America has been a two-party nation for as long as I can remember and I am firmly convinced that a workable two-party system is absolutely necessary for national survival. This does not rule out the possibility that a third party might add something of value to the mix, but I am dead certain that we cannot afford to become a one-party country!
After observing the antics and shenanigans of some on The Far Right Wing Radical Religious Extreme for a few years, I am worried that what we have known as the “Republican” Party (GOP) might have been severely affected by some more extreme views– views that seem to be somehow divorced from reality on occasion. I am thinking that this sort of thing cannot be good for America in the long run and in the big picture.
While watching the unfolding of the recent “Negotiations” in Washington over the raising of the national debt ceiling, I got the impression that some of the Right Wing members of Congress might be just a little too unwilling to compromise on issues and may have exhibited some “Obstructionist” tendencies as well.
As far as I can tell and from what I can remember, this kind of radicalism is completely divorced from what I remember the GOP being in days gone by. I remember when both Democrats and Republicans could sit down at the same table and, even though they may have hotly disagreed on issues, they exhibited enough dignity and respect for one another that they could hammer out a compromise and come up with something workable and something that advanced the cause of America rather than something that just proved a point for one side or the other.
But I think personally that some of the brinkmanship that we have been seeing from the far right wing extreme is based in History. As I recall, there were days in our past when some of the really radical elements who were determined to have their way regardless of the consequences to America brought the nation to the edge of what could have been total disaster for the Democratic Experiment known as The United States. I am thinking here of the kind of stubbornness that caused the Civil War and that necessitated the government sending military troops to enforce the Civil Rights in the 1960s.
Now am I to understand that some of the newly-empowered social conservatives who base their ideologies in evangelical religious fervor are going to exert their will onto the American people by an agenda of uncompromising obstructionism whenever something important comes into the Halls of Congress?
What price are some of these people willing to pay in order to prove their point or get their way? How much of our Freedoms, how many of our principles and how much of our national security will some of the purveyors of far right wing extreme stubbornness and mule-headedness be willing to sacrifice in the name of Power?
I think America has been watching what has been going on and I sure hope America has been listening as the Republicans parade their candidates for the Presidency of The United States.
Some of what some of these candidates are saying and proposing scares me to the core of my being. Some of what I am hearing coming out of these “Debates” and from these campaigns is so foreign to what I have always thought and believed that I cannot believe my ears sometimes.
I am hearing some of the most radical proposals I have ever heard in my life from the mouths of some of the GOP candidates and I am getting to the point where I wonder if the GOP agenda may be seriously and negatively impacted by some of what I consider to the the totally irresponsible utterances from some of those who propose to lead our great nation in this complex and dangerous century.
For example, I am hearing threats to our social safety nets by some who would drastically cut their funding or who would eliminate them entirely. That would impoverish untold millions of Americans who depend on these programs for their very survival sometimes.
I am hearing the sabers of war being rattled again. Why does it seem to me that the far right and their allies are always wanting to start a war somewhere in the world? I ask the question, “How can America be talking about scaling back the budget for national defense with one breath and be talking about the need to fight more wars with another breath?” It doesn’t make sense to me and it seems to be a dangerous road to be travelling. Are there really that many millions of dollars to be made in the waging of wars?
It just doesn’t seem to me that some of the leadership of God’s Own party have their heads on straight these days and that some of them are proposing things that could be extremely dangerous for both the nation and for the traditional two party system that sustains the nation.
Posted by John Liming (Strictly My Opinion)
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