Russell King’s Genius Open Letter to Conservatives

An open letter to conservatives

The years have not been kind to you. I grew up in a profoundly Republican home, so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the one we see now. You’ve lost me and you’ve lost most of America. 

Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy, I’d like to give you some advice. You’re going to have to come up with a platform that isn’t built on a foundation of cowardice. Fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own has caused you to lose support. You need to come up with a platform that is built on responsibility instead. 

Before you take on that task, you have some work to do. You need to come up with a platform that isn’t based on fantasy fears. Fantasies of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps are not based in reality. You need to come up with a platform that is based in the reality of the world we live in.

Your party – the GOP – and the conservative end of the American political spectrum have become irresponsible and irrational. Worse, it’s tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred. Let me provide some examples – by no means an exhaustive list – of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.

If you’re going to regain your stature as a party of rational, responsible people, you’ll have to start by draining this swamp:

Hypocrisy

You can’t flip out – and threaten impeachment – when Dems use a parliamentary procedure (deem and pass) that you used repeatedly (more than 35 times in just one session and more than 100 times in all!), that’s centuries old and which the courts have supported. Especially when your leaders admit it all.

You can’t vote and scream against the stimulus package and then take credit for the good it’s done in your own district (happily handing out enormous checks representing money that you voted against, is especially ugly) –  114 of you (at last count) did just that – and it’s even worse when you secretly beg for more.

You can’t fight against your own ideas just because the Dem president endorses your proposal.

You can’t call for a pay-as-you-go policy, and then vote against your own ideas.

You can’t have it both ways. Are they “unlawful enemy combatants” or are they “prisoners of war” at Gitmo?

You can’t carry on about the evils of government spending when your family has accepted more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts.

You can’t refuse to go to a scheduled meeting, to which you were invited, and then blame the Dems because they didn’t meet with you.

You can’t rail against using teleprompters while using teleprompters. Repeatedly.

You can’t rail against the bank bailouts when you supported them as they were happening.

You can’t be for immigration reform, then against it.

You can’t enjoy socialized medicine while condemning it.

You can’t flip out when the black president puts his feet on the presidential desk when you were silent about white presidents doing the same.  Bush.  Ford.

You can’t complain that the president hasn’t closed Gitmo yet when you’ve campaigned to keep Gitmo open.

As criticism of President Obama’s handling of terrorism continues to mount, it is important to remember that similar actions were taken by his predecessors. President Bush, Nixon, and Eisenhower all bowed to foreign dignitaries, as appropriate for their culture, and President Bush even held hands and kissed leaders of countries that are not on “kissing terms” with the US. Furthermore, both the undies bomber and the shoe bomber were read their Miranda rights under Obama and Bush respectively, and the Obama administration publicly condemned the terrorist event the day of the event, while the Bush administration waited six days in an eerily similar incident.

It is also worth noting that only one former Gitmo detainee, released by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, helped to plan the failed Christmas Day undie bombing. Furthermore, while Obama is being criticized for not being tough on terrorism, the previous administration was also criticized for invading Iraq on false pretenses and outsourcing torture. Ultimately, it is clear that the current administration is not the only one to have faced criticism for its handling of terrorism.

You can’t mount a boycott against singers who say they’re ashamed of the president for starting a war, but remain silent when another singer says he’s ashamed of the president and falsely calls him a Maoist who makes him want to throw up and says he ought to be in jail.

You can’t cry that the health care bill is too long, then cry that it’s too short.

You can’t support the individual mandate for health insurance, then call it unconstitutional when Dems propose it and campaign against your own ideas.

You can’t demand television coverage, then whine about it when you get it. Repeatedly.

You can’t praise criminal trials in US courts for terror suspects under a Rep president, then call it “treasonous” under a Dem president.

You can’t propose ideas to create jobs, and then work against them when the Dems put your ideas in a bill.

You can’t be both pro-choice and anti-choice.

