The Old SheepHerder got to thinking. For all the bluster the Republican Party puts
forward, just how many truly remarkable leaders has this noisy entourage produced? By acclaim, the very first Republican
President, Abraham Lincoln, is a man who changed the course of history for the
better with the Emancipation Proclamation.
Freeing the slaves defined the Republican Party as the progressive party
of its time. Slowly that begins to
change. Its death throes marked the
second great Republican President; Theodore Roosevelt, who took on the Robber
Barons of the Gilded Age, fractured the Republican Party, but heralded much
needed reform. Next up, Dwight
Eisenhower. He had the vision to tamp
down the size of the Pentagon so its budget did not swallow our domestic
economy and took the post war ball from Roosevelt/Truman and built the
interstate highway system. It was one of
those great economic multipliers whose power is hard to overestimate. These roads were arteries of commerce. They provided local, state, and national
mobility for the nation’s work force.
They opened up under served markets.
They expanded the countries development.
This monumental endeavor of building infrastructure has paid for itself
many times over. Republicans would like
to add Reagan to that very short list. I
think the crumbling Soviet Empire had more impact than the Gipper. History doesn’t give points for being in the
right place at the right time. When
Reagan took office bread lines had been long for 15 years and the population’s
patience was wearing thin with even more austerity and death from the Soviets
misadventures in Afghanistan. Soviet
youth were having a love affair with stylish western clothing. The people of the Soviet Empire were chaffing
under the oppression and austerity to feed the military in the Cold War. Reagan proposed “Star Wars” driving our
nation deeply in debt while we were battling the most protracted cycle of inflation
our economy had ever experienced. Paul
Volker, Reagan’s Fed Chairman eventually tamed that beast but it was on the
backs of consumers with sky high interest rates. Reagan and Gorbachev’s talks failed. When Gorbachev went home empty handed, the cracks
in the Empire turned into a full collapse.
How much credit does Reagan deserve for the demise of the Soviet Empire
and ending the Cold War, driving us deeply in debt, then walking away to leave
it to Obama to find and negotiate and secure and ship all the loose nukes from
the U.S.S.R.? NOT VERY GOD DAMNED MUCH. These loose nukes were the weapons Al Qaeda
sought. Thank you President Reagan for
leaving one in the chamber, pointed at my head, for the folks you called “the equivalent
of America’s Founding Fathers.” You
might recall the GOP kept Clinton sort of busy impeaching him, W was either too
stupid, didn’t give a shit, and if he did, he had such horrible international relations;
he would never have gained the cooperation of the old Republics. Was President Reagan a nice man? By many accounts he was. Niceness is no measure of a great
President. How does today’s Republican
Party honor the greatest of its members?
They honor Lincoln through voter suppression. They honor Lincoln by re-segregating
schools. They honor Lincoln by
re-introducing Jim Crow Laws. They honor
Teddy Roosevelt by pushing for legislative changes to alter the chemical
composition of the air we breathe and the water we drink. They honor Teddy Roosevelt by creating a
fable that free market capitalism works by “trickling down”, NOT MARKET DEMAND,
therefore all wealth must be concentrated at the top or the economy will
collapse. Gilded Age II. Teddy Roosevelt was unceremoniously betrayed
by the Republican Party for his service to the American people. The second time he ran he had to form his own
political party, the Bull Moose Party.
The GOP honors Dwight Eisenhower by moving U.S. companies to China. They honor Eisenhower by refusing to invest a
nickel in repairing a one pot hole or fix one rivet on the bridges of our
interstates. The Republican Party can’t
afford to invest in America. They
believe America is a bad bet. They
believe service to our country in the Armed Forces is somebody else’s job but
war profiteering is a family business.
What else does the Republican Party believe? They believe honesty is for suckers,
discipline is for naughty people, and kindness is a sign of weakness. As Paul Ryan articulated the GOP belief
system that life begins at rape and the bitches better not accuse us of
anything The OldSheepHerder became disturbed by the shit eating grin on Paul
Ryan’s psychopathic countenance. He
grinned as Biden related how people struggled financially. He grinned as Biden related how people
struggled without health care. He
grinned about cutting $300 million from the State Department even though the
security cuts cost the Libyan Ambassador his life. He grinned that poor people a higher tax rate
than wealthy people even though he persistently lies about this publicly in the
campaign. It had to be over 30 years ago
and there were rumors of rampant corruption on the Fair board judges. I had this in-bred, castrated, toothless ram
I entered in the Fair. Its hindquarters
were caked in manure and its ears were so full of ticks its mouth was drawn
back in that phony Paul Ryan grin. I
left a $5 dollar bill under each of the judge’s folder with my card clipped to
it. I won Grand Champion that year. The Fair Board cleaned house on the judges
taking bribes. Maybe Ryan can’t help
that inappropriate grin on his face. It
could be that the Koch brothers have packed so much money up Ryan’s ass, he has
to work to keep toned glutes on the PX90 or it will come blasting out like a
slot machine pay off. But I’m wandering
all over the pasture when I’m trying to express just what it is Republicans
believe. They often profess Christianity
but in fact ignore the teachings in the New Testament. They claim to be Capitalists but in fact are
top down Socialists, who receive more welfare in income tax breaks and
corporate subsidies than the rest of the population many times over. Free trade Republicans believe that means
moving American companies overseas then sheltering their profits in foreign
banks while receiving tax breaks to do so.
Free for somebody. They profess
family values then try to water down the definition of rape, destroy aid for
the poor and elderly in favor of more for the rich, and spurning veteran’s
needs after starting wars and beating war drums yet. You see, Republicans believe in absolute
destruction. They value nothing. If you are still voting “R” you missed more
than one therapy appointment!!!