug boy may find he doesn't have nearly the support he thinks he does.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

34. Not exactly

My guess is that nearly all Republicans genuinely believe that what they are trying to achieve is good. The same thing has been true of the perpetrators of nearly all the worst atrocities is history.

Self interest may lead me to kill or steal from one man, but I'm only going to do so from millions if I really believe it's the right thing to do.

If you accept that :-

:-the Bible should be literally enterpreted and made legally binding

:-any form of infringement of personal freedom* not mandated by the
Bible is wrong

:-the USA is God's chosen country, and the lives of non-Americans
are of little or no value

and then ignore a few awkward issues like the death penalty and drug laws, and certain passages of the Bible concerning camels, needles, brothers (keepers thereof), charity and and similar matters, then clearly the Republicans are doing a great deal of good...

*Using a really, really weird definition of what does and does not constitute an infringement of personal freedom.

[Coventina]

35. Read "That Hideous Strength" by C.S. Lewis

I think it sums up what is going on pretty well.