Everything I’ve Ever Learned About The Right Wing

I was in junior high when I figured out the difference between conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats.  Sorta.  I picked up on the left/right allocations a little later.  In the 80s, I understood that the primary difference was how the government was viewed.  The left viewed it as an institution that performed tasks and services that people often could not do for themselves.  The right agreed, except they believed there were far more opportunities for people to do things on their own.  The left believed there was more need; the right saw personal opportunities along with using private industry to solve some of these problems.  The arguments were the tug of war between these two philosophies.

            But something happened when Reagan took over.  Instead of solving the problems with alternative means, the right seemed to give up on solving anything. They wanted to keep all of their money. Government was demonized and anything government sponsored was one step toward the destruction of America.  Things like public school teachers and the post office.  Medicare and public assistance.

            This continued through GHWB’s presidency right through to Clinton.  Clinton wanted to change the idea, but it was obvious that Republicans had no interest in the tug of war anymore.  They said no to anything and everything related to Democrats.  Gingrich in Congress demanded Republicans fall in line, and that not only became a new standard, became the belief of Republicans across the country.  No universal health care, no investment in education, no expansion of a public safety net.  If Democrats liked it, the right hated it, no matter what it was.

            Republicans, as a party, did what they were told.  If tax cuts for the wealthy was on the ballot, you better vote for it of you’re not a Republican.  Or American. If the guy on right-wing TV said the economy was good, that’s all you needed to hear.  No matter what your medical bills, rent, paycheck, bank account said. Democrats just wanted to take your money.

            So, W. came, and 9/11, and a retribution war, plus a fabricated war.  This plunged the government into debt.  Tight government spending only matters during peacetime. Even fake wars get all the money they want.  Our money.  Our money also bails out the banking industry when it gets too greedy a few years later.

            The right spends more money than the left.  Just look it up.  They have a shopping spree and come home and tell you that you aren’t making enough money and it’s your fault that you are in debt. They cut your hours and benefits and raise your insurance bill and blame it on immigrants and poor people.

            It’s not a vast conspiracy. They took the money for themselves.  The ‘military’ doesn’t get money as much as the private industry that supports it.  We give the military a gift card and they in turn spend it on bombs and planes and shit.  Who invests in those companies?  There you go.  It’s not protecting freedoms. It’s business. They profit off the insurance companies and utilities and everything that makes the wheels turn.  The biggest problem now is that they want it all.

             But then, after Obama tried and failed to combat this, they went insane.  I’m not sure how exactly it happened, but they showed their true selves, and it was ugly.  It is still ugly. Maybe it started with Sarah Palin.  They obviously had little respect for the government as a whole, so it didn’t matter who was at the helm.  But then they let possibly the worst person America has ever spawned ooze his way into the presidency, a job he did not want nor try to understand.  A sideshow of narcissists and small-minded scum.  45 blatantly told his followers he was in it for his own gain and as long as his tirades were laced with misogyny and racism, they ate it up. They nominated him.  Twice.  (Going on three times.)  Where are the voices of reason and decency within the GOP?  There are none.  They left the party a while back.

            Now the argument must stop.  Now you must be ignored.  Your votes will count, but your ridiculous notions must be swept away.  You’ve lost touch with reality.

            Not too long ago, I thought back on the differences between the philosophies.  They exist all over the world, so they aren’t uniquely American. Because the GOP is imploding, people are afraid of a one-party system. That’s not a problem.  Schisms happen. Besides, I believe we’ve only ever had one.

            The right has no political philosophy.  At least one that is independent of the left.  They simply just see what Democrats want to accomplish, and rail against it.  They have no interest in solving problems, so they don’t.  They have no vision, no goals for American as a whole.  They like tax cuts.  That’s it.  They don’t want investment in infrastructure, or education, or the betterment of humanity, or science, or climate change technology.  Nothing.  They do not give a shit.  I remember hearing ‘family values’ as a throwaway term when I was kid. What are the values?  List them.  I should be able to find them somewhere.

            There aren’t any Republican values.  Well, they have one. It could be encapsulated with a painting of Uncle Sam with his middle finger up and the caption reading ‘Fuck You.”

            Fuck you if you are a woman, poor, black, Latino, LGBT, deaf, blind, malnourished, undereducated, educated and looking for a job, underpaid, old, very old, a preschooler, if you breathe air, if you are scared of superstorms, illiterate, homeless, houseless, jobless, not getting enough hours, getting too many hours, sick, handicapped, mentally ill, lonely, angry, pissed off, dumb, smart, a country looking for leadership, a culture yearning to grow and be smarter and wiser and more inclusive and happier, a hippie, a commie, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Atheist, and pretty much anyone who isn’t mostly rich and an all-white male.

            Fuck you.  You are on your own. I use harsh words because the right is also unkind.  By all measurable definitions they are not kind. They are angry and bitter and vicious and cold. When a left winger goes too far, there are broken windows and protests.  When a right winger goes too far…death threats and body bags.

            There is also an undercurrent of the aversion to ickiness.  That aspect is probably the most difficult to see because it is solely based on emotion and not reason. Right wingers think a lot of stuff is uncomfortable and they don’t want to deal with it. Icky things.  LGBT people, lives, choices.  Intellectualism and sex. Non-white America, in general. Concepts beyond their everyday grasp. The odd thing is, there are people everywhere that feel this way.  The difference is that right wingers want those things obliterated.  Criminalized.  Deported.  The rest of us chalk ickiness up as a part of life. This includes abortion, which they may think is the ickiest of all.  But there are two things they don’t seem to acknowledge about abortion.  The first is, it is inherently icky but also a part of life that should be accepted.  And that reason is the second thing and the most important lesson of all, another woman’s abortion or health or body is none of your business.

            It’s none of your business. Just because you don’t like a thing doesn’t mean it needs a law behind it.  Your religion is none of my business.  That woman’s abortion is none of yours.  Your parenting style is none of my business.  The marriage of any two people is none of yours.

            So, I refuse to engage with these people anymore. We aren’t hearing opposing views these days.  We hear whining and squabbling and temper tantrums and the ravings of severely damaged assholes.  There should be no discussion with you until you have reasonable leadership, and I hope it never happens.

 This will be a very difficult chapter to teach in future history classrooms.  (The right cares not.  They are firmly against books, teaching, history, and classrooms.) But I think I know how it will end.  If you’re tired of these people who let greed envelope their entire belief system, maybe I’ll talk with you about it.

            If not, I have nothing to say.