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We’re proud to publish the following article by freelance writer, Wendy Andary.  Wendy has recently specialized in articles about travel, and has been published in Instinct magazine — she was one of their Featured Contributors for April’s Green Issue.   Wendy has done Public Relations writing for the California Democratic Party and plans to do more soon in her role as a community activist.  Wendy lives at the beach with her close-knit family, loves animals and wine, and stays busy with her writing, community, and loving circle of friends.

 
WHAT A STATE OF MIND by Guest Contributor Wendy Andary

You’d think having a California address is enough of a calling card for most people. You know, the card that announces to the rest of the country:

“Hi. I’m overpaying for everything because I’m chasing that iconic, golden dream. I have an affinity for surfing and skiing on the same day and feel a little smug that living here allows me do just that. I drive a Hybrid AND recycle AND compost and have been doing so since WAY before it was cool. I relish the fact that the Pacific Ocean, the Redwood forests, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Bohemia all call this chunk of land their home and quite often call each other neighbor. And please quit reminding me that my state’s broke because that irony is never lost on me, especially when I am paying my outlandishly high taxes. Still, I’d rather live here than anywhere else. And oh yeah, did I mention that EVERYONE here is a die hard liberal, follows the road less traveled and is tolerant of all sorts of lifestyles because that’s just the kind of state California happens to be?”

Yes, I admit it sounded pretty convincing up until that last sentence. And until recently, a good many of us Californians actually believed our state walked that walk. But that‘s where reality did a number on us and a little thing called Prop 8 reared it’s ugly head. Seems we may need to give those last few accolades of tolerance to states we too often dismiss because we view them as “not nearly as hip as their coastal cousins.”

So, exactly what does it say to the world when a state like Iowa takes a stand for civil rights and votes NO to legalizing bigotry and yes to gay marriage? A state like Iowa that proudly relishes the imagery it evokes in most of our minds  (Main Street USA, family farms and small town America at it’s finest) was also proud to stand up and tell the rest of the country that being gay and getting married were not mutually exclusive as far as they were concerned. And so as little city halls all over the heartland filled up with same-sex couples ready to exchange nuptials, we Californians watched helplessly as the campaign to overturn gay marriage here raged on into an embarrassing victory. No amount of love, commitment, protest or reason could soften the blow that every gay couple now feels when they want to get married here. THEY DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT. And why? Because a bunch of people took it upon themselves to decide who should have rights and who shouldn’t. Hello Jim Crow. Meet your cousin, Proposition 8.

But who is truly to blame for this assault on equal rights? Certainly many of us stood up and fought against Prop 8. (Or “Prop H8” as it widely referred to in our Lefty circles). The way I see it, nowhere is the stench of hypocrisy more palpable than in the offices of our elected lawmakers. You know the ones who spout off about gay marriage being the poison dagger that will kill the otherwise perfect institution of marriage. Then, of course after those speeches are done and their soapbox is put away, those same lawmakers go out and cheat on their wives with:

 A. A stripper

B. Their long time mistress

C. Their male intern

D. A prominent televangelist

E. All of the above

Where then is the outcry from their “marriage is between a man and a woman only“-loving followers? From those who say that they “Don’t mind gays but just don’t want their kids to be exposed to THAT lifestyle. You know, because it could confuse them. “Where are the picket signs telling these politico-charlatans that what THEY have done is the true assault on the sanctity of marriage? Where are the gasps and groans when someone mentions the idea of a “starter marriage” as they head to divorce court? And where is the outrage when marriage is nothing more than a paparazzi-laden mockery at a drive through casino/ wedding chapel where a drunken evening turns into the “hilarious idea of getting hitched.” (Annulment papers can be filed at same said chapel the next morning, of course).

When it comes down to it, opponents to gay marriage have long argued that if gay couples are allowed to marry that it would, in effect, redefine marriage. Apparently, in their minds, this would be a catastrophic thing. However, when you consider the current divorce rate, the highly publicized mistress-gates that keep popping up and the plethora of other ills that seem to plague this sacred institution, I submit that marriage could stand to gain a great deal from some thoughtful re-branding. So here’s what I suggest: How about a Prop 8 for those who think adultery is a natural part of adulthood? How about banning marriage from people who consider domestic violence and domestic bliss one and the same? How about giving a litmus test to every engaged couple to ensure that the vows they take to love, honor and respect one another are real and genuine and will last longer than it takes for the ink to dry on their marriage license? Or how about this: no matter where we choose to call home, we can agree to stop treating our friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives like second class citizens merely based upon whom they have chosen to make a life with. And here’s the kicker…we let them live their lives.

