The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
- H.L. Mencken
If any of y’all harbored any lingering illusions that the GOP was a party of ideas and vision…well, wake up and smell the cat litter, willya? There should no longer be ANY doubt as to what the priorities and strategy of today’s Republican Party are. It’s not about ideas. It’s not about taking care of the People’s business. It’s not about furthering democracy. It’s about political power, plain and simple. Gaining, aggregating, and maintaining political power. As if we needed any more evidence of the GOP’s complete and unalloyed moral bankruptcy, the Republican National Committee has decided to pursue a strategy that can only charitably be described as “fear and smear”. It’s about doing whatever they need to do in order to scare Americans and keep them frightened enough to open their wallets and donate copiously to the RNC. Make people afraid of the bad Black man in the White House, and paint him as a Socialist, America-hating terrorist sympathizer…THIS is the Republican alternative?
What’s so stunning is the RNC’s transparency about their strategy and cynicism. The focus will be squarely on “fear and smear”, along with liberal (no pun intended) applications of the current Republican bogeymen: “SOCIALISM!!!” Expect to see everything short of photographs of Barack Obama bearing the tagline, “SOCIALISMO O MUERTO!!!” Why? Why the Hell not? It’s not as if the RNC has any actual, honest-to-God ideas to offer.
The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama…. In neat PowerPoint pages, it lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party’s donors that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political operatives. The presentation explains the Republican fundraising in simple terms…. “What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate…?” it asks. The answer: “Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”
How can you possibly take a political party and their ideology seriously when their idea of political marketing involves using Cruella DeVille and Scooby Doo as caricatures of opponents you plan on demonizing? I’ve listened to Republicans whining and moaning about how Americans need to take their country back as they trend farther and farther toward the lunatic fringe of the Tea Party. They have no ideas, unless you happen to consider fear-mongering, cheap insults, and character assassination to be viable policy options.
This is the alternative to Democratic leadership. If you’re not disgusted, you’re not paying attention.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
