I've been meaning to embark on a project of a political nature for awhile now. Specifically, in the pursuit of narrowing down exactly what it is I care about, and what I believe in, I want to create a sort of composite dump of all of the things I read, and the way i feel. I want to create a repository for the evidence which influences my views on issues, and be able to look back at where the facts I use to convince, debate, and promote come from.
To that end, the first matter is locating the issues that matter to me. Because it is the component that constantly makes me evaluate my positions, and constantly drives me to anger about the fallibility of it, I'm going to start with a list of the things I will, inappropriately, generalize across the Republican Party.
I'm going to talk about the modern Republican party leadership. I have a slew of issues with Conservatives - But in general, I respect their ideas. Conservatives and Progressives are moderating forces on the pace of progress in a society, and their interaction is important in the way that civilization involves. But I do not see the kind of people I merely disagree with on the other side of the aisle these days. I see radicalization, anti-intellectualism, personal greed, and basically, people who claim in their own words they want the government to fail being elected to government positions, and then people wondering why things don't work right.
I became politically aware during the Bush years. I watched and fumed at the things that happened. The policy mistakes, the embarrassment of America abroad, the crony capitalism. We let our guard down nationally to the threats we had created in previous decades. We fought wars with no goal in sight that drained our economy. We de-regulated our industries and laid the groundwork for bigger bubbles and the economic troubles of the late oughties.
Me and my family talked about it, and we saw it as obvious: Republicans would lose in '08, and whoever replaced them would be blamed for the economic catastrophe. Then when the effects of the Democratic policies came into effect, they would be in place to claim the benefit. I think the only thing that ruined this narrative was the outrage of the tea party and their ilk, who were reactive conservatives, who finally had someone point out how Bush, who they voted for, did almost nothing for them.
Now, we have a radicalized, reactionary Republican base which wealthy pro-business, selfish individuals who support an economy which works to make the rich richer at the cost of overall American prosperity are willing to use for their own goals. This isn't about government contracts or oil subsidies anymore - it is about restructuring America towards benefiting the wealthiest Americans while throwing just enough bones to the single issue voters and the unsettled conservative base to let them believe they will have things better.
We face real issues. Stagnant wages. Retiring Baby Boomers. Hard questions about American Security in a new century, about personal freedom, about the power and role of government in Health Care. We as a country cannot solve these problems if we are not even allowed to discuss them by a machine which deliberately promotes anti-intellectualism, poo-poohs factual information and scientific studies as 'liberally biased' and a media which only rarely calls either side on their factual inaccuracies, and often portrays cut-and-dry issues in technical and scientific communities as true debates.
We can't actually step away and talk about the responses to world issues, or even domestic issues, because we are distracted and polarized. it is no accident that Republicans foster the idea that both parties are corrupt and voting doesn't matter, that they seek to disenfranchise voters, and muddy the waters. For the modern incarnation of the Republican Party, there is a pure power advantage to disassociating reasonable people from the process. Romney found out the hard way in Massachusetts that trying to take on moderate Democrats with real working ideas about the role of government in making people's lives better is a losing proposition.
That is why, with nearly unlimited campaign funds from the wealthiest, most financially powerful Americans in the country, Republicans are waging a war on facts, deliberately and consistently dealing in bad information, disenfranchising voters in very key, very non-Republican districts, and generally making efforts at debate, analysis, and discussion take a back seat to dog-whistle single-issue politics, and a bizarre worship of a free market that does not exist when corporations can dump unlimited funds into lobbying and manipulating the electorate with their 'speech', or targeted campaign ads.
So, I am going to go on and try to figure out what it is about this modern political party that really rustles my jimmies - and seek Justification myself, in the hopes that I can stand solidly in my positions, and believe that I've considered the angles. I know that I have biases, and I will try to entertain other possibilities. There are palces where I feel there is honest intellectual debate to be had in going forward in America... But, I'm going to focus my efforts more or less on figuring out where, precisely, those talks begin, and where the bullshit we can safely talk about getting rid of are.
To that end, here is the beginning of the list:
Anti-Intellectualism,
Anti-Science agendas,
Climate Change Skepticism,
Fossil Fuel reliance and Subsidies, Energy Policy General
Anti-Choice movements
Creationism and Intelligent Design / Anti-Evolution Doctrine
cultural imperialism
(lack of) Women's rights
The Role of Government in Health Care
The role of Governments in Entitlements
Lobbying and buying legislation
Copyright and Patent Reform
Information Freedom
Marriage Equality
Firearms Rights and Responsibilities
Poverty and Welfare
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