OKIEPROGRESSIVES
Teri McGrath
I'll tell you one thing that makes conversation and cooperation pretty difficult is a gun. Nothing shifts dialogue into monologue faster than the promise of violence. A gun is the promise of violence, no matter whose hand it is in. Jesus Christ said if we live by the sword, we will die by the sword. Right now, we are living by the gun, and we are dying by the gun.
Bob Murl Bearden
The outcome of the election was stunning. Not for me--I believed Barack Obama would be re-elected--but for Karl Rove, Pat Robertson and Mitt Romney; they were stunned. They could not believe their eyes or the polls.
For one, it was particularly overwhelming. Pat Robertson has long talked with God and God has long told Pat exactly what was going to happen.
It starts with destroying our manufacturing base.
New reports that Taiwanese transnational manufacturing corporation Foxconn may be opening up some plants in the United States indicate that our nation has now entered the terminal fourth stage of "third-worldization" or what may be better referred to simply as "recolonization."
Sunshine Patriots come to mind also. A Sunshine Patriot is an individual who claims to fight against tyranny on the side of freedom, yet who is unable to stick it out when the going gets tough or unfavorable. Sure times are tough and sure the election results weren’t to their liking so now they want to get the ‘Hell out of Dodge’! Too bad for them, but that’s not how it works. You either are an American Citizen or you are not. If you are then you take the good times with the bad. You take the election results you don’t like with the election results you do.
And secession as a desire is simply their displeasure over the re-election of Barack Obama to the presidency. And it’s not about taxes or any other pertinent issue of the time; it’s about bigotry, prejudice and racism. They hate Barack Obama, not for anything he has or hasn’t done, but simply because he is Black and because over their objections he had the audacity to not only run for president but to get elected as well. I know they vehemently deny that they are, but as Mark Twain once noted, “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt”. It is a real and virulent cancer that has interjected itself on the body politic of our nation and its people. They can slice it anyway they want, and when they get called on it they always swear, just like ‘Shoeless Joe Jackson’ “that it ain’t so!”
But it is! And they know it! But, admitting that there is a cancer in their heart and soul is something they don’t want to deal with, much less admit that it is true. Being branded a bigot or racist is something that would tear down the fabric of the respectability they have built up around themselves and cloaked themselves in, to insulate themselves from the real world. Hatred is a terrible thing and it tends to eat you up from the inside out, so if you aren’t willing to deal with it you have to build up insulation to protect yourself from the fear that you will be found out. Denying the truth about how you feel about another person is something that we all practice and try to finesse because it reveals a part of ourselves that is on the dark side of our characters and we don’t really like to think that we possess a dark side.
We all have people we dislike and even may love to hate, but admitting that openly is seldom an option, because others don’t always see the same faults and dislikes in those same people. Macho makes a lot of people refuse to accept the truth about themselves and their hatreds and dislikes. Having dislikes and hatreds is to a degree natural, but controlling them so that we don’t become racist or bigoted is often a difficult proposition. Pretending we aren’t is a lot easier than confronting our hatreds, passions, and fears.
We as a nation thought we had put racism and bigotry to rest long ago, but the election and re-election of Barack Obama has proven that, that is not so. The pandering among politicians attempting to get elected by exploiting the bigotry, racism and hatred that is still rampant is something that we cannot keep sweeping under the rug and pretending that it is not happening. We must at some point confront the fact that there is still a lot of closet racists and bigots out there and that there are also a lot of stop at nothing to get elected politicians who are willing to exploit the fear, hatred, bigotry and racism of those that still harbor those vile traits.” —– Bob Bearden
Now before you say this is simply not possible, think about a few things:
The Republican blame game continues. Now it’s Mitt Romney’s turn. His choice for who to blame? Women, students, Hispanics, African Americans, minorities in general. And guess what? He’s right, but not for the reasons he is claiming. He says it’s the fault of all these groups because President Obama gave ‘Gifts’ to them. Those gifts? To students forgiving them of their student loan interests. For women? Contraception. For poor and minorities the gift of Obama Care. For Hispanics the Dream Act and Immigration Reform. What a crock. Talk about a sore loser.Yes Mr. Romney those groups all voted against you in droves. 71% of Hispanic voters voted for Obama. 55% of all women voters voted for Obama. 93% of all African-American voters voted for Obama. Huge chunks of young student voters voted for Obama. Everyone despite prodigious attempts to prevent them from exercising their right to vote. And yes they voted against Romney. They voted against Romney and the Republicans because they realized who had their back and it wasn’t Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney and Paul Ryan. They are tired of the right wing-nuts who have infested the Republican Party and who are pushing it to the brink with their out of touch ideas.Women overwhelmingly want to have control over their own bodies. It isn’t a religious issue. The Republicans have made it a gender issue. It’s a bunch of cranky old white men against the largest voting bloc of our society – women. Cranky old white guys you are losing and you are taking the Republican Party down with you.Students voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama because Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney told them to quit expecting the government to help them get a college education. He told them to rely on their parents for a loan. A lot of their parents are barely feeding their families thanks to the likes of Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney sending jobs overseas. The issue here is giving every young person the opportunity to go to college.Hispanic voters voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, because he is in favor of actually trying to come up with a sane and reasonable immigration policy that works and that doesn’t punish loyal hard working people who want the right to become a part of a nation many were brought to without their say. He wants of offer a path to citizenship that rewards hard work and devotion to their adopted country. Hispanics are the largest minority in our nation they matter and they are overwhelmingly good hard working citizens, but Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney and the Republican Party just don’t get it. Barack Obama does. That’s why they voted for him in huge numbers.These voting blocs matter. They care about this nation. They are mostly good hard working people. They may be poor but they aren’t lining up for hand outs. They don’t expect to receive subsidies and tax breaks for their hard work. They want to pay their fair share of taxes. But they also want to receive a fair opportunity to realize their part of the American Dream. Women want equal pay for equal work. They want to control their own bodies. Students simply want an opportunity to become useful hard working citizens. It’s about equality. Equality for everyone not just a privledged few! Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney you didn’t get and now you never will!” —– Bob Bearden
