Republican, New York state gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino, as reported in today's New York Times, has declared that the best way to stop the Not-at-Ground-Zero-not-a-mosque, is to confiscate all property surrounding ground zero, in a radius that would extend as far as the debris from the 9/11 attacks was distributed," including the area inside of which the Not-at-Ground-Zero-not-a-mosque is slated to be built. This plan to use the power of governmental eminent domain would confiscate thousands of private businesses and private homes, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, in order to create a massive, multi-square-block "war memorial" to 9-11.
Now, obviously, this is insane. Obviously this will never happen. But it illustrates several things:
- Republicans will say anything, tell any lie, any slander, libel or distortion to get elected. There is no possibility of trusting the republicans any more about any subject. They have no shame, decency or sense of proportion. They pander to the very worst instincts, the very deepest lizard brain of the human psyche.
- Republicans will abandon every principle, even their own, and ignore any and every American ideal in the pursuit of wealth and power. Republicans used to stand for something. While it was possible to disagree with them, it was also possible to understand their positions as being based on some kind of principle, often little more than the sanctity of private property. It is clear now, that the only principle they hold dear is wealth and power (their worship of private property only applies to their own property: Your property is theirs for the taking). It is far too dangerous to trust people without principle, or to let them anywhere near the levers of governance.
- Republicans cannot be trusted to protect the rights of all Americans. They are only concerned with the rights of some Americans. This is deeply troubling both as a nation of laws and a nation of rights. It is simply too dangerous to allow any group that believes they have the right to unilaterally ignore or suspend the law or abrogate the rights of certain other groups to be anywhere near positions of power. Nixon used to talk about a nation of laws: the new republicans believe that laws are a bludgeon to be used against the unpopular and powerless. And when their desire for a bludgeon is unlawful, they will ignore the law and make up their own rules on the fly to get their way. They are even more anti-American than Richard Nixon.
- Republicans are, at this point, demonstrably, clinically insane. They are incapable of telling truth from fiction, or making informed, sane, choices about public policy, law or personal freedom. It's no longer a question of he said, she said: Now it's he said, she dropped acid.
The Not-at-Ground-Zero-not-a-mosque issue is the final litmus test of the republican party. Virtually every position they have taken on the subject has turned out to be a lie (and, often, a lie that is at odds with what they, themselves, were saying six months ago). The site is not a mosque, it is not at ground zero, the owners and builders are not terrorists, it was never slated to open on 9-11-2011, it is only a "slap in the face" to people who choose to take it that way. The list goes on. The republican have chosen, once again to demagogue and lie. Their lies are easily disproven. And once again, the lazy press is playing catch up to the republican propaganda and lie machine.
America has a clear choice this November: We can choose lies and propaganda, eternal war, a crippled economy, the abandonment of American ideals and prosperity, and policy choices based on the worst we can be and just plain craziness. Or we can vote for the admittedly imperfect Democratic party, and elect more and better Democrats to fight for what is right, who will fight for what it means to be American for all Americans, and who will work to bring us out of the hole that eight years of republican misrule created and will dig deeper and deeper if they are allowed back in power. The choice is easy. If you're not insane.