The Radical Republican Anti-American Agenda
Once again we have a Democrat in the White House and once again the Republicans are spending nearly 100% of their time trying to tear him down. What began during the Clinton administration with a few loudmouths on the radio and some extreme right wing militias have now been elevated to mainstream Republican Party strategy. After all, fear and hatred of Obama, liberals and the Democratic Party are all they have left. There is no more Soviet Union to defend against. The culture wars are losing steam. George W. Bush was a complete failure and most importantly, the promise of de-regulation and trickledown economics has proven to be nothing but a conservative fairy tale.
Since they have nothing positive to root for anymore, they are reduced to rooting against Obama’s success. They are to the point now where consideration for the country’s well being does not even matter anymore. If the stock market goes up or unemployment goes down, that is good news for Obama and bad news for the Republicans. So they root against the stimulus bill bringing about an economic recovery. If millions of people in this country are denied affordable health care, then let them eat aspirin. Health care, according to Senator Jim DeMint, will be Obama’s Waterloo. The latest example is the Party inexplicably rooting against Chicago’s bid to bring the 2016 Olympics to the city along with thousands of jobs and millions of dollars. Forget the fact that this would be a good thing for the country. Forget the fact that George W. Bush endorsed the effort while he was president. Forget the fact that 84% of the American public is in favor of the Chicago Olympics. If Obama is for it, then conservatives must be against it.
The most insidious form of Republican anti-Americanism comes from their hope for some kind of violence towards the country or the Constitution. At least one right wing pundit has stated on national television that “America’s only hope is for another terrorist attack” Presumably, the backlash against Obama would be so strong that the public would inevitably turn towards the Republican Party as their only savior. There was no estimate of just how many dead Americans would be acceptable in this doomsday scenario. More recently, conservative sites have started to advocate for either a violent or non-violent overthrow of the government. Evidently, they feel a pathological need to destroy the Constitution in order to make sure that Obama does not stay in power.
They come to these anti-American ideas from the erroneous view that they are the only “real” Americans. Everybody else is part of that “other” America. Whether they label them West Coast liberals, Northern elites, welfare state leaches, sinners, immigrants or African Americans doesn’t really matter. The “other” America is the one that elected Barack Obama to the Presidency. Since they aren’t “real” Americans, then Obama isn’t a “real” President.
Since the election, they have felt their own sense of entitlement and power slipping away and are simply lashing out at the most convenient target. However, their fear and hatred for Obama are causing them to confuse politics with patriotism. The unfortunate consequence is they end up cheering against the very idea of America itself.
