There is a saying, familiarity breeds contempt and it basically means the better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them. For the past year, Americans have become familiar with Republicans and as polls are showing, it is easy to find fault with their contempt for America and its people who are not rich or ultra-religious. In fact, as voters familiarize themselves with Republicans seeking the nomination for the president, there are signs that more Americans find fault with their hate-inspired rhetoric and propensity for lying and are summarily rejecting them . However, there is a segment of America that embraces hateful Republicans because they are familiar and approve of their vicious rhetoric towards gays, the poor, women, minorities, and especially President Obama.
Throughout the past week, reports from the CPAC conference provide clear signs that the group of conservatives do not represent main-stream America and instead are a vocal minority that represents all that is wrong in this country. The four remaining Republican candidates exemplify intolerance, divisiveness, and a growing desire to return to this country’s darkest era and their band of supporters are no better. Fortunately, most Americans do not subscribe to the divisive conservative agenda, but Republicans are too engorged with hate to see that their vision of America is contrary to the hopes and dreams most Americans aspire to.
The three Republican frontrunners have each distinguished themselves as outliers from mainstream America and although each man represents an extremist faction within the conservative movement, together they are the antithesis of a United States of America. Rick Santorum is running on transforming the country into a theocracy of Old Testament proportion and his supporters hate everything the bible tells them to. Willard Romney represents the wealthy elite that conceals money in Swiss bank accounts and offshore tax havens and his supporters are primarily corporations, the one-percent, and those morons who believe they will become billionaires. Newt Gingrich represents Bush-Republicans and self-aggrandizing megalomaniacs that disregarded the law to further their imperialistic causes.
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Each of the frontrunners have appealed to racists who object to an African American as President, and it is the most egregious tactic any candidate could employ. It is astounding that they have the temerity to appeal to racists when the country’s minority population will soon be the majority, and when younger Americans do not see race as an issue. Instead of addressing poverty, unemployment, and desperation that permeates minority communities, the Republicans have openly disparaged African Americans and Hispanics to curry favor with white supremacists and teabaggers that yearn for an Aryan nation. For example, Rick Santorum had dinner with a blatant white nationalist, Bob Vandervoort, who moderated a panel at the CPAC conference entitled, “The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the Pursuit of Diversity is Weakening the American Identity.†It is tragic that in 2012, the American identity conservatives consider superior parallels Nazi Germany that Americans fought against in World War II.
During President Obama’s State of the Union address, he emphasized the point that anything America accomplished was an all-inclusive effort with contributions from all Americans and that it was the only way to move forward. The Republican agenda is a divided America with all breaks going to wealthy, white Christian males and 99% of the country living in poverty. In Republicans’ America there is no such thing as inclusive policies and they have devoted considerable time belittling the poor, unemployed, infirm, women, elderly, and children as leaches on America and instead of working to create jobs and foster an opportunity for all Americans to succeed and thrive, they actively work to increase poverty numbers while fighting to abolish the minimum wage, unemployment compensation, child labor laws, and education opportunities for all Americans. It is hypocritical that conservatives love to spout the “one nation under god†slogan when they have rejected Christianity and the concept of one nation. Their ploy of dividing the nation symbolizes anti-American sentiment as well as contempt for the Constitution.
President Obama was correct. America cannot move forward as a divided nation, but maybe that is the Republican’s goal. Their divisive and exclusionary agenda will result in either an Old Testament theocracy or a plutocracy controlled by corporations and wealthy industrialists. The fact that the CPAC conference features White Nationalists and speakers who defame President Obama as a Marxist waging a war on religious liberty proves their ultimate goal is a divided nation controlled by a few white, wealthy Christian males who will ensure that America reverts to turn-of-the-century sensibilities where African Americans were subjected to third-rate status and women subjected themselves to a man’s will without question. Fortunately, the majority of Americans reject that scenario out of hand and will not tolerate seeing other Americans treated like animals.
Conservatives are the bane of America and their divisiveness will be their undoing. There are Americans who worship men like Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich, but they are in the minority and are appalling to most Americans. This column has vilified many different groups of Americans, but the criticism is borne out of frustration and disgust at the hateful rhetoric from conservatives and religious extremists. The news releases from the CPAC conference validate every criticism any Secular Humanist has ever made about conservatives in general, and particularly Republicans, but Americans are better than the hate-filled racists, bigots, and religious extremists CPAC represents. Although the rhetoric from conservatives is depressing and outrageous, it serves to familiarize Americans with Republicans and the more that mainstream America learns about the GOP’s plans for the future, the more contempt they have for anti-American Republicans.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
