Here is the problem as I see it.
It’s not the sex, it’s the hypocrisy.
The republican party has, for 30 years, been the party of the evangelical movement. They’ve been quick to condemn anything that doesn’t fall into their bigoted, narrow-minded view of what is "moral," and anyone who doesn’t adhere to their belief in and desire for a right-wing theocracy is a GOD DAMNED LIBERAL. They want the bible used as the basis for making public policy, despite the fact the bible is:
- A work of fiction.
- Clearly in violation of the First Amendment section about "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…"
The republicans are also hypocritical in another way: They say they want the government out of people’s lives…except when it comes to matters pertaining to the bedroom. Then they want to government in there in spades, and anyone who points out the obvious hypocrisy in that is loudly proclaimed as a GOD-DAMN LIBERAL.
The word liberal has been turned into a perjorative by the right wing, and I tell you this, you can throw that word at my feet, I’ll pick it up and wear it as a badge of honor. Liberals enacted the child-labor laws in this country. Liberals enacted the worker-safety laws. If it’s good for the little guy, a liberal probably was behind it. republicans are the party of the illuminati. Why working class people can’t see that and vote against their own economic interests is a constant source of puzzlement for me.
In the case of Mark Sanford, he was proclaiming loud and long in the late ’90s that Bill Clinton should resign because of the Monica Lewinsky affair. Then, 10 years later, he not only has an affair, but he leaves his not only his state but the COUNTRY, without telling ANYONE, lies to his staff (so don’t start talking about Clinton lying) and comes back, busted as busted can be, and refuses to resign his seat as the governor of South Carolina.
Just the week before, Larry Ensign, another "family values" guy, is busted for porking the wife of another person who worked on his campaign.
Let’s not forget the REALLY sleazy ones, Larry Craig, cruising for anonymous gay sex in the Minneapolis airport. Mark Foley, who cruised instant messaging services for sex with…yes, you guessed it, UNDERAGE BOYS, and instead of getting treatment for being a fucking PEDO, he says he’s entering "alcohol rehab," as if alcoholism and its mention blithely sweeps away the issues surrounding his peccadilloes.
That doesn’t take into account the non-sexual offfenses.
- Watergate.
- Iran-Contra
- Salvadorean and Nicaraguan death squads who killed, among many others, NUNS. Oh, I forgot, they’re Catholics and the evangelicals hate them, too.
- Outing a covert CIA operative.
- Lying us into a war of choice.
I’m sorry. I’m absolutely aware of the shortcomings of the people on my side of the fence. Elliott Spitzer – though he VOLUNTARILY resigned. Henry Cisneros. Etc.
But when your side points the fickle finger at people and screams "You’re a god-damned dirty, liberal sinner," when so many of their own people are dirty, the hypocrisy is just too much for me to remain silent about.
Personally, I don’t give a flying shit what elected officials do with their private parts. I’m just kinda libertarian that way, personal life, no one harmed, consenting adults, not my business and I DON’T care. I don’t care that Mark Sanford had an Argentinian lover. Don’t care about Monica Lewinsky. Don’t care about John Ensign, don’t care about any of it. Don’t care about Larry Craig. I DO care about Mark Foley, only because he was cruising as a pedophile. With the aforementioned caveats, peccadilloes are red herrings. They DON’T MATTER.
Which leads me back to the hypocrisy. republicans want to prevent EVERYONE from having an abortion. They’re "Pro-life." Except when it comes to murdering doctors, blowing up clinics and so forth. They want to jam their personal, theological beliefs up the ass of EVERY person in the country. OTOH, Democrats say "You don’t like abortion, don’t have one." No one, and certainly not the government, forces anyone to have an abortion. You never see anyone at an Operation rescue rally being murdered. republicans CELEBRATE the murder of abortion doctors.
republicans want to prevent gay marriage on theological grounds. "The Bahble says bein’ gay is a siyun." Again, trying to use that work of fiction as an anvil upon which to form public policy. Democrats say "don’t want to be in a gay marriage, don’t marry someone of your own gender."
In addition to all that, the right wing is all concerned about babies before they’re born. However, once born, especially if they’re born a poor minority, they’re really on their own and if republicans had their way, they’d be even more on their own. "Fuck you kid, quit your crying and get a job at McDonalds. It’s a global wage scale so get used to ramen and turkey hot dogs as the staple of your diet. I’ve gotta go, I’m having prime rib and Louis XIII at the country club tonight. By the way, if you get sick, plan on dying. You can be replaced, kid."
When you strip all the posturing and bullshit away, THIS is the republican philosophy.
This is not aimed at anyone, personally. I don’t know individuals well enough to know what they really think. But there’s a lot more to it than elected officials who can’t keep it in their pants, and I’ve had it with right-wingers who think they have a corner on the market of morality.



7 Comments




excellent diary thatguy – recommended
Thanks, Suze.
I am standing up and giving your diary an ovation, ThatGuy. Wonderful sensibility. WONDERFUL READ!!! :)
The “progressive” v. “liberal” label is a betrayal of the liberal legacy. I so agree on your take. It is evidence that the Repubs got to reframe our history and demonize and minimize “liberal”. Yeah, those bleeding heart ideologues, eh? Anti-feeling culture now especially. Bible thumping hypocrisy.
