Perception Or Reality

The Republican Party (GOP) is really interesting to watch these days; frankly that is an understatement! Two of the parties shining stars are alleged to have been less than ethical in doing the public’s business. I have said many times that “If you follow the money, you will also get the correct answer”. The interesting thing about both of their situations, even though it appears that they did have their fingers in the cookie jar, they stand before us self-righteous pretending not to be crooks. I remember a guy named “Tricky Dick” who did the same thing and we saw how that turned out.

As a result, now the deck gets shuffled because both of these guys are done. Unfortunately, these two, the Golden Boys, were suppose to be the cream of the crop, which means the GOP now has to deal from the bottom of the deck, and my lord there are some really bad cards in the deck. In my view, this is emblematic of the GOP whose mantra is to preach righteousness while they practice deception. Both of the situations that involve these two are simple about “greed”.

Both of these guys had presidential aspirations with strong conservatives support. Could you imagine having men like these two being in the most powerful position in the world? But then, we have seen them before in the likes of, in my view, all of the republican presidents since “Ike” had similar fallacies. And to be honest, we have not had a president in eighty years to think of the middle class and none since Johnson that showed an interest in African Americans.

So let’s look at some of the other cards in the deck where there are the same noise makers being recycled. There is always the possibility of Caribou Barbie, Mr. Huckaberry, Perry, the Cruz Missile, the Cuban, and others just as or more extreme that are in the equation, as prospects who are down-right frightening. But of all of these characters there is one, who is also extreme but the other make him looks like a moderate. Mr. Paul speaks well and has become more seasoned as a politician. However, his past is recorded and that past is ominous.

What concerns me about Mr. Paul, who became a cult figure among libertarians and Tea Party activists, not unlike his father, both known for marching to a different drummer. This republican has little regard for the GOP party line and believes in a philosophy that might best be described as radical individual freedom and privatizing as many functions as possible to reduce government to its barest bones.

In a past interview Paul has said, he could not bring himself to endorse the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "I think there's a lot to be desired in the Civil Rights Act... I haven't read all through it, because it was passed 40 years ago and hadn't been a real pressing issue on the campaign whether I'm going to vote for the Civil Rights Act" suggesting that he might not have voted for it if he was around. In addition, he continued with his view that businesses should not be forced by government to adopt anti-discrimination rules. He had to be dragged into recognizing some of the largest moral achievements of recent American history, while still suggesting that the country should go back to the days of old.

It's simply astonishing in this day and age that a possible nominee for anything would try to breathe life into the long discredited notion that the Constitution might protect an individual business owner's 'right' to exclude customers on the basis of race. Sometimes saying nothing is worst that saying what you really mean but I can hear what he is not saying. This philosophy has the virtue of being easily explainable and the drawback of being impossible. Separate but equal is the remedy for what was not accomplished during the last eight years, which I suppose is the message that he wants to return to those days.

The current federal role did not grow primarily because of the statist ambitions of liberals; it grew in response to democratic choices and global challenges. Federal power advanced to rescue the elderly from penury, to enforce civil rights laws, to establish a stable regulatory framework for a modern economy, and to force by law a wicked system that was designed to suppress the helpless. I might add that these are the same people who benefit from these same government handouts.

There are reasons why movements were necessary and gains achieved. This it is not black people along seeks equality and they have attached women. If you know anything – the worst thing you can do is to scorn a women. Therefore, I am certain they will pay a price in November. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…