First they came for our health care...
They say they don’t like the Government, but that’s only part true. What they really don’t like is Democracy. Healthcare is in many ways just a red herring and this story started a long time ago.
Stepping back a few terms, you can see how the Repukes have systematically changed not just the politcal landscape, but the process itself. When Bush Jr. was coronated, his symbolic installation ushered in an even more radical way of RW politics. Immediately, longstanding rules against Media Consolidation were gutted in the face of overwhelming bipartisan opposition. It doesn’t really matter what the constituents want when you need to control the message appease the boys in PNAC. Enter 9/11, the “Pearl Harbor-like event” they longed for to implement the Patriot Act, the most far-reaching restrictions of US liberties ever designed “to protect freedom.” Consequently, torture, domestic spying and other horrors we used to ridicule Russia for have become things we now call our own.
With the help of the consolidated media and our friends at Faux News, the boys at Enron got to enjoy the spoils of what can happen when you send in a Terminator to recall Gray Davis, an elected official who won the office the old fashioned way. With recalls, it’s a do-over that can work when gerrymandering just won’t do. But just to play it safe, the Repukes have gone full speed ahead with redistricting as we now see in horrifying detail that a vote is not what it used to be. It's all part of the Master Plan.
The re-engineering of Democracy has many faces. The rampant abuse of the filibuster, Presidential Powers and the Military/Boogeyman complex has allowed the RW NutJobs to circumvent and marginalize the Democratic system itself. They have locked the Dem’s out of discussions, voted purely in partisan lines, and threatened any of their own who dares to talk out of turn. They have rammed in RW judges and illegally fired liberal ones. In the meantime, the Supreme Court has done everything its frightening power to kill the Constitution. It brought in the Koch Bros. on the coat tails of evil Corporate Personhood and threw Voting Rights in the shredder.
So when the Repukes abuse the political process to shut down government, why is anyone surprised? It’s a natural step in the progression, the End Game for angry ideologues who work for the Government they rail against. Democracy is cumbersome and ineffective when you are serving the minority, so allowing the minions to be rewarded for their vote with invaluable healthcare is strictly against policy. Can’t have that.
So now that the Shutdown isn’t working because the Dems are emboldened by constituents who badly want access to healthcare, the Repukes now want to talk? What’s it been—12-13 years since they wanted to talk? FUCK YOU. Want to negotiate Obamacare? Check. Did that. Did the RW Rage Machine forget that the ACA was the product of a bipartisan negotiation, or do they disagree with their own party’s agreement? They don’t want to talk--they want to demand, and they are willing to throw us into default to do it. If we reward these practices, they will continue to abuse the Democratic process and its voters.
This is about the Democratic process itself, and it’s time to stand up to these bullies.
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