God and the Damned GOP

Why don't we as a Grand Ole Party love Mitt Romney? One word answer - CHRIST!

We have somehow come to believe that the only way for us to elect a pater familias is for HIM to be a Christian. The corollary to this maxim is that of course "America is a Christian nation" - when of course it is NOT (and by the way was not intended to be). In case you hadn't noticed people of varying faiths and belief systems have been welcome and contributing here since the beginning. We used to welcome them - you know the "tired, the hungry, the poor." Those yearning masses yearning to be free. Free from what you ask? Well how about religious intolerance and tyranny of the state (remember our beloved Pilgrims)?

This deal was struck many years ago by our beloved leader, Ronald Wilson Reagan. RR was a great communicator and he had a great team of writers. He was not however a great Church goer. But he had writers who understood that the audience will fill in the blanks. So when RR (long may his name be praised) spoke of "the Almighty" we all would hear Christianity and it comforted us. When he spoke of right and wrong we heard - "Christian morality." No one since has had the stage presence to allow the audience, or his own team even to interpret his meaning.

We want everything spelled out for us. Every candidate must have a plan to govern the ungovernable. We want to know what the pray when they kneel at night. We want to know whom they pray to, what shape he/she takes and how often. we have a "right to know" we say, but do we really? Then when it's all spelled out we don't like it.

We want a business candidate believing that those skills are transferable - no real examples of that but we believe it nonetheless (see Salomon P. Chase). Yet when we get a very skilled business person like Meg Whitman or Ross Perot or Donald Trump or the recently sainted Steve Jobs we rediscover that to be successful in business you don't have to agree with an outside party. You don't take input on a great idea and you are sometimes a boor! Ok, so no business people for President. Romney was correct when he said "Corporations are people" because that's what we're taught in business school and in the law. How else do we make them liable for their actions? Every lawyer and MBA in the land understood that his answer was correct.

But it his faith not his business credentials that disqualifies Romney from the love of the American populous. We don't understand it and what we think we know comes from TV talk shows and HBO series. We think hegemony and demure dresses. Large families and business success. Secrecy and back room deals. Allegiance to someone other than the American ideals. We believe he might take orders and instructions from some one other - - wait - - are we talking about JFK or Mitt? Hmmmm....

The Republicans have it Wrong - Again!

Been a member of the Grand Old Party all my life. Surprising really because the longer I remain registered as a Republican the less it means to me. I believe government ought to be minimal. I believe we as a society should choose to provide a safety net for those who can't provide for themselves. I believe that being right doesn't mean you have the biggest Army. I believe in an individual right to bear and keep arms - one real good way to protect against an overreaching government. I believe I know what's good for me and you might know what's good for you. I believe you can worship as you choose without the government interfering. I believe Bowers v. Hardwick was governmental overreaching. I believe if the good people of Alaska wanted that dim bulb as their governor we should have left her there.

I believe in the Monroe Doctrine (google it).

Does any of this sound Republican any more?

Don't be Like Thomas, the Disciple

I don't believe men evolved from Monkeys (particularly not the murderous rampaging CT kind who live with single white women - is this a monkey living with a "cougar?") and for all those who do, I like to ask them to explain how the human heart comes to beat and how evolved man can't seem to re-create one. So, I'm a person of faith. Faith works in my life and I see Providence all around. I'm not talking organized Religion here but Faith.

Anyway, these first 30 days of the Obama-thon have reminded me of the disciple Thomas (from whom springs the name Doubting Thomas), who when the risen Lord appeared to him and his mates didn't believe it was the Lord until he was told to go ahead and see for himself..after inserting his hands into the wound he was forgiven for his doubts.

...Today we have an foreclosure abatement program and I've heard Ben Stein say the cost will be too high! He's right but only if you ignore the societal costs of all those men, women and school age children living in shelters, using emergency rooms for primary medical care and stealing to feed themselves - cause guess what? Single people with two incomes aren't in this mess. Guys who are working their first job and saving for a new BMW aren't in this mess- families are in this mess. Mr. Stein, he of many words, opined that if we keep up at this rate one day "Standard and Poors" will look at the US govt debt and downgrade us to the levels of Germany! How ridiculous. The same Standard and Poors who rated CDOs and ABS pools as AAA because they were issued by Lehman Brothers and Citigroup through off balance sheet SIVs. I care less what S&P thinks of American Debt. Perhaps the next generation will have a Doubting Ben. You can't argue for a meritocracy some times - it's all or nothing Ben. Didn't hear any of these voices in November when 3 of the large money center banks were within days of collapse because their capital ratios were too low.

I suppose all those anti-Obamers who've already worked themselves up into a lather 30 days after the guy got started want a do over. (These are the same eggheads who take a mulligan on each side and don't believe they're cheating at golf by the way) They want to demand tax cuts that the American People decided didn't work after all (RIP the Gipper and "trickle down"). Can't have trickle down economy if there's no liquidity at the top and by the way you're deporting all the workers at the bottom but that's for another day - if you want a real meritocracy let everyone in and keep the best!

They failed to consider that, like it or not, our GOP got it's clock cleaned because it was too far in bed with them in the first place. We gave the country Norm Coleman for goodness sakes - how can anyone take this seriously. Where were these boneheads when we were racking up generations of debt nation building in Iraq. Didn't anyone else read the Federalist papers - Rush Limbaugh certainly didn't it! Laura Ingraham - come on, that's not discourse - it's low minded personal attack politics that's easily disguised by humor, Lenny Bruce got arrested for it (no wonder Laura couldn't find a sperm donor the old fashioned way).We already debated that issue and came down clearly on the side of staying out of it (over there, over there.....). So while I'm paying $4 bucks a gallon to drive my Made in America SUV no one shouts that the Republican government was ginnng up debt like it didnt' matter - now it matters. ? Give me a break. More tomorrow....