October 18, 2014 7:27 AM

Hatred, homophobia, and misogyny: Republican politics at its finest

Twenty-two years ago at his party’s national convention, Buchanan thundered, “we stand with [President George H. W. Bush] against the amoral idea that gay and lesbian couples should have the same standing in law as married men and women.” This week, nearly every Republican and conservative movement leader stood quietly as the Supreme Court effectively extended equal marriage rights to more than half of the country. Stunned, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee lashed out at his party’s silence, “go ahead and just abdicate on this issue … I’ll become an independent. I’ll start finding people that have guts to stand.” But he doesn’t seem to have many takers.

Time was when the Republican Party had ideas. Granted, they were generally bad and very unworkable, impractical ideas…but at least they had something to put forward that (sort of) looked like a recipe for moving American forward. Today the GOP can’t even be bothered with the pretense of stand FOR something, of having a positive program to present to Americans. For the past few years, it’s been all hate and fear-mongering all the time. Whether it’s attempting to regulate female reproductive functions, working to kill Obamacare, disenfranchising voters, opposing same-sex marriage, or investigating Benghazi (stop me if you’ve heard this before), Republicans are very good at telling us what they’re AGAINST. Where they fall short is telling us what they’re FOR.

I’ve never believed in the term “culture war.” There were no such things as “culture warriors;” that makes it sound as if there’s a legitimate alternative to the current state of affairs. There were only bigots and haters determined to force their narrow, hate- and fear-based agenda on all Americans. It was never a “war,” or even a “battle,” just a collection of racists, homophobes, misogynists, and Teapublicans determined to burn America down if they couldn’t get their way. And “their way” meant an America ruled by people who look, believe, and love as they do- White, Conservative, heterosexual…and male.

A perfect example of Conservative capitulation to the Dark Side is “personhood”- the theory that human life begins at the moment of fertilization. When personhood was roundly opposed, Conservatives faced the firestorm…and courageously attempted to rebrand and camouflage their original intent- outlawing abortion under any circumstance whatsoever. Politicians who beat the anti-choice drums and proclaimed themselves “100% pro-life” found themselves forced to backtrack furiously. How could they oppose abortion even in the case of rape and incest? How could they be so insensitive, so lacking in compassion that they’d condemn a victim of rape or incest to carry their baby to term? Turns out they could do it quite easily, but the blowback was fierce, and so they had to find more subtle ways to camouflage their true intent.

Politico’s Bill Sher has a pretty good three-part theory about what doomed Republicans when it came to their collective attempt to legislate morality:

  1. Republicans stopped being savvy on abortion.
  2. Republicans got weird about birth control.
  3. Republicans bet wrong on gay marriage.

Instead of trying to be inclusive, somewhere along the line Republicans decided to go with divisiveness as their primary strategy. They decided to focus on “hot button” issues, which produced strong emotional reactions on both sides. By their calculus, this was the way to majority positions in Congress…except that the problem with extremism is that it doesn’t allow for wiggle room. Republicans took extreme positions on these “hot button” issues…and when those positions proved too radioactive and controversial to maintain, they had no fallback position. As long as they’re able to keep Americans reacting in anger instead of thinking critically, Republicans are golden. When the uncomfortable, inconvenient questions inevitably come, they’ve no credible way to defend themselves…because in their case, the Emperor has no clothes.

Now Republicans find themselves on the wrong side of history, and they’re having trouble gaining and maintaining traction. Extremism may appeal to the American Taliban, but it’s a recipe for disaster when it comes to governing. There’s simply no way to appeal to the majority of Americans whose driving philosophy is more or less “live and let live.” Hatred is a tough sell, because it’s tough to maintain over the long term…and it makes for damned poor public policy.

P.T. Barnum once said that you’d never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. Republicans have operated under this theory for years, and no without some notable successes. The problem with hatred and ignorance is that they have a very short shelf life, and eventually the bill comes due when voters begin to see what hasn’t been accomplished. The question becomes how long those committed to spreading hatred and divisiveness can skillfully employ smoke and mirrors in order to deceive the American Sheeple into thinking that have something positive to offer.

Stay tuned; we don’t have much longer to wait.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on October 18, 2014 7:27 AM.

"Holier than thou" is no guarantee of purity was the previous entry in this blog.

So much for the power of prayer is the next entry in this blog.

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