Ever since the 2010 election, we've been treated to the spectacle of a Republican party going out of control. The adolescent self-centeredness that animates so much of Republican activity has seemingly taken over the party, and has produced so much mean-spirited power-grabbing that we may be witnessing the modern equivalent of the post-Goldwater unraveling of conservatism.
Look at the past week's debacle in the Virginia legislature. Having recently delivered all branches of Virginia government into the hands of Republicans on a wave of anti-Obama hysteria, the people of Virginia then had to witness a gaggle of crowing Republican legislators who tried to inflict mandatory internal vaginal ultrasounds on all Virginian women seeking abortions. As soon as a few of the Republicans got on TV and radio talking up their proposed new law, the outcry was so ferocious that the Republican governor had to withdraw his previous support for the bill. At the same time, he submitted a revised bill that pulls back only a bit from the earlier version: instead of mandatory internal screening, it substituted mandatory external screening.
Mandatory means that doctors will have to do it whether or not they think it is necessary, women will have to undergo it no matter what their doctors think, and women will have to pay for it in any case.
And this disgusting legislative platter comes with a side of hypocrisy: it's brought to you by the people who scream most loudly at federal mandates of any kind.
Virginia was a laughing-stock for a few days, at least on the east coast. It was just the latest furor that has flared up during the past month over typical right-wing social/religious whining. And it showed Republicans, once again, in a bad light of their own making.
One pundit asked, "Why are they doing this to themselves?"
This pundit hardly deserves the name. Surely this is not a serious question. The answer is as clear as day: they are doing this because it is who they are. If you give Republicans power, they instantly try to force everyone else to adopt their terms. As I pointed out in another diary, the Republican world view belongs to a long-outdated ethical stance I have called power morality. They are all about power, so as soon as they get it—look out!
This is simply indisputable. The 2010 election gave total control to Republicans in a number of state legislatures. One after another, these states began to enact unbelievable far-right laws. From Wisconsin, to Ohio, to Michigan, and now Virginia, Republicans with unchallenged power moved instantly to try to impose their most radical fantasies on the people of their states. Without any regard for those who did not vote for them, without any regard for the legislators in the minority, Republicans take their power and simply smash society over the head with their selfish desires.
Why are they doing these things? Because that's who they are. Do you get it now, hopelessly open-minded liberals?
If you want to avoid this sort of bullying in legislation, if you want to have your elected officials actually work on problems that really ought to concern you—like jobs, infrastructure, health care, education—then you cannot afford to keep electing Republicans. Their actions show them to be utterly unconcerned with the nuts and bolts of governing in our system. All they care about is getting their way, and getting the power to get their way. It's clear as day.
So to those so-called "independents" out there: get off the fence for God's sake! Stop this mindless equivocating about Democrats and Republicans—as if the there are no differences between the two. There are huge differences, and if you could stand back from your own petty personal self-interest long enough, you would see them immediately. Get off the fence and stop voting Republican.
If the American people really wanted to have Washington get something done, they would vote in large majorities for one party or the other. Then the country would start to move in some direction. Obviously, I think that it should be the Democratic direction. That would at least give us a shot at a decent future in a decent society.
But at this point even another huge Republican majority might at least get the country off the dime. If that were to happen, the whole country—maybe the entire world—would fall helper-skelter into a filthy dystopian nightmare. But at the least the people would see the consequences of what they were voting for. As it is now, their nearly 50-50 votes do little more than create gridlock, which allows the unobservant to continue being undecided about which side they should be on. In the filthy Republican dystopian nightmare, at least it would become clear even to the less-than-sharp who is screwing them over.
For those who are capable of more discrimination, look at the past week in Virginia and the past year in other states under all-Republican control—and see what the future will look like if you keep voting Republican.