Monday, June 18, 2012

Why the GOP is Far Worse - Dare We Say Immoral? - Than the Democrats

Click image to enlarge
I catch grief at times from readers who find my criticism of the GOP - especially the Christianist/Tea Party extremists in the GOP - lacking in balance in terms of  equal criticism of the fringe elements in the Democratic Party.  But in my view, there is a big difference between the extremists in the two political parties.  First, as a gay American, the GOP party platform seeks to bar me from civil rights afforded to other citizens.  And the far right extremists in the GOP want to either make me a criminal, place me in concentration camp like detention centers, force me from the USA or perhaps even kill me.  NOTHING the extreme elements of the Democratic Party comes close to such visceral hate and malice towards other citizens.  This, to me is a defining difference.

Adding to the differentiation between the fringe elements of both parties is the GOP's contempt for the health, safety and welfare of other citizens - even as they hypocritically wrap themselves in the cloak of religion.  The hypocrisy is beyond stunning.  In fact, it makes the Pharisees of the Bible seem like soft hearted liberals.  A case in point is found in the image above.  It's an image from a free, makeshift dental clinic for the uninsured in Tennessee.  That so many Americans lack basic health care and dental care is a national embarrassment.  Yes, "Old Europe" has its problems, but rarely do your see European nations - or ultra-liberal Democrats - treating their citizens as disposable garbage.  Andrew Sullivan made these telling remarks:


That scene is a free, makeshift dental clinic for the uninsured. It was mobbed - as it would be in a developing country. Except it's right here in Tennessee, where many of the working poor are uninsured, and where the state is perfectly happy to keep it that way. For these strapped, working-class folk, Obama's demonized healthcare reform is a godsend. Pity almost none of them in this part of deepest red America have heard of what it could do for them:
It was hard to find visitors to the clinic who would not benefit directly from the law. Barbara Hickey, 54, is a diabetic who lost her insurance five years ago when her husband was injured at his job making fiberglass pipes. She gets discounted diabetic medication from a charity, but came to the clinic to ask a doctor about blood in her urine.

Under the law, she would qualify for Medicaid. Her eyebrows shot up as the law was described to her. "If they put that law into effect, a lot of people won't need disability," she said. "A lot of people go onto disability because they can't afford health insurance."

Tom Boughan, 58, came to the clinic for glasses and dental work, with a sci-fi novel to pass the time. He's been without coverage since being laid off from his industrial painting job last year, which means he's paying $400 every few months for blood work for a thyroid problem.

This piece was supposed to run on the front page of the Washington Post. They turned it down went cool on it on the grounds that it was too long and too supportive of Obamacare. It's worth remembering before we all go into a Beltway frenzy about SCOTUS and the ACA - that this issue affects people's lives in the most graphic and direct way imaginable. It becomes the difference between living with chronic illnesses or being healthy. It can be the difference between a short life and a long one.


Yes, even the supposedly liberal Washington Post lacked the guts to run this story.  To allow this nation's priorities to treat men, women, and countless poor children as disposable garbage is the worse sin one can image if one is truly a moral person as opposed to a Bible beating self-congratulatory mentally ill narcissus.  Unless and until decency and compassion return to the GOP, I will have NOTHING to do with the GOP. I would argue that, if there is a Hell, it will largely populated by current day Republicans and Christofacsists.  

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