Ideologues? Where? Everywhere!

After Newt Gingrich began preaching that the way to defeat Democrats was to denigrate them every time one needed to mention a Democrat, Democratic policies, or anything Democrat or Democratic, the vitriol and inability for Congress to do anything constructive has gotten worse and worse.  On July 13, 2011, as reported in ThinkProgress, Gingrich made the following comment:

 

“I believe we’re in the biggest crisis since the 1850s. You look at the spiritual collapse of America, you look at the social collapse of the American family, you look at all the problems we have economically, you look at the collapse of our governmental institutions, you look at our inability to control our own border, you look at the rise of China. And you have a Secretary of Defense who’s living in la-la land. I’ve known Leon Panetta for a long time. He is a nice man. But if he thinks we’re winning over al Qaeda, what I’m really frightened of is he may actually believe it. I mean, 10 years after 9/11 — I’m going to give some speeches on this in August — we’re in worse shape today than we were 10 years ago.” 

This is probably one of the most gentle of Gingrich’s comments about a Democrat.  To the radical conservative right, maligning, vilifying and degrading liberals, progressives, Democrats, or anyone caught talking to a person from the left was the name of the game. See Ann Coulter’s book, “If you have to talk to a liberal” as an example. At the same time, there have been innumerable whines from the right about how terribly Democrats talk about Republicans.  All one has to do is watch Fox News, and the constant excoriating of the left goes strong 24/7. 

It has gotten to the point now that every time the Republicans insist that President Obama is derelict in not doing something, and then he does it, they immediately freak out and begin all sorts of crazy-thinking verbal attacks.  This because President Obama is a Democrat, but also black.  I’m never sure which the right-wingers dislike more!  About equal, probably.  Witness the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, which the righties were screaming for last month, and then when it happened, they screamed that it was the wrong thing to do.  No thought, no analysis, only ‘group-think’. 

“A won because he is a registered Republican who was completely backed by the local Republican establishment. B is registered DTS (Decline to State or Independent), so he had no party backing. The Republicans have a 5% lead in party registrations in X County and quite frankly Republicans are very faithful to their party. Notice that 5% is exactly the gap between A and B. It is unfortunate that A chose to make this a partisan campaign (why would anyone think that a Republican would make a better DA than an Independent or a Democrat), but it was a smart move. He also knew that most loyal Republicans would overlook his ethical lapses.” 

So imagine my surprise when someone who is known to be a liberal, and an effective thinker, posted the above on Facebook.  I have changed the names of the candidates to A and B, and referred to our county as X.  Now it is true that many Republicans supported A, but so did many Democrats.  Some Republicans undoubtedly supported B.  And, the local Democratic Party put candidate B’s name on their circulars that were mailed out.  Now I have had lunch with both A and B and found them to be dedicated and very effective at what they do.  What disturbed me about the posting is the assumption that all Republicans are exactly alike, and therefore any Democrat who voted for A approved of an alleged ethical violation, even though if A had chosen to pursue it, so did B have one.   

When I was in office one of my strongest supporters on social justice issues was a Republican.  And earlier this year a very good friend of mine died who was a staunch Republican.  We all still liked each other.  In my family someone supported candidate B while I supported A.  So, I’m supposed to throw that person out of the house because she voted for someone that I didn’t?  I don’t think so.  As a matter of fact, we had a great 45 minute conversation this morning.  I don’t think she had an ethical lapse, nor does she think I did.  We simply believed that our candidate was the best for the job.  I think this is called democracy. 

Ideologues can be anywhere and everywhere.