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Shouting into the Storm
Rantings, ramblings, observations and musings from the insipid to the sublime
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Saturday, November 30, 2002 :::
Republican give and take...
Ann Coulter, the loud mouth bitch of the right wing punditry loves to point out that even in their logic, the Liberals are all wishy-washy.
This is sometimes true, as it is with everyone. There will always be a case where one's Moral Absolutes are put up against a situation where you either determine there is an exception to the rule, or you use spotty logic to fit the situation into your world view. What we rarely hear shouting at us from Fox News is that the GOP is full of this stuff. So, let us take a stroll down GOP thought, and poke a few holes in their Moral Absolutes.
First, my favorite, is the constant clamor for a Limited Federal Government, which is always followed up with States Rights. The idea is that individual state governments are more in tune with their particular demographics than the big bad Beltway people, and are therefore more capable of deciding what their people need. Let's take education as an example. Instead of tying in a large federal check and saying "This must be used for text books", a Republican would say "Give the money to the states, and let them decide where it is best used." Makes sense, right? The same goes when a federal law and a state law clash - a Republican would say "The States have a right to make and enforce their own laws." But this isn't always the case. The highest profile version of this was when the Florida Supreme Court(which is filled with people appointed by the state's governors, who were elected by the people of Florida) ruled for Gore in the 2000 elections. The States Rights Republicans did what? Ran to the Federal government(they also sent their lobbyists and Congressional aides to stage a mini riot, but that's a bit off topic...) More recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court let someone else run on the Democratic ticket for Senate. Most of those justices were put on the bench by Republican Christie Todd Whitman. Yet the GOP ran to the Supreme Court again asking for help. This time, the Supreme Court ignored them. My favorite piece of GOP hypocrisy? The state of California recently passed a law requiring a large decrease in car emissions in the coming years. The Bush Administration, which campaigned on the "I'm a Governor, so I'm for States Rights", has taken the state of California to court to stop the law from kicking in. We won't even mention the pro-pot ballot initiatives the states have passed, yet Atty. General Ashcroft is trying to arrest old granny's for smoking a little dope.
The economy is another point of contention here. Remember, in the summer of 2000, we needed a huge tax refund that would cost $1.3 trillion. Why did we need? Because the economy was so healthy, the money rightfully belonged to The People. A few months later, we needed to give it back because the economy really wasn't doing so well, and people needed it for themselves. Then a few months later, we gave it back so people would go buy DVD players and pump money back into the economy. So, uh, which is it? Same thing is happening now with Iraq. So far we've been told he had links to Osama, that he has nuclear weapons, that he is a Really Bad Man, the list goes on and on. And every time a new item is added to the list, people point out other countries who are far worse than Iraq is. Our great allies in the Middle East, the Saudis? They behead homosexuals, and their entire educational system is centered around fundamental Islam. Nuclear weapons? Hello, North Korea. Using chemical and biological weapons on its own people? Shit, our military does that right here at home(the Pentagon admitted as much in two recent press releases - look 'em up). I can't wait for the UN to declare Iraq free and clear, passing every point of the security council resolution, and Dubya will come out and say "That doesn't prove anything - we still need to attack." Fuckers.
::: posted by Chris at 6:40 PM
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