You can’t damn someone for failing to pay $900 in taxes when you’ve paid nearly $20,000 in IRS fines.

If you push anti-gay legislation and make anti-gay speeches, you should probably take a pass on having gay sex, regardless of whether it’s 2004 or 2010. This is true, too, if you’re taking GOP money and giving anti-gay rants on CNN. Taking right-wing money and GOP favors to write anti-gay stories for news sites while working as a gay prostitute, doubles down on both the hypocrisy and the prostitution. This is especially true if you claim your anti-gay stand is God’s stand, too.

When you chair the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, you cannot send sexy emails to 16-year-old boys (illegal anyway, but you made it hypocritical as well).

You cannot criticize Dems for not doing something you didn’t do while you held power over the past 16 years, especially when the Dems have done more in one year than you did in 16.

You cannot decry “name calling” when you’ve been the most consistent and outrageous at it. And the most vile.

You cannot spend more than 40 years hating, cutting and trying to kill Medicare, and then pretend to be the defenders of Medicare.

You cannot praise the Congressional Budget Office when it’s analysis produces numbers that fit your political agenda, then claim it’s unreliable when it comes up with numbers that don’t.

You cannot vote for X under a Republican president, then vote against X under a Democratic president. Either you support X or you don’t. And it makes it worse when you change your position merely for the sake obstructionism.

You cannot call a reconciliation out of bounds when you yourself have used it repeatedly in the past.

You cannot spend taxpayer money on ads against taxpayer money, as this would be a waste of funds.

You cannot condemn individual health insurance mandates in a Dem bill, when you yourself proposed the idea.

You cannot demand that everyone listen to the generals when they say what fits your agenda, and then ignore them when they don’t share your views.

You cannot whine that it is unfair when people accuse you of exploiting racism for political gain, when your party’s former leader admits you have been doing this for decades.

You cannot portray yourself as fighting terrorists when you openly and passionately support terrorists.

You cannot complain about a lack of bipartisanship when you have routinely obstructed for the sake of political gain – threatening to filibuster at least 100 pieces of legislation in one session, far more than any other since the procedural tactic was invented – and admitted it. Some admissions are unintentional, others are made proudly. This is especially true when the bill is the result of decades of compromise between the two parties and is filled with your own ideas.

You cannot question the loyalty of Department of Justice lawyers when you yourself did not object when your own Republican president appointed them.

You cannot preach and try to enact “family values” if: Cheating your wife with a secret lover and lying to the world about it. Flirt with staff wives (and reward them with new jobs). Wearing diapers and paying prostitutes for sex while cheating on their wives. Or you’re just enjoying your old-fashioned, non-kinky wife cheating. trying to have gay sex in a public restroom; permitting the rape of a child in an Iraqi prison to coerce parents into providing information; Seeking, seeing, and having sex with children. Replace the man who cheats on his wife with the man who cheats on his pregnant wife with his wife’s mother. Exaggeration.

You should cut ties with people who:

Claiming that someone making $250,000a year can barely make a living, or that $1 million is”nota lot of money.”

“Comrade” Obama say she “takes cues from Lenin”and is a “Bolshevik.”

Ignore how many times your peers use terms that offend you, and only complain when Democrats say it.

They liken their political opponents to murderers, rapists,”this Muslim man who cut off her wife’s head,”or call them”non-Americans.”

Obama says he wants his plans to fail so he can insist on nationalizing the banks and substantiate the dream of a socialist economy.

It equates terrorism with putting people’s interests above private property.

Slander entire major religions with the actions of a few fanatics.

The president says,”I want to annihilate us.”

Compare healthcare reform to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bolshevik plans for the 9/11 attacks, or the resurrection of the specter of a communist dictator(update: not even Armageddon).

Equatingstem cell researchto fight our diseasewith”what the Nazis did.”