Stripping basic rights from people based upon what they look like, how they worship, where they come from or who they love is never the calling card for success. Anywhere. History has taught us that. History has also taught us that legislating this sort of hate and intolerance will mandate a collective guilt we will all have to share and also explain to our future generations.

~Sponsors of a proposed ballot initiative to make same-sex marriage legal again in California announced on April 12 they failed to collect the requisite signatures to qualify it for the November 2010 ballot.

“Hands off our freedom to let our houses burn down!”  

Paul Krugman explains why that is a really, really bad idea.   He likens McConnell’s stand against financial reform to calling for the “abolition of municipal fire departments.” 

Standing aside and allowing banks to fail and the free market “work its magic” is a policy that America tried in the 1930’s;  and we tried it again when the Bush administration let Lehman Brothers go down.  Immediately the stock market plunged and another Great Depression loomed.  When a large building is on fire the damage needs to be contained because fire spreads, and spreads quickly.  

“So it’s crucial to avoid disorderly bank collapses, just as it’s crucial to avoid out-of-control urban fires,” Krugman tells us.  And he explains why the Republican financial regulatory policy of:  “We won’t solve this problem until the biggest buildings are allowed to burn” can only lead to burning down our entire economy.  Check it out here.

Change is a lot harder than many of us thought it would be.  After the election it seemed as if the culture of our country had turned the corner for good — the majority was ready for change, the election declared!

I don’t know about you, but I’m weary already, and it hasn’t even been a year and a half into this presidency.  I thought, ridiculously as it turned out, that the Republicans would have a harder time demonizing President Obama than they did President Clinton — because, well…ahem, he’s black!

As it turns out, of course, they have absolutely no reservations in viciously attacking him — and are in fact using the old tried and true racist, “southern strategy” to defeat and discredit him.  The language being used, and the racist “dog whistle” moves being used by the right to rally their base, is actually stunning. 

The “southern strategy” is back in full force — from the Virginia Governor’s proclamation in celebration of the Confederacy (and his view that the Civil War had little to do with freedom for slaves), to the Tea Party’s deeply held belief that Obama’s policies benefit the poor at the expense of the rest of the country (i.e. minorities).

It appears that the right simply has no other moves.  Change is happening, and they are desperately trying to slow it down and benefit politically by fear-mongering.  But, they have to know — deep in their hearts — that the political benefits that they might enjoy can only be short-term.  Long-term, the demographics in America are not going to benefit the conservative right.  The youth is overwhelmingly more progressive, and the minority population is going to grow faster than the Republican’s white base.  The Republican Party’s subtle and not-so-subtle minority bashing will not serve them well as a long-term strategy.

It’s possible (okay, probable) that short-term political gains will be made, but they will be at the expense of their long-term viability as a party and a conservative movement.  People don’t forget the hateful, racist, homophobic political campaigns that are waged.  The right is permanently branding itself in a terribly negative light.

That’s why, though at the moment I’m weary, I know that in the end we will prevail.  There are more of us, and the right’s ideas are just sooo “last century.”

And, doesn’t it seem like a couple of things have begun to fall into place in the last few days?  I’m thinkin’ that the idea is truly energizing that both the CEO of the Massey Energy, Company (whose greed caused the death of 29 coal miners), AND Goldman Sachs (whose greed precipitated the worldwide economic Great Recession), might have civil and potential criminal charges brought against them.  Lifts my weary spirits!

It appears that Barack Obama looks long-term at the issues facing our nation.  The Republican right is currently looking only short-term.  So, we progressives get weary and frustrated with the daily political, short-term attacks and we want more “wins” in these daily battles.  Maybe — just maybe — our President knows what he’s doing, and we need to raise our gaze with him toward the long-term “win” for our country.

We keep hearing that the Republican Party is the party of “no” and that they have no ideas.  That’s a truly dangerous assertion.  They have ideas and policies, all right, and we have seen their disastrous consequences in action. 

Republican ideas and policies are very well-known: 

• deregulating Wall Street
• privatizing Social Security 
• eliminating Medicare
• oil solutions for our energy crisis
• eliminating regulations on health insurance companies 
• pre-emptive and preventive wars
• anti-science policies
• climate-change denial
• tax cuts for the mega wealthy so that “prosperity will trickle-down” to the rest of us

They’re being tagged the party of “no” because they aren’t offering up their standard fare to the American people right now — they’re laying low with their failed ideas, and just saying “no” instead.  The party of “no” has no motivation to try to run in the mid-term elections on their old, failed ideas when “just say no” seems to be working so well for them.   

