No Where to Turn

This is a little off topic as it relates to design and conservation, but I have no other good place to put it, so here goes.

The current state of being with the extreme right of the Republican party has gone beyond sensible social and/or fiscal conservatism, into puratanical idiocrity. In a recent discussion on NPR on the topic of abortion (yes they are still harping on this topic) Republicans are now holding all of Planned Parenthood, Health Care reform, and Family Planning services up by threat of de-funding, unless all possible use of any funds for abortion are completely eradicated. They take this to some of the most extremely convoluted logic possible, to include indirect connections between the existence of clinics themselves making profits, and using those profits (not Fed funds) to pay doctors, who might provide an abortion.

The premise is simple minded enough: They do not agree that abortions should be provided to women, thus, any tax funds they contribute cannot be used to fund activities that might in some way fund or cause to occur an abortion.  This is a ridiculous premise of course, assuming that we must all agree to every line item of every federal expense in order to allow it to be spent, or program funded. I offer some of my own:

I absolutely disagree with our military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Japan, and Korea – thus I call for all military spending be stopped and de-funded, including the closure of all suppliers to the military, and all supliers to those suppliers.

I have no kids, never have, nor ever will. For the most part, I don;t even like kids. Therefore, I demand the elimination of property taxes on my home and business that are used for the education of children, as I derive no benefit from it.

I absolutely disagree with all farm and food subsidies, and subsidies of crops grown to create fuel. This is market interference that distorts the economy. Thus, I demand that all subsidies by shut down immediately, including food programs that assist the poor and needy – this is just the price they must pay until we can sort all this out.

I absolutely disagree with any public funding of any religion, in any way. Thus, I demand that all tax breaks for church activities, and tax deductions for donations be eliminated immediately, as they are indirect subsidies to church activities, which is unconstitutional.

I do not support forced expansion of our political ideology, in any way. Therefore I insist that all spending on foreign aide that directly or indirectly funds the expansion, promotion, or education of democracy in any way, cease immediately.

I do not believe in globalization of the market, and feel that corporations who export our jobs overseas are destroying our working class and middle class, and eroding the growth of individual pursuit of well being, growth of income, and pusuit of happiness for profits earned on the back of communist exploited labor. Thus, I demand that all corporate tax breaks on earnings, directly or indirectly derived from importing products rather than manufacturing them here, be rescinded, and that all assets of corporate leaders who close factories here to open them in exploitive markets be siezed and sold off to pay for all unemployment caused by their profit greed behavior.

I completely disagree than corporations are individuals, thus demand that all supreme court justices who voted to give corporations this status, and the freedom to contribute unlimited funds to political candidates, be removed from the court immediately, and that the entire judicial system be shuttered until every decision is approved by me.

I disagree that Marijuana should be controlled differently than alchohol, thus demand the closure of the DEA until it is made legal.

I do not support the intrusion of the DOE in controlling enegry use behavior. The prices of energy and its availability should be the only market controls of activity. If I want to drive a 5mpg car and pay $25 a gallon, then that should be my right, thus I demand the DOE be de-funded immediately.

I disagree with the inclusion of the word “God” on our money, as this is a direct violation of the constitutional separation of religion and state, so demand it all be burned and replaced immediately.

You get the picture… Governments are collectives that must operate in turbulent waters often including issues that are not always widely accepted and or popular. The founding fathers did not want mob rule, as we have it today, which is suggested by the silly notion that one issue can be used to hold an entire program hostage. We don’t vote on every single issue, nor do we have a right to veto line items within the total work fo the government. We do, however, have the power to put in office representatives who, within the framework of the constitution, represent our views and make decisions to suit the collective population as a whole.

If the puritanical freaks want to destroy productive programs to support singular line item issues, then so be it. In two years we will all have our shot at dumping them in the ditch. The victories of the Tea party and puritans in 2010 are going to be very short lived if events continue to move as they are today. From Republican governers attacking labor unions, to the attack on Health services over abortion, the insanity of the ultra right could not be more glaring and obvious. This small cadre of noisy, moronic, simple minded, religious zealots  must eventually be flushed from our public governance, or we risk failure as a nation. There are serious issues in front of us, from the decline in personal income, the escalating cost of energy, the soon to be catastrophic collapse of our social contract with the elderly, and our loss of strength as a leading nation in technology and wealth – while we are being robbed blind by Republican supported corporate thieves. Abortion is a moot point when the country is tanked by ignorance and failure to act on truly important and critical issues before us.

At some point, the degradation of our personal well being by the actions of the few loud radicals amongst us will need to end. Hopefully we can stem the tide before it’s simply unrecoverable. At some point the divisiveness and entrenchment we have in play now will become so strong, and the country so divided in unsupported rhetoric, that recovery will be impossible.  So, head off to that picket line demanding some singularity be focused upon at the cost of larger issues if you will. When you have a moment, give a thought to those you are damaging in the process, and what you might do one day if your own financial position or way of life is found to be the target of another equally loud and obnoxious group.