We are hypnotized, all of us on both sides, by their chronic psuedo-moralizing and letting them set up the perspective. They are the assumed “moral” ones since they quote the Bible, go to weekly church service, were born again, whatever, even though so many are pro-deadly imperialism/militarism, torture, capital punishment, etc. Their righeousness about abortions apparently gives them a Holier than Thou card to carry and present immediately and the media honors this hubris like crazy and the Dems in Congress are so gun shy of letting them label them as “evil” and “unholy” and “unpatriotic” shudder “unAmerican”, it is awesome to behold. And Dem obvious spinelessness sure doesn’t inspire trust from the citizenry. So the bullies look stronger and easily collect the authoritarian followers who identify with aggressors even though they get victimized by them covertly or overtly.
I am not as libertarian as you in terms of being so detached from personal conduct of our reps and am troubled by acting out behaviors. Agree, no one is perfect and the ideal-ego-self often gets its come-uppance when real life temptation offers, and stress pushes one, and using one’s “religiousness” posture is hypocritical. And with many circumstances, despite a nosy press and a shadenfreude public, compassion is often deserved, but not at the expense of the citizenry. Clinton’s Monica affair even was a distraction for the country (granted Clinton was not beating the drums, the right wingers awesomely did that), but the emotional wake of it, compartmentalizing though Clinton apparently does awesomely, cost us a focused president, and a weakened one.
I keep looking at non-reformer Obama and yearn for the Edwards’ promises which I bought. And worked for Edwards before he resigned. I don’t know that story, but find it tragic. An opportunity lost, though I don’t think corporate puppeteers would have let Edwards close to winning, sadly. And who was John Edwards? What he was willing to sacrifice for his emotional/physical/ego needs!
Addictions, sexual, substance, etc., are a sign of out of balance sensibility. And political realm, like show business, is a siren call for those who are hungry for “conditional” love/attention when something is not grounded within. And addictions are destined to take one toward a “bottom” whether a low bottom or a high bottom (where one recognizes recovery and stops it or keeps careening lower and lower).
And when someone is so addicted and narcissistic from it and with tremendous power, they inevitably take everyone with them, abetted by enablers who become addicted to the addict, and responding to them and ironically empowering them by such accomodation. Bush even had the press enabling him, so focused on him and fascinated by his childlike struggle to limp through his presidency, limping off the cliff with us in his wake.
Wow… sorry I went on so long, TG! Didn’t realize I was launching my on diary length comment onto yours.
I am not even thrilled with Obama. I was a Richardson guy until he dropped out.
Obama is proving to be George HW Bush (41), which is just about enough to make me spontaneously projectile vomit.
I was very hopeful on election night. I am just about hopeless now. If I had the degree and skillset to get the hell out of the USA and never come back, I’d be gone.
ThatGuy, well, we seriously get to be this generation’s sons and daughters of liberty, a counter-culture, truth to power, evolved and enlightened base camp for each other here at FDL and other aware sites and communities and relationships, insisting on integrity.
Rather be aware than in denial. There is a spiritual breakthru sense of freedom and inner peace, hard won and wonderful, and those who are blocked, like Obama himself, are spiritually stunted, too afraid not to accommodate the patriarchal/authoritarian status quo. On some level he and they are aware of their cowardice. Obama can talk the talk, so there is potential. But can’t walk the walk. We gotta mourn the leader he turned out not to be.
So we have to challenge him and the collective ego-denial-narcissism in this society. And messengers aren’t treated well, no good deeds go unpunished, by those repressing the truth. But some will finally grow if we stay clear and assertive and committed. I’d rather be on this side than theirs. Out of the fog. Much better view. (They say in the dog-sled of life, if you are not a lead dog, the view is always the same. We got the spiritual good view! We are the lead dogs.)
And one more animal metaphor. There is that story about the 100 monkeys. Once 100 monkeys get the truth, the truth ripples quickly and entirely through the whole monkey nation. Takes a lot to get that 100 monkey proportional quota. The people who fought McCarthyism. The people who fought for women’s suffrage. The people who fought for racial equality. The people who fought the wrong-headedness of the Vietnam War. The people who took away the presidency from McCain and (shudder) Palin. The courageous founders of the US who made the blueprint for a just government. They got that 100 monkey quota to alter history for the better.
Our turn for this stage of the good human fight. :)
Republicans and Iraq.
**********
“The much-anticipated milestone has been hailed as a return to sovereignty by Iraqi officials, who have maintained sometimes difficult relations with the US military throughout the years of occupation.
But the celebratory mood has angered some senior US officials and military commanders, who believe intensive training efforts with Iraqi forces have been forsaken, along with combat operations that have cost at least several thousand American lives since the fall of Baghdad.
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, fuelled US anger at the weekend by describing the withdrawal as the result of Iraq’s successful bid to “repulse” the invaders. “We are on the threshold of a new phase that will bolster Iraq’s sovereignty. It is a message to the world that we are now able to safeguard our security and administer our own affairs,” Maliki said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde. “
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..withdrawal