OpEd:
A Plea for Democracy
August 14, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: America, Democracy, GOP, Politics, Republicans, Teabaggers
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics
The so-called healthcare “debate” in America has crossed the border that marks the differences between sane, rational discussion and heated, emotional irrationalities, that has resulted in the opponents of a national healthcare plan – of any kind – drawing murky parallels to demonized characters and unethical activities with no basis in reality. Militia groups are seeing rapid growth in portions of the country, meetings designed to foster discussion between Congressmen and citizens are being hijacked by screaming and disingenuous mobs, and the life of President Obama could potentially be seriously jeopardized in the near future by one of the aforementioned crazed mob attendants – is this what the United States of America was founded for?
Does drowning out the voices of concerned citizens, asking legitimate questions, with shouts for violence and bloodshed bring to mind the principles of “Freedom of Speech”? Does a so-called “news network” claiming that the President isn’t a citizen, is a secretly a member of a domestically unpopular religion, or has philosophical ties to Adolf Hitler qualify as “Freedom of Press”? Does a major political party ignoring the problems their members are causing, and in some cases feeding them, qualify as a legitimate usage of “Freedom of Association”? The answer to all the above is a definitive “no”, and are the very basis on which American Democracy is currently being threatened.
The Republican Party, and more specifically the ultraconservative subset, has viciously opposed President Obama since he started campaigning, and their feelings have only grown stronger in the last few months. However, it’s interesting to note that when President Bush was recently in power for eight years, and the Democratic Party was largely dissatisfied with him, there were no violent gatherings calling for his death, no major news networks defaming him (in any manner) as part of their political agenda, nor was there a laundry list of patently false conspiracy theories that spurred membership growth for politically-driven militias. In fact, the last time there was such political violence and outrage, it was once again from the Republican Party during the Clinton Administration. Coincidence? Many neocons would use such information as a validation of their behaviors, claiming the Democratic Party is so demonstrably wrong that they create a reaction, but logical reasoning would indicate otherwise.
This repetitive and predictable ideological reaction to anything deemed liberal, which is used by the GOP as a demonizing term, would have resulted in Congressional gridlock if there wasn’t a Democratic majority – even if some of the Democrats are only so in name. The fact that such a majority exists, along with the epic crises seen in the recent past, puts the lie to many of the modern Republican ideals, but does not mean that Democrats vote along party lines for simple, self-beneficial reasons – they tend to analyze issues before deciding how to vote, rather than agreeing (or dismissing, in the case of Republicans) with the ideological policy. America must be thankful for this.
But having a Democratic Congress has nonetheless resulted in problems since President Obama wished to, until recently, include the ranting Republicans on policy. By doing so, the self-appointed “party of opposition” was given a pulpit from which to preach, and it was abused: spreading lies from the microphone of the Senate or House is an intolerable offense, especially when the end goal is merely to “break” the current President and his reputation. Furthermore, the confirmation of conspiracy theories and outright falsehoods, that originated on an insufferable “slandertainment” network, by Congressmen has only fanned the flames of the outraged GOP members, and given reason for the racist, unintelligent, and incoherent masses to rise up.
The current outrage seen at townhalls across the country, intended to discuss healthcare with average citizens, has been shown to be manufactured: groups of people are being told where to attend, what to say, and how to behave by both FOX News and Republican politicians. But it should come as no surprise that the very manufacturers are calling such an undemocratic and childish method of expression “Democracy in action”, even when it is neither Democratic in nature nor legitimate outrage. The Founding Fathers, who so often get referenced by the screaming mobs of gun-toting neocons, were able to sit together and have rational discussions of issues with each other, regardless of personal, political, or religious ideology, and come to a general consensus on the best course of action for the people – is this in any way similar to the current activities of the majority of the Republican Party?
As August 2009 progresses, the attention being given to the crazed mob is increasingly alarming, and will likely lead to an epic misstep for the Republican Party: an attempt on President Obama’s life, or a foiled plot with similar intentions, by one of the GOP’s own. Before the summer months began, most of the neocons were content with calling Obama a “socialist” and making veiled references to his supposed lack of citizenship or hidden religion. But June and July saw an increase in anti-Obama rhetoric, spurred on by the same puppetmasters behind town-hall-crashing, and the lies increased in proportion to the strength and probability of a healthcare reform bill: the forced euthanasia of the elderly / general “rationing” of healthcare, the destruction of Capitalism, medical symbols mutated to look like Nazi propaganda, and the list continues. If the current pace of extremist escalation is maintained, the month of August may very well be known as the deathknell of the modern Republican Party.
The saddest fact, among a litany of disheartening information, is that the majority of the American people don’t know any better than to believe the lies spread by both the politicians and members of the Republican Party. Between sourceless chain emails, misleading articles in biased mainstream publications, and the coverage of neocon nonsense without clarification or labels by mainstream news networks, the average citizen doesn’t know what to believe without doing independent research – which takes effort, something the American people are not known for freely expending. Instead, people are forced to listen to friends, family, and neighbors spew nonsense derived from Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, or Michael Steele, and decide whether it’s fact – good luck if they watch FOX News hoping for truth.
Politics in America has reached a point where people feel obligated, if not pressured outright, to accept the beliefs of others as legitimate – no matter their factual basis. To question the political beliefs of another is often a terrible offense, and results in claims of “I can believe what I want to” as a defense of their ignorance, much like the forced tolerance of religion, even as religion itself is intolerant of outside belief systems. This is not Democracy.
Intelligence, reason, and thoughtful discussion left American culture long ago, and a direct result is the current political climate of blind opposition and outrage. It is, time and time again, the same group of people that participate in such public defamation, no matter the topic: those who violently oppose healthcare reform tend to be extremely religious, white, Southern, Republican individuals that are also against Democratic politicians having power, gay marriage, and the intellectual process. The culture of tolerance that has been cultivated since the early 1900’s (or earlier) must end, as some things are intolerable – the swift destruction of Democracy is one.
If America is to return to its former position of reasoned and thoughtful political debate, things must change: either the Republican Party must be forced to reform its ways, or be abolished, based on the constant disruption of the political process; politicians and news networks alike must be held accountable for inciting violence and spreading lies to the American public; the crazed mobs of screaming neocons must be contained and shown the error of their ways, if only for their own personal betterment. Placing the Democratic Party in a sole position of unchecked power is not an appropriate solution, but the current system of de facto opposition by Republicans is not the intention of a multi-party political system. Neither is it the intention of “Freedom of Speech”, “Freedom of Assembly”, or “Freedom of Press” to incite violence, support militias, or disseminate falsehood propaganda in order to further private agendas.
Rational voices must be given precedence over the irrational, as they make a plea for Democracy’s continued existence as the basis of American government. Democracy, in its true form, must be restored in America.
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Note: apologies again on being a day late - things will be back on schedule next week.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
