I was motivated yesterday to write this after seeing the idiot-savant in Kentucky on Countdown on MSNBC tell a television news reporter that Muslims could not have a mosque next to his flower shop because they would not park correctly (thus, one assumes, ruining his business). And Baptists would because they knew how to. He said that.
I agree with Keith Obermann that it is really fun to redicule these people. I suspect the vast majority of America understands - like we do, that this is stupid, fringy stuff. But, like the Tea Party movement, Islamophobia is not funny. It's frightening, and this all ties together into one big message about November's elections.
It's time to add all of this up, and understand what our responsibilities are.
Like 1994, there are alot of angry old white men around (and even some angry white women). They don't like President Obama. They think he's not American, and even a Muslim. And - of course - they don't like Muslims. They don't like Democrats, because they spend their lives listening to Rush Limbaugh and the morons on Fox News scare them about what progressivism is. Gay people scare the crap out of them. (I don't know why. If gay people got married around me, I wouldn't want to all of the sudden leave my wife and take up with a man). They hate women - except where sex is concerned. They hate brown people. They are just pissed off. And they vote.
Now that's OK when the rest of us vote. And it's all right to be an idiot - everybody is entitled to their opinions. But the problem is this climate, thanks to the overt political courting of the idiotus extremus by the Republican media machine to get them to vote. The problem is they aren't just saying things - they're doing things. Dangerous things. They're spending money to stop the building of mosques. They're protesting them. They're attacking Muslims and gay people. More then before. They're passing laws in states that are obviously unconstitutional, but they don't care - because these people, these monstrous, cruel, stupid, bigoted, cretans - these people think the constitution was written only for them.
They believe the 2nd amendment is sacred ("Out of my cold dead hands...") but they are willing to rewrite the 14th amendment to stop the children of immigrants born in this country from receiving automatic citizenship. In case they become terrorists later on. Wrap your heads around that, friends. If you're gay, you have no rights to marry or have children (that's not one, that's several amendments right there). But you cannot stop them from praying in public school because of their freedom of religion (which, by the way, is sacred - while the right of Muslims to worship where they please is not).
I could go on and on like this, but then it's almost desensitizing. They are spending money on this crap. Taking legal action. Spewing it and inciting violence - truly - on national media platforms. And they are not just voting for certain candidates. They are the candidates. For Senate in Colorado, and for Governor. For Governor in Florida. For the US House. For state office. The Tea Party is a cloak for racism, bigotry and extremism.
Worse yet, the Republican party is complicit in this. Hell - apparently they are funding it. This politics is actually more heinous than the Rovian tactics during the Bush years. They understand - keenly - that most voters do not turn out in midterm elections. So if they court that crazy 15%, they can win with them. Bottom line: The Republicans are selling the core principles of democracy down the river to win control of the Congress. Really.
And it's working. Why? Because Democrats are not planning to vote in the same numbers. We are annoyed, you see, because President Obama is more centrist than we'd like. Or Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid allowed stimulus and health care reform to get watered down. Or gay marriage isn't legal - yet - in all 50 states. We have our power, and we're impatient to get the whole agenda done. It's understandable.
But we cannot afford to withhold our votes. Or be less motivated than the GOP. You want motivation? These people want to undo what progress we have made. And they want to undo the progress Jimmy Carter made. And Franklin Roosevelt. They want more tax cuts for the rich. Less regulation. No energy policy. No global warming. Just more Republican crap, and now, Republican crap with violence and discrimination!
This year, the motivations for Republican voters are dangerous to our freedoms and our rights. They are worried about their rights (or so they say), but they have no problem trampling on everybody else's. They want to obliterate what is perhaps the most sacred constitional right of all - the guarantee that the will of the majority will not undermine the basic rights of the minority.
Our movement needs to coalesce around stopping this madness. I wish I could say before terrible things happen. But they already have. People are being denied rights and - worse - physically hurt - right in front of our eyes.
This is a good, kind country. Most conservatives, although we fundamentally disagree with them, wouldn't hurt a fly. But they're not in charge of the opposition right now. And if we don't vote in November, the opposition will win, with no moderating force to stop them.
And this year - that's really, really dangerous. For all Americans.