This appeared the day before the election. It is a video of strong conservative Paul Weyrich explaining why the GOP likes voter suppression efforts. The reason is simple: The GOP does better when fewer people vote. The video was made 30 years ago. And to the GOP, voter suppression is still a good idea.
Jonathan Martin, writing for Politico, notes that since 1992 Democrats have either won the presidency or lost it by only one state. I suppose it is possible to steal one state and get away with it, but not more than that. Martin goes on to discuss the GOP demographics issue -- they're the party of old straight white guys. And there is a big divide between practical-minded (there aren't many moderates) party leaders and the activists driving the primaries. With Romney's loss the True Believers will claim it was because he wasn't conservative enough. Pragmatists claim that Romney (and the party as a whole) is too conservative -- driven by ideology with no view of what can sold to the whole country. This divide will begin to show during the big budget face-off that has begun and will continue until the 2016 nomination. The battle will likely be its most fierce over immigration.
Six minutes of fun as Stephen Colbert interviews Rachel Maddow about the election. Colbert said Romney could still win it because we haven't yet counted the votes of Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and Whitesylvania.
And six minutes of Jon Stewart showing how much difficulty conservatives had when Fox News called Ohio (and thus the presidency) for Obama.
Apparently, some GOP folk said they would move to Australia if Obama won. Australia has this response: "Australia has universal health care, compulsory voting, no guns, no death penalty, pro-choice when it comes to contraception, openly gay politicians and judges, evolution is taught in all schools, and our female PM is an unmarried atheist. Be sure to declare your pitchforks at Tullamarine."
A commenter replied that Canada doesn't have the atheist female PM, but does have everything else. And it is a lot closer. But they don't want any annoyed GOP, though progressives are welcome.
Now for a couple instances of piling on. Steve Bhaerman of The Huffington Post lists the reasons why he didn't vote for the GOP.
* There aren't any real Republicans, especially not like the heroes Lincoln, Eisenhower, and even Goldwater.
* The war on women, racial minorities, the environment, even reality.
* They lie with impunity.
* Voter repression and vote stealing.
* GOP nominees to the Supremes would solidify the hold of money on power.
* They're wealth extractors, not job creators.
* They combine the worst of both Christianity and social Darwinism (the poor deserve what they get) into Selfish-Righteousness.
* They don't like democracy.
A guy named David, whose personal blog is named 4 Quarters, 10 Dimes, explains why he can't vote for today's GOP, even though he considers himself moderate and independent of any party.
There are a lot of things government has done for us. Slavery was not ended by the free market. Gov't ended the thuggishness of corporations and boosted opportunities for those not straight, white, male, and wealthy. Railroads (and the opening of the West), highways, the internet and other infrastructure was all sponsored by the gov't.
Liberals and conservatives need each other.
Conservatives serve the useful function of putting a brake on the random undirected enthusiasms of liberals, in the way that liberals serve the useful function of kicking conservatives out of their deep dark caves.But the GOP is no longer acting like responsible adults. That won't change until they hit a seismic loss. Until then, no GOP candidate gets Dave's vote. Someone might be a swell guy and a great candidate, but simply by choosing to be associated with the irresponsibility of the current GOP he loses all credibility.
Why document the reasons the GOP isn't acting like adults? After all, the list of evidence is long and the reality-based community already knows and agrees. But, like the Declaration of Independence, some accounting must take place. So here is why Dave won't be voting for the GOP until they change their ways.
* The GOP claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility is one of the great con jobs. Their mismanagement over the last 40 years has caused the current economic mess and the deficit has risen higher under the GOP than under Dems. Taxes are great -- as long as someone else pays them.
* No actual support for the military. Instead they give it shiny playthings while skimping on things the military actually needs. Then the military is thrown into poorly planned wars while skimming off money to enrich their own corporations.
* They promote selfishness instead of community. Ancient empires collapsed in violence for many reasons, and "the spectre of grinding poverty alongside gaudy wealth with no buffer in between is high on that list."
* They have an ongoing war against women. At recent Congressional hearings on reproductive health the GOP called five experts, all male, most clergy and one celibate. This is just a symbol of a very long list.
* The GOP is under the control of those who want to turn America into a theocracy even though millions of Christians (plus those of other faiths) abhor the idea. Pushing the idea marks the GOP deficient in both history and theology.
* The GOP is systematically trying to destroy education, even though education is the foundation for an economic future and a functioning democracy. They have attacked science and filled curriculum with ideological drivel, underfunded schools (except the ones their kids attend), and vilified teachers. The more educated a person is the less likely they are to support GOP policies. Peasants don't need critical thinking skills.
* The GOP is assaulting democracy both through voter prevention and electoral fraud. "It is not an accident that in Tennessee a student ID is not sufficient to be allowed to vote but a gun registration is." Nobody can find out who actually won Florida in the 2000 election.
* Our current form of government is a republic -- we elect people to make laws. The GOP doesn't like that. It was a GOP president who made frequent use of "signing statements" declaring his opinion was more important than the laws passed by elected officials.
* Several GOP leaders have called for states to secede from the union when things didn't go their way. That's treason. Yet the party embraces them.
I didn't vote a straight party ticket. I carefully researched candidate affiliation (which isn't always possible for judges) and then carefully filled in the ovals on my ballot for individual candidates who weren't GOP, even though it took me 20 minutes. (At 10:15 the line to get a ballot was only 15 minutes.) I may not be pro-Democratic. But, like Dave here (and my friend and debate partner), I am very much anti-Republican.
Alas, though the silly season is over, the nonsense continues. The news is now full of the latest inane comments from the GOP over the fiscal cliff (though a Marketplace radio listener said a better name is the "fiscal bluff"). Obama said that the public is on his side because they reelected him. Boehner responded, yeah, but voters gave the House to the GOP.
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