The Republican Party hasn’t changed or replaced any of their stale ideas and policies for the new century.  If you listen you will still hear the same old anti-government rhetoric.  In this new century, with worldwide pandemics and international terrorism, these people think American doesn’t need a strong federal government.

Yee haw, America’s still livin’ in the old west.  Yes sir, just strap on that six-shooter and take care of them pandemic bugs all by yer self.  Yep, don’t need no damn gov’ment.  No pandemic bug gonna mess with this here sidearm of mine.  Jes’ reload folks.

When Wall Street has brought the world economy to the brink of disaster, the Republican idea of lower corporate and banking regulations are still at the heart of their ideological philosophy.  Unregulated markets will solve all the problems with our economy, they would still have us believe. 

And, with an outsized national debt, the party that claims to be the party of fiscal responsibility still thinks we need to give tax breaks to the uber-wealthy — you know, the Paris Hilton tax cuts.  I guess that they think that all those tax cuts to the upper 1 – 2 percent that W. pushed through the Senate (in Reconciliation, yet!) really worked out so well and brought our economy to new heights — remember?  Oh and those tax cuts did sooo much for our national debt that they now seem to care so much about.

We’ve seen those standard, ideological Republican ideas in action.  They are the very ideas that led us to the very pickle our nation is in today, and we don’t want to go backward.  No thank you.

Well that’s just sad.  Our economy has just shown the first real employment creation in over three years, and all the Republican politicians have to say is, bah-humbug.  It is looking more and more like the Great Recession (which happened under W’s leadership) is now in our national rearview mirror.  This is a hopeful time and a cause for American celebration.  Even the conservative newspaper, The Washington Times, gives us an almost joyful report today.  “The resumption of job growth suggests the recovery is sustainable,” said Aaron Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com.  “The recovery appears to have plenty of momentum.”  See it here. 

The problem these Republican politicians have is that they just can’t bring themselves to celebrate for our country and fellow Americans — as all patriots would — because they cannot stand the idea that “Yes we can” became “Yes we did!”  

And that’s just sad.

CHECK-IT-OUT

Talking Points Memo puts it all together.  Nuff said.

The University of Washington tried to have a debate on the constitutionality of the new healthcare law.  They invited well respected law professors to participate in the debate but were unable to find even one to debate the position that the new law is unconstitutional.  Check out the full story in the Seattle Times.

All the law professors on the panel agreed that the new law “passes constitutional muster and that various lawsuits arguing the opposite — including the one joined last week by Washington’s state Attorney General Rob McKenna — have little merit or chance of success.”  The former Republican U.S. attorney for Western Washington, John McKay, said, “…the lawsuits lacked merit.”  He also wondered aloud about the timing and thrust of the cases — “One way to say it is, that this has to be seen as a political exercise.”

The Republican Party is now utterly and completely the antigovernment party.  According to Republican NY Times columnist, David Brooks, “It’s a party that sees modest efforts to improve Americans’ economic and health security not merely as unwise, but as monstrous. It’s a party in which paranoid fantasies about the other side — Obama is a socialist, Democrats have totalitarian ambitions — are mainstream. And, as a result, it’s a party that fundamentally doesn’t accept anyone else’s right to govern.”

Someone once wisely told me, “The ability to compromise with life is a mark of maturity.”  I hope the nation recognizes the maturity that it took for Dems in Congress to get this Healthcare Reform law passed.  And, I hope that we all can recognize the extreme immaturity that has been on display from the Republican Party in recent years:  our way or the highway; no negotiating; we’re always right; no compromising.

Timothy Egan at The Huffington Post writes that the Republican Party is now the “party of the hissy fit.”  That’s a phrase my Granny used to use when my little brother would throw a two-year-old temper tantrum.  The hissy fit is evident in congressional obstructionism, Republican’s lockstep “Hell NO,” and in Tea Partier racial slurs and threats of violence.  And you’d think that Republicans would be all over the media to disavow these extremists’ threats, but instead of denouncing the Tea Partiers they are welcoming them into the fold for a perceived short-term electoral advantage.

David Frum (W.’s former speech writer who coined the phrase, “Axis of Evil