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The Red Devil and the Blue Devil? 10/30/2012 9:48:35 AM
Is there a basic difference between the
two political parties?
Nikita Khrushchev described the American political parties as “the red devil and the blue devil,” implying that there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the two. 300,000 Florida independents have voted early this election and I’ve got a feeling they don’t see much difference either or they wouldn’t applaud themselves as being independent. I used to be an independent myself, and I voted for Ronald Reagan. That was before Iran Contra and before I learned he met with Jerry “Teletubby” Falwell once a week, despite the fact that he didn’t care much about religion and that he appointed a born-again Christian, the notorious James Watt as Secretary of the Interior. I now vote the straight democratic ticket, and there’s quite a bit of difference between the two, Nikita.
1. The Civil Rights Act of 1965. The democratic party knew they’d lose The South if they passed this legislation, but they went ahead and did it anyway because it was the right thing to do. The Republicans swooped in and catered to the segregationists and racists, not to mention religious zealots who opposed miscegenation. Bob Jones University, an educational institution George W. Bush visited before he was elected, opposed dating between blacks and whites as recently as 2000.
2. Social Security: This is the greatest legislation ever passed by Congress. Republicans opposed it. George W. Bush tried to destroy it by pushing privatization for some Americans. Everybody needs to participate or it doesn’t work, and the cap needs to be raised. It’s an outrage that the rich only pay on their first $110,000. We also need means testing. It’s an insurance program and the rich don’t need it. Many want it because they put money into it, and they’ll all about money.
3. The EPA. Conservatives hate conservation and anything that interferes with oil production. President Obama put a hold on the new Canadian pipeline because it passed over an aquifer in Nebraska. If your water catches fire, you’re toast. Here in Minnesota we had the Iron Range mining interests dumping taconite tailings into Lake Superior. Our new congressman, Chip Cravaack, jumped into the fray almost as soon as he was elected in favor of new copper mines without due diligence. You will not have a job if you’re dead. Even the Chinese have been protesting about a new oil refinery because of the up tick in cancer deaths. Conservatives like to talk about the snail darter as stopping an important new development. Well, the quote is “each man’s death diminishes me” but I think if you feel as I do, that God and nature and man are one, it’s each creature’s demise diminishes me. We started out as one-celled creatures in the ocean; luckily we developed the capability to reproduce and mutate, which eventually led to what we are today. Who knows what role the snail darters play?
4. Pro-Life. It seems to me they should change their name. They are more concerned with the unborn and the living dead than they are with everybody in between. You can’t be pro-life and also pro capital punishment or pro war. You can’t oppose such issues as the minimum wage if you’re pro life.
You can’t claim to be among the Chosen Few if you’re pro life. I could go on and on.
5. Paul Ryan worked on a bill with Todd Aiken that would have outlawed rape, incest and protection of the life of the mother as reasons for abortion.
6. The gap between the rich and the poor has increased during Obama’s term, and he was doing everything he could, no thanks to us, to bring the middle class back. Mitt Romney would cut taxes for everyone, but he’s not saying how he would do it. I’ll tell you what he’s going to do. You know that mortgage deduction you like so much; you can kiss it good bye. If he only takes it from the rich, he won’t be able to find the eight trillion he needs. The reason we now have a budget deficit of a trillion dollars plus is not so much because of the stimulus act; it’s because of the Bush tax cuts which were never paid for and because of Grover Norquist’s “No new taxes, no new revenue” pledges which just about every Republican has signed.
It’s hard to understand why corporate America would support this nonsense.
John Kline, a Minnesota congressman, has produced an ad, bragging that he helped do away with earmarks, but earmarks provided a means for politicians of different stripes to make a deal who would never talk to each other because of their ideologies.
7. Guns. Who would oppose reasonable restrictions on guns if it meant reducing the 30,000 gun deaths every year that occur as a result of murder, suicide and accident? Republicans because it’s a wedge issue and hunters and ranchers think that if they give in, they’ll be next. But you’re throwing 30,000 people under the bus, 300,000 in the last ten years. And since when did the right to bear arms become the right to own assault weapons or clips for a Glock with 32 bullets?
No, it’s time for Independents to make up their minds. The two parties are not the red devil and the blue devil. One gave away support from more than a quarter of the country to do the right thing; the other is denying basic human rights to American citizens (gays and Mexican-Americans).
Dave Schwinghammer's novel, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available at Amazon.com, new and used.
