What Republicans Really Want

Leave it to Jay Leno to make a double edged joke out of the sasuage making in Washington. In talking about a possible government shut down, he said we'd be sad with a govenment stopped from NOT protecting our borders, NOT keeping air controllers awake at airports, NOT inspecting food products coming into the US, etc. It made me laugh, but it also made a good point: we want our government to do all kinds of things very well, but we don't want to pay for them.

Does anyone really not want a center for disease control, intense investigations of aircraft safety and accidents, some support of the arts, fine national parks, NASA, Pell grants and, of course, Planned Parenthood, etc? The list goes on and on. Such services benefit everyone and they are part of a mature government in the modern world, let alone what makes America great. Wring out waste but don't pretend there is any advantage to lopping off whole governmental departments and expect people to take you seriously.

Could it be that we are deep in a time in our national history when factual debate isn't really important, confronted by 24 hour news cycles and the need to capture the headlines with some statement even more inaccurate and outrageous than the last one. Just look at Michelle Bachman and Donald Trump. The stuff they're spouting is pure blow hard nonsense, but it sure gets attention and improves TV ratings, in "The Donald's" pathetic case.

Could it also be that we're in a great period of reaction to the days of yore when the robber barons prowled the nation, when workers felt lucky to have any job and had no union protection, as Pinkertons broke up strikes and backroom deals were the norm in state capitals and Washington, DC. It would certainly seem that way, looking at Wall Street today with Hedge Fund moguls literally making billions annually! Now throw in the race card and one can see clearly what the Republicans are trying to do and why. There are, beyond doubt people making huge fortunes who are well intentioned and generous, but for each one there are 100 who think they are entitled to whatever they can make and the hell with the "losers" who aren 't as smart and the vast poor who deserve nothing more than a big tip for an excellent shoeshine. The Republican budget is evidence of this, as obvious as pigeon droppings on a top hat. The only people who would trade Medicare for a voucher system are those unaware of the costs todayof the simplest surgical procedures or briefest hospital confinement, or the seriously well healed with multiple millions. We already have the largest divide beteen the rich and the poor since the Gilded Age and the Republicans want to enlarge it. That's always the problem with greed.

The Country Club View of Planned Parenthood

When I speak of country clubs, I speak with authority. After all, I'm a WASP and I've spent a good chunk of my life dallying at these institutions of pure right wing conservative Republicanism. (Is there any other kind of Republicanism now that the extremists have run the moderates out of sight?) I haven't been undercover trying to change them quietly either because that is impossible. I've simply enjoyed the tennis, golf, food without a line, etc. for which I appologize. I have kept my ears open, however, and there is considerable confusion at "The Club" over Planned Parenthood. Most members think Planned Parenthood is organized late term, baby killing abortion. Just ask Senator John Kyle. They don't know about PP's pregnancy prevention program or women's health services and, surprisingly, they don't care. You see, Republicans today, by and large, don't give a hoot about the poor and they aren't very sensitive when it comes to women either. The poor don't pay their own way and they shouldn't have sex in the first place. That's the way they breed, after all, and the offspring of poor people become thugs or welfare queens who have babies to make money which makes it very expensive. We can't afford welfare programs that are almost as costly as defense expenditures ( in their view) especially during a budget crisis that's got Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase taking down less than $21 million last year. Normally, Republicans would be for anyone's pregnancy prevention programs, but conditions now are really serious and they want, if you'll excuse the pun, to throw the baby out with the bath water, the office furniture, NPR, Poison Control and everything else. That's the only way to deal with a nagging problem like this that's upsetting and confusing people at The Club.