On Being a Citizen, Part 2-1 of 5

(This is the first segment of part 2. Please read this before reading the 'previous' post [2-2])

the corporate machine. I can already hear some laughter and scoffing, and probably deservedly so since we’ve seen quite a bit of growth in governmental authority during the W. Bush administration and the Republican dominated congress. But this was at least their guiding principle to begin with, and since we’re dealing with beginnings here, let’s forgive for a minute and go with the beginnings. The idea was formed off the idea that the government should not have too much power, a fear America has had since its inception. This has generally led Republicans to the idea that they should put less power in the hands of the government and allow the Corporate Machine to provide for the goods and services that the country needs. The positive idea behind this is that it allows the government to tax people less since the Corporate Machine fights between itself to offer the better services to the people. In the midst of that fight the companies work to bring consumers better products at lower prices to try and gain their purchasing power. This philosophy feeds into pretty much everything the Republicans do…
Economics
This is pretty much the philosophy right here. “We could offer nation-wide health care, sure. But then we’d have to tax more for it and it puts more power in our hands. Why not allow businesses to take care of that for us and pass the savings in taxes along to the citizens?” “We could raise taxes to help take care of less fortunate peoples, but that would mean we’d have to tax more and it puts more power in our hands. Why not allow businesses, churches and non-profit organizations handle that?” “We could put more regulation on the corporate machine, but that’d put more power in our hands. Plus, if we regulate them too much they threaten to take their business elsewhere, and people need the Corporate Machine, because who else will take care of them? Who else will provide the jobs and services we need?”
The idea is to work in a capitalistic mindset. It will work if everyone buys, buys, buys. You have to spend, spend, spend. That’s how our businesses provide and that’s how the government runs and that’s the best way to run it. Capitalism, all the way.
Environment
Rather than being too concerned about the environment, the government allows Non-Profit Organizations or the Corporate Machine to do the job of being environmentally responsible. Businesses are allowed to conduct business at their leisure as long as they use common sense not to release anything that will hurt people, and concern themselves only with the environment when it clearly puts the people at risk. It puts more power into the hands of the people, the governed than the government itself.
War/Diplomacy
Here the government concerns itself where the economic welfare and interests of America. If a country that provides us with good economic goods and services is threatened we will move in to protect those interests at all costs. As far as diplomatic relations are concerned the government is willing to work with other countries since they are tied to us economically, but they will never exceed our sovereignty in the world. We, as the United States of America, are the reigning superpower and we need help from no nation.
Now, to be fair, the Republicans would also argue that their philosophy on war/diplomacy also is concerned with ethical rights of others, wanting to make sure that people’s lives and rights as humans are not violated.
Life
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The party believes that everyone is entitled to life. That all unborn children are entitled to that opportunity to life they have before them and that those lives are precious. We should work to protect those lives, and that abortion is a crime in denying someone their right to life.
Religion
Although I’m sure there are some Republicans in Congress or the Senate don’t even bother claiming Christianity, by and large the party is known for its ties to the Christian faith. The general idea of the party is that there should be a separation of Church and State, to protect the Church from the State. Because, after all, if the State became too involved in the Church then it would mean too much power to the Federal, a genuine fear of Republicans.
John McCain
And now to the man of the hour, himself. I have to say, I was quite impressed with him for quite a long time. I heard about how he had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam and was beaten as an American soldier. I heard the story of how he was offered a chance to leave when the Vietnamese realized he was an Admiral’s son. I was shocked to hear that he refused unless he could leave with his men, too. And it hurt to hear that instead he was beaten so badly he still has trouble raising his arms past a certain point.
I was encouraged to hear that here was a man who was willing to cross the line for when it mattered for the country instead of his party. Those are pretty admirable characteristics coming from a politician, especially in recent years when the military experience has been so questionable (National Guard? Purple Heart for a scratch?). Or how partisan some candidates have been.
He’s also able to acknowledge that things aren’t looking so well right now and still laugh about it in good spirit with his peers and Obama.
Unfortunately, things aren’t all roses for the Republican Party. It’s now time to visit some of the details and inconsistencies Rep’s don’t like to mention – especially around election time.
