I don't know what to think anymore. There was a time when reason prevailed, when diplomacy was always the first course of action, when the GOP warned against the rise of the Military Industrial Complex, and who, like Eisenhower, had nothing but disdain for war and who, like Goldwater, warned of the religious fanaticism that was creeping into their party. They were, it seems, ignored.
Something is very wrong. For years now the drum beat of the GOP has been for more war. "Bomb bomb bomb....bomb bomb Iran." McCain sang when he was running for President ...and he's singing it again now. McCain has never met a war he didn't love. And while it pains me to say it, being a combat Vietnam veteran, I wish he had come home in a body bag - he'd have better served his country .
Now Allen West, an Uncle Tom Right Wing fanatic is decrying the fact that those ten captured sailors who floated into Iranian waters didn't fight to the death ... and that the insult of that video Iran released is defamation of our honor and thus worthy of war. Here's an excerpt of his blog:
“This, folks, is an act of war, and our soldiers were captured. Our honor calls upon us to fight, to resist, not surrender. The ramifications of not doing so means our honor is now being mocked and we’re seen as nothing more than cowards on our knees." **
The GOP presidential candidates are falling all over each other declaring Obama's weakness by negotiating the freedom of five Iranian held US captives for the release of seven Iranian/US citizen's being held for non-violent offenses. They are all declaring Obama everything from "feckless" to "traitorous" and the comments on Right Wing blogs and media sites by the FOX News sheep are virtually calling for the death of Obama and War with Iran. It is insane.
Every New Hampshire GOP primary advertisement by Cruz, or Trump, or Christy, or Rubio espouses that our military is weak, that it has been degraded by seven years of Obama's neglect; that they will be the ones to "rebuild' it to better intimidate our enemies..and instill fear in those who might be our enemies someday. The code phrase is "to Make America Great Again." For surely only then can we be safe. NEVER MIND the fact our military spending is, and has been for decades, higher than the next ten largest nations' armed forces combined ....including China and Russia... we just aren't spending enough to intimidate it seems!
Look, I've tried to keep this blog focused on atheism and anti-theism. I've occasionally mixed politics in with it, mostly as it relates to the Religious Right's grasp on the GOP. But it has gone beyond that now. These episodes over he past two days have broken the camel's back...so to speak. So let me say it clearly:
I despise the GOP, everything they stand for, and everyone who supports them. If any of my readers support the madness I described above, if any of them decry Obama's diplomacy, his efforts to avert another Middle Eastern war quagmire and impair Iran's nuclear ambitions; or if any of them are livid over his ability to our get sailors freed under 24 hours without firing a shot, or loss of life on either side; and gain the release of five US citizens who were suffering in Iranian captivity.. then do me a favor unsubscribe from this blog.
You see, I left the GOP some years ago realizing that --- The Party of Jesus, The Party of War First, The Party of Fear Mongering, The Party of Israel or Die, The Party of Mindless Nationalism, The Party of Gun Ownership Absolutism, the party of extremism, homophobia, racism, of financial privilege, of demonizing of the poor --- no longer represented me or my ethics. I want no discourse with those I left behind. I want no false patriotic platitudes. I will entertain no justifications for what I deplore, because there can be none among the thinking.
If you hold fast to those principles of hate, and war, and racism, and homophobia, and misogyny, and class privilege et al - then our shared atheism is insufficient reason for me to either respect your positions or tolerate you. Go forth - send your sons, or grandchildren to die in the glorious service of nation building, or mindless anger, or for our national honor that Mr. West so deeply urges. But do so silently. I don't care to hear your cries of mourning.
**Read West's blog story here:
http://bit.ly/1nqy7Bo
No comments:
Post a Comment