Bills passed by a majority of both houses of Congress, or by members of Congress elected by a majority in the irrespective constituencies, can be considered an unfair abuse of power, a violation of the oath of office of the President, or “the end of representative government.” I call.

Shout “baby killers” to members of Congress on the floor of the House of Commons. Especially the legislators who fought against abortion rights and nearly ruined health care reform (actually, a little bit of politeness, a little respect for state institutions and people)and the values they represent. The view is refreshing—cut out the screams, swearing, and obscenities).

Prove your manhood by claiming you’re going to”crash the party” you were duly invited.

Claims Obama is pushing America’s”obedience to Sharia”;

It questions the patriotism of those who stand for cherished American values and the rule of law.

Claiming the president is making us less safe without a hint of evidence.

Call the majority rule “minority tyranny.” Even if we were going to call it a majority tyranny, it is not a tyranny but a democracy.

Calling the president’s support for criminal trials of terrorism suspects “treasonous”(especially if the president does the same when he supports your party).

Recent reports have sparked debate around the implications of family planning initiatives, with some drawing comparisons to eugenics or Nazism. Allegations have also been made that the President has changed the missile defense program’s logo to match his campaign logo, potentially to reflect a secret Muslim identity.

Political opponents of the President have been accused of being totalitarian, socialist, communist, fascist, Marxist, terrorist sympathizers, McCarthy-like, Nazis or drug pushers. Such accusations have been met with strong criticism, and it is important to note that advocating traitorous acts such as secession, violent revolution, military coup or civil war is not only wrong, but illegal.

History

Using words like socialism, communism, and fascism require a basic understanding of what they mean. It is not acceptable to cut a leading Founding Father out of the history books simply because one does not agree with their ideas. It is also not accurate to suggest that the president refuses to use the word “terrorism” or say we’re at war with terror, as there is ample evidence of him speaking out against terrorism and using those exact words. It is important to recognize historical figures for who they are, rather than whitewash them. Furthermore, it is not productive to pretend historical events didn’t happen in order to make a political point. Finally, it is necessary to be truthful when discussing health care reform, as it will not push people out of their private insurance, is far from a “socialist utopia”, is not “reparations”, and does not create “death panels”.

Hatred

It is essential that we condemn those among us who make derogatory remarks or spread hateful rhetoric. This includes calling members of Congress racial or homophobic slurs, elected leaders who proudly proclaim themselves to be racists, and those who claim that America was built by white people. It is also unacceptable to label poor people as “parasitic garbage” or suggest that they should not be allowed to vote. Furthermore, repeatedly calling women derogative terms such as “bitch” or “prostitute” is not to be tolerated. Making light of those who are serving in the military or mocking and celebrating the death of a grandmother due to political disagreement is also unacceptable. Additionally, joking about blindness, advocating for the euthanization of a political opponent’s wife, taunting people with incurable diseases, equating gay love with bestiality or polygamy, child molestation, or pedophilia, and assuming that only white males look “like a real American” are all deplorable. It is also wrong to condone presidential power to authorize torture, order the massacre of a civilian village, or launch a nuclear attack without the consent of Congress. We must also not attack children whose mothers have passed away, call people racists without evidence, condemn a moral code shared by all major religions, or blame victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks for their suffering.

Recent weeks have seen a worrying rise in rhetoric that glorifies, encourages, or incites violence. From jokes about political violence to explicit threats of insurrection, this is a worrying trend that should not be taken lightly. 

It is not only limited to a single group or political ideology, as even some of the most respected and decorated figures have been complicit in such language. This is unacceptable and must be addressed.

It is time for all sides to come together and reject this kind of language. We must work together to eliminate the conspiracy theorists, liars, and hypocrites that are poisoning our political discourse, and instead focus on a calm, responsible, and mature agenda that reflects our values and visions for America. 

Though we may not always agree on the specifics, we can all agree that this kind of language has no place in our political discourse. We must come together and ensure that our conversations are civil and respectful of one another.

 

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