When President Obama was recently giving his big speech on healthcare, a few things went through my mind. I thought he had a lot of great ideas. I thought that for the most part everything he said was right on the nose. He’s right that the parties need to set aside the petty differences to find solutions that help everyone. Then the camera panned to the Republican side of the room and I realized that the party of no ideas wasn’t hearing a single word.
Congressman John Boehner appeared to be totally resentful while stewing in his bad tan. Congressman Eric Cantor appeared to take the speech so seriously that he couldn’t pry himself away from his Blackberry. And Congressman Joe Wilson even managed to embarrass his own party when he screamed “You lie!” at the president, thereby saying what the rest of the party was thinking. I agree with Obama that compromising can lead to some good ideas, but the Republican Party isn’t looking to compromise because that looks like a victory for President Obama. And that’s the last thing it wants.
Above all else, what the Republican Party truly wants is to win at any cost. That’s why people like Congressman Trent Franks throw their hats into the idiotic “birther movement.” For them, it’s just another shot toward a future victory for their party. If they can convince the broad and unthinking part of the American population that Barack Obama is not an American citizen, then they have an extra mouthpiece to spread lies to citizens who can’t think for themselves and are anxious to believe anything bad about a president that their family didn’t support.
And that’s the reason for nearly every bit of opposition that comes from the town hall screaming crowd. It’s all very simplistic; he’s the black man that I didn’t support so everything he says is suspect. Republicans push these base and simple lies as to why blue collar America shouldn’t support the president, and there are eager ears ready to comply.
The right would like for people to think that we shouldn’t support left-wing policies because it will turn the country to socialism and make the government all intrusive. They would like for us to think that they are the party of small government, but they can’t help to be too invasive in our lives. They intrude on a woman’s right to choose, gay marriage, the right to die, what we watch and what music we listen to. The list could go on.
The Republican Party is the party of no ideas, but they’re never short on tactics. They wreak political havoc. Their hardcore supporters are pridefully ignorant. They want people to complain about the president speaking to students, not because it’s actually a real issue on any level, but because it’s a win for the party. When President Obama said during his speech that he’ll waste no time on people who only want to kill the health plan, he could have been addressing almost the entire Republican Party. Of course they want to kill it. Killing it puts them one step closer to power, and that’s all that really matters isn’t it?