The Rant in the Center of the Aisle

I'm probably going to get half the internet mad at me for this one, but at this point I really don't care. It's about time someone put some sense in the nonsense that is politics. Primarily, it's the lefties who are howling just now, so I've got more material to work with on their side. But don't think this doesn't go for the right wing nazi-types as well - those who most closely resemble the caricatures erected to epitomize the ideal Bush supporter in the land of the leftist nighmare. It does apply. In spades.



Rheka Basu:

There's a culture war, and it's about how we define values. It's a war between those who think morality means punishing gay people by withholding their rights, and those who judge it by how a government takes care of its vulnerable. Those people wonder, if this election was really about morality, wouldn't it also be about the rights and wrongs of invading the wrong country, advancing human rights at home, and being fairer to underprivileged children and elderly Americans? It's a war between people who support the president because, as one wrote me, he 'gets up each day and prays to God for the safety and welfare of this wonderful nation,' and those who think religious values should be reflected in economic and civil-rights policies.

Yep, Rheka. A majority of this country voted for Bush because they secretly love flogging the underprivileged and elderly. Hell, they'd leave 'em on mountaintops to die of exposure if they got the chance. They want to force you to your knees to swear allegience to their god while resegregating the nation and plunging us into an economic depression so deep the sky can't be seen from the bottom of the pit.



Talk Left:

A Day in the Life of Joe Republican (anonymous as of now)



Joe gets up at 6am and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications is paid by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

You got that, too. Those Bush supporters like a little bug juice in with their meat, and they'd shower in toxic waste so long as it smelled purty. Those scrooges would like to see us all without any health care, so we could die off and decrease the surplus population.



The New York Times:

"'I'm saddened by what I feel is the obtuseness and shortsightedness of a good part of the country - the heartland,' Dr. Joseph said. 'This kind of redneck, shoot-from-the-hip mentality and a very concrete interpretation of religion is prevalent in Bush country - in the heartland.'



'New Yorkers are more sophisticated and at a level of consciousness where we realize we have to think of globalization, of one mankind, that what's going to injure masses of people is not good for us,' he said."

We redneck states, we don't hold much with the ed-u-cashun, lidin ta a lack of general intelligence in these parts. Y'all city folks can think on them eu-ro-peeens. We'll stick to readin' and figurin'.



Jane Smiley in Slate:

"I say forget introspection. It's time to be honest about our antagonists. My predecessors in this conversation are thoughtful men, and I honor their ideas, but let's try something else. I grew up in Missouri and most of my family voted for Bush, so I am going to be the one to say it: The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not. (Well, almost 58 million—my relatives are not ignorant, they are just greedy and full of classic Republican feelings of superiority.) . . . Here is how ignorance works: First, they put the fear of God into you—if you don't believe in the literal word of the Bible, you will burn in hell. Of course, the literal word of the Bible is tremendously contradictory, and so you must abdicate all critical thinking, and accept a simple but logical system of belief that is dangerous to question. A corollary to this point is that they make sure you understand that Satan resides in the toils and snares of complex thought and so it is best not try it. . . . "

Enough already!



There are some who feel that while the woman's right to choose her own path of life and health is important, at some point - at least by the ninth month - the "fetus" actually does become a "baby" and to kill it just because the woman doesn't feel like having a kid today might be a really, really bad thing to do.



There are some who want to protect the environment and all the creatures in it, but don't want to collapse the economy by taking all land out of logging and oil production. Who want to make sure that if we take the land some retiree bought for their dream home because it houses some endangered cricket, we must compensate the unsuspecting landowner so they can build their house elsewhere.



There are some who don't want to see forced prayer in the classroom and the name of Jesus invoked to explain every varient of history, and yet also object if you want to blast out the two-hundred-year-old Ten Commandments brick from the foundation of the courthouse, or use white-out on the Declaration of Independence to remove the words "endowed by their Creator."



There are those who don't like the direction the "war on terror" is taking, but certainly don't want to pack up and go home now. Those who agree both with holding terrorist prisoners and also prosecuting the torture at Abu Ghraib; with increased security measures without the excesses built into the Patriot Act.



There are some who want to see victims of corporate greed made whole, not made into millionaires. People who want to aid those out of work or down on their luck; yet not be tapped like an ATM by those who refuse to work, or consider minimum-wage jobs "beneath them." Those who welcome immigrants, yet would send back those who 'cut' the line in that process by sneaking across the border while thousands of others wait patiently for their visas.



Who want to see reasonable restrictions on, say, nuclear power, armor-piercing weapons, and handheld bazookas, yet really don't give a damn if the guy next door keeps a handgun under his pillow and six different rifles for deer hunting. Who want to eliminate overt cruelty to farm animals without giving up their steak dinner.



Who believe a person has the right to possess all the porn they want in their own home, but not to look at it while sitting next to a six year old by the children's room of the Public Library.



I guess I am sick to death of the "team mentality": gun control, abortion, the war, social security, you name the issue. We're being handed two extremist choices and asked to choose up sides: PETA or the NRA, the ACLU or the Christian Coalition, when neither one is right.



You know why Kerry lost? I believe people were more afraid of what Kerry would do than what Bush was already doing. Bottom line. They may have been right or wrong, but that's what it is. It was a clear majority, and they weren't all idiots. You know why it wasn't a landslide? Because many people were more afraid of what Bush is going to do than what Kerry would accomplish.



To either party:

You want a sure win in 2008? Then stop scaring us. We'd love to vote for someone we like, not the lesser of two evils. You'd see a landslide.



UPDATE:

A well-reasoned, far less "ranting" essay on the same subject is posted at the Back Seat Philosopher.