John McCain
Yes, it is admirable his dedication to his men on tour with him – of that I will make no argument. What disappoints me so much about McCain was the mudslinging he started doing towards the end of the campaign. Maybe the smear and fear campaign was a last ditch effort to grab some votes back before the election. Either way, it was something pretty a-typical for a ‘maverick.’
Religion
While Republicans officials talk the talk about how important faith is in their lives, actions speak pretty clearly. They’ve been involved in just as much corruption and scandal as anyone else. And while they claim the idea of Separation of Church and State, just how Separate do they want it? They want the Church’s votes, they want the Church to help lobby for their causes, but they don’t want to be too involved in the church? “No,” they say, “instead of getting involved ourselves we’ll just tell you how you should get involved for us.”
Life
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. “We believe that all life is precious!” *Excluding those that hate us, have the slightest inclination of hurting us, those that get in the way of those hurting us, or those that just happen to be caught in the middle when the bombs drop. Oops, sorry. It was for the greater good.*
I hate to make it sound so light-hearted, because truth to be told it’s sad. If life is precious then life is precious. I can understand from a political perspective the desire to form a defense for your people, but in a time when we can defend ourselves better, do we really need to strike out with the sword quite so much? How long will we wield it before the blood rusts the blade?
If all life is precious, then why don’t we step in for the orphans, the weak, the helpless? Why don’t we step in for those lost because of the system or other circumstances? Isn’t all life precious? Or is it only if they stand a possible current or future economic value based on their likelihood of “success”?
Republicans officials are also typically for the death penalty. But why? From an economic standpoint it costs more in legal fees to try and execute a person than keep them in prison for life. And if all life is precious, why not make all…life…precious?
War/Diplomacy
Although Rep officials claim the purposes for entering war are good and just, have we not learned anything? We went into Iran and trained the people there to overthrow the government. We got our wish – they kicked out their government, then they kicked us out too. We charged into Iraq to free the people of a terrible tyrant. But wait, didn’t we wait till we thought they had weapons of mass destruction? I’m not arguing that Saddam was a cruel and sadistic man, of that I have no doubt. But we knew well before hand that he was striking out at his own people. If we cared so much about them then, why not go before? If we care so much about the rights of people that we are going to attack “corrupt” or terroristic nations, why did we never enter Rwanda during the genocide? Why are we not helping in the Congo instead of just with “Peacekeepers”? Why aren’t we going into other countries with known human rights violations or terrorists? Don’t feed me that bull crap line anymore.
Environment
Sure, allow the Corporate Machine to take care of the environment. Wait, what?! Since when has the Corporate Machine ever cared about the environment? Oh yeah, as soon as it started hitting their pocketbooks either in resources or loss of sales. Let’s face it, America: The only times we’ve cared about the environment is when it was either a fad or it was cheaper. So we pass off the responsibility of regulation to non-profits, which means it takes even longer then for the information to be found out, and then that information can be countered with the Corporate Machine’s own research. Smooth Rep’s. Smooth.
Economics
I think this may very well be the one thing the Republican officials are consistent in, but consistent to a fault. Their lack of effort to help the people so that they can allow their philosophy of letting the Corporate Machine run its course is ruining the country.
“We’ll let the Corporate Machine provide health care services, so that we don’t have to expand Federal power and allow for lower taxes” *even if it does mean that the people are completely abused by the system the Corporate Machine has set up in the absence of government*
“We’ll let the Corporate Machine provide the goods and services for the people that are suffering. If we stepped in, it’d mean more taxes and more power to the government, and we clearly don’t want that. We’ll let corporations, non-profits and churches take care of those people.” *even if that does mean that people are overlooked while the Corporate Machine only helps to save face, non-profits only help when they can or if people meet certain criteria, and the saddest part of all – that the church often does the exact same thing; that right there should put a tear of shame in every single one of our eyes (I’m just as guilty).*
The Republican philosophy could be considered good in theory, but failed in reality. When the Government does not take enough regulation in the Corporate Machine, it’s not just the people that get walked over; our government is perceived as a whore.