Friday, March 06, 2009

Republican Seasonal Values

Most Republican values are in a constant state of flux. Two, their love of money and war, are exceptions.

Now that Rush Limbaugh is the face of the Republican Party, we can identify the values currently changing. Rush is thrice divorced, so family values are fading and out of season. Rush is a drug abuser and addict. That means zero tolerance for crime no longer is a Republican value. Now there seems to be no crime so horrible, hideous or unpatriotic that Republicans won’t forgive it—depending on the perpetrator, of course. George W. Bush committed treason, subversion, aggression and genocide. He plundered trillions of dollars from the treasury and bankrupted the country, possibly destroying it. He turned soldiers into murderers and gunslingers for Halliburton and Exxon-Mobil. Thousands of them went to early graves because of Bush’s machinations, fabrications and deceptions. Tens of thousands more will spend the rest of their lives mutilated and begging for help from their indifferent government.

In 1993-94, Limbaugh constantly warned the nation that Bill Clinton’s massive tax increases on the wealthy would bankrupt and destroy the nation. Limbaugh had particular concern for workers at yacht building companies due to increased excise taxes. Limbaugh claimed Clinton’s tax increases were the largest in U.S. history. That claim was false, of course. Limbaugh’s predictions of economic Armageddon also proved to be off the mark. When Clinton took office, the stock market Dow-Jones index was at $3,000. When Clinton left office, it was at $11,700, a 400 percent increase. Clinton balanced the budget four out of eight years. That was the first time the U.S. budget was balanced since Lyndon Johnson’s last term. Limbaugh proved that economics is a field about which he is clueless.

In fact, there seems to be no field in which Limbaugh is versed except propaganda. He is a genius at brainwashing for that segment of society whose minds are controlled by their reptilian brain stem.

Republican values are changing at mach speeds. The old ones, even the ones they actually believed, are bankrupt. They lack credibility even among some of the most dim-witted religious fanatics and rednecks that are the remaining foundation of the Party.

Even Ronald Reagan, the God of the Party, is eroding in stature. For nearly three decades, Republicans claimed “The Gipper” proved that deficits didn’t matter. Reagan said that “Deficits are just money we owe to ourselves.” Suddenly, Republicans believe deficits do have consequences. Has Reagan lost his place on Mt. Rushmore? Reagan, like any other Republican value, soon will be out of season.