Unintended Consequences

One would think that after watching the unintended consequences caused by the "go it alone," " history is what we say it is" policies of George W. Bush, American politicians would be expert on things that can go wrong when they play their games. Nope, Republicans today are no different than they were before, when Karl Rove was the "Architect" and Tom, "The Hammer" DeLay was running the House. To hell with the risks? So what if the stakes for the country are huge? Such things didn't stop them before.

Soo, when Barack Obama became President, promising change and new ways in Washington, Mitch McConnell, that crafty senator from Kentucky, saw a wonderful opportunity to regain Republican power. "We'll make sure NOTHING happens, nothing," I can hear him saying. "We'll break him on Health Care Reform," said Sen. DeMint of South Carolina. We won't boycott, but we won't let anything significant happen the President might conceivably take credit for, even if we liked it a few months ago. Forget the needs of the nation.

And so it goes. According to Sen. McConnell, the country is headed for Socialism and financial disaster. Obama has broken his campaign promises and can't be trusted to accomplish anything, he says. The "hopey-changie" thing isn't working, agrees Sarah Palin, as she rakes in as much as cash as possible for every swipe she takes at the President. And then there's Glen Beck and Sean Hannity trying to outdo each other in discrediting the President and government in general. Former VP Dick Cheney screams that the President has weakened the country and is soft on terrorism, despite the remarkable similarities between the way President Obama and President Bush dealt with captured terrorists.

Here's where the unanticipated consequences come in. Much of this kind of criticsm should stop at America's shores, as they used to. It surely serves to encourage our enemies abroad, but now they are also fueling America's crazies, from the KKK to the Skinheads and Minute Men, as well. Membership is up in extreme groups all over the country and people are buying weapons and ammunition as if they were preparing for World War III for fear the Administration will seize their beloved AK47s, or worse. Horrifyingly, they are very close to calling for assasinations, indeed they HAVE in some isolated instances, showing up at Tea Parties armed to the teeth, and the like. Census Takers are scared and so are IRS workers, after a plane was crashed into their building in Austin, TX recently. Even federal Fish and Game officers are nervous in many places in the West. I won't mention the latent interest in secession that Gov. Perry has been supporting in Texas, or the energized efforts of the Texas State School Board to rewrite American history through legislation concerning their twisted views on the Bible and American history. Wow! All that because an Afro -American was elected President of the United States and Republicans lost power.

I don't think Republicans want assasinations, but by being total legislative obstructionists and waging a viscious war of deliberate misinformation, they may well get even more serious unintended consequences. Anyone for a third party dark horse, another Texas zillionaire? How about someone risably unqualified like the opportunistic former governor of Alaska to represent us abroad. (What do Sen. McCain and Dr. Frankenstein have in common?) Or maybe we should just go with good looking neophytes wherever they crop up. What a travesty of leadership, what a sickening response to the huge challenges facing our country and the world! Will Americans buy it? I don't think so. Where does partisanship become malfeasance or worse? Let's hope we never have to find out.