The Great Leap Backwards

[Old and In the Way]

It occurs to me that today's Republican Party is looking more and more like yesterday's Communist Party.

Hear me out. With the hostile takeover of Michigan and their 'solutions' to fixing the problem, heres where I start seeing some very scary similarities between the 2 starting to merge.

(1) A central planned economy. Of course, it's not a state model, but it is a corporate model. And, if we've learned anything about their agenda, they are the servants of corporations. Republican policies are focused on giving mega-corporations tax breaks and facilitate the mergers of competitors into a single entity, regardless of whether it is good for the citizens of this country. Take corporate media, cars, finances, energy, mining, farming, distribution (Wal-Mart), or just about any industry you can name...the goal seems to be efficiency of scale by less and less competition. We're ending up in basically the same place. We'll all have subsistence wages in another 10 years. All of those toys (boats, planes, 2nd homes, jewelery) will only be affordable by the very elite that Republicans service with their perpetual taxcuts.

(2) Elections. They consider themselves the only real Party that has a right to govern. No election is safe from their attempted manipulation. They can't fix things and they can't offer solutions to our structural problems. But they can create laws that destroy representative democracy. And insure themselves as the only governing class. Public service? Nope, it's all about private service.

(3) Loyalty. To get ahead in the Republican Party, you must demonstrate Party loyalty. No independence or critical thoughts deviating from the Party line can be tolerated. Forget ethics, personal conscience...you will vote the Party line. Once you're in the Party, your golden. They'll protect you. A little corruption, a little deviant sex, whatever your personal vices, you can indulge. Just as long as you agree that no one else can.

(4) A Free Press. Investigative reporting is under attack. The Party will not tolerate exposes. I see where a Florida Republican is proposing to make it a crime to document atrocities occurring at mega-farms. People will not be allowed to know the abuses and dangers they face because there will be no free press to report them....bad for business, bad for the Party. Thought crimes are surely not far from us.

(5) Big Brother. The Party knows what is best for us. They may say they are for 'smaller government', but then they enact draconian laws that dictate what doctors can talk to their patients about. That the most personal of choices, like whether to have children or not, is now not a choice, but a state sanctioned edict. They'll need lots of snitches, busybodies, and low level apparatchiks to enforce the Party line. They won't get paid much and they'll be no better off than the rest of us...but they will be given the power to harass and create trouble locally. In China, they harass women to have abortions...ours will be demanding evidence of menstruation so they can make sure you have the child you can't afford.

(6) Ideological Managers. Instead of electing people to manage our local government, they are deciding who will manage our local affairs. They have their own technocrats/flunkies who will follow the edicts of the Governor and implement the unilateral policies that are handed down. Failure? Who cares? No accountability, no problem.

(7) Propaganda. Communism had 'Pravda' and "the 'Worker's Daily' to bullshit the populace. They got it even better: Fox News and a slew of Fox wannabees to provide the same service to the Party. A demonstration of 100,000 in Wisconsin protesting the Party? Where? A Teapublican Party turns out 100 morons in tri-corner hats and it leads all 3 mainstream networks. When was the last time Corporate media went after a Republican? When was the last time you saw a Sunday news show dominated by progressive Democrats? I blame Corporate Media for enabling the Party and the selling out of our Democracy.

(8) A War on Science. Can't have any legislation that addresses climate change because that will cost their benefactors big money. So we pretend it doesn't exist and don't address it. Evolution? No, Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs when God created the world 6000 years ago. They do not want an educated population. An educated population understands what these bastards are up to. Keep 'em barefoot and stupid. They've got 1/2 our population there now...the rest will get there with defunding of schools and higher education will out of the reach for the middle-class. Idiocracy, here we come!

(9) The Internet. Fuck that shit. Net Neutrality? A people's based communication system? Can't have that. Expect to be priced out of any sites that don't toe the Party line. If you want Fox News, you'll get all the broadband you can choke on.

I'm sure others here can add to this list...but the point is, all of this craziness isn't random - there's a real plan in place (probably a 20 years into a 50 year Plan - lets call it the Great Leap Backwards) and we're not going to like it when the puzzle finally comes together.


So, keep this in mind, the next time you see a Republican politician...they'll be easy to spot - look for a big flag pin on their immaculate business suit to ID them. Because it's their flag now.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. A virtual Cultural Devolution.

much to my dismay, and depressing as all hell.

[AndyTiedye]

2. The Purported Economic System by Which an Oligarchy Rules

makes less difference than some people think.

Why do you suppose these wingnuts love doing business with "Communist" China?

[Octafish]

3. 'Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours.'

Spot-on in every way, Never Old and In the Way.

My add would regard Education. The pukes (and their enablers in our party) do all they can to defund public education. Since Ronnie Pruneface bragged about abolishing the Department of Education, they've worked to make education a losing proposition for children and a money maker for their connected cronies. An ignorant population is easier to manipulate and easier to beat down.

It's no accident. It's a plan.

PS: Sorry I did not see this sooner. Can't Rec, but I will forward "The Great Leap Backwards" to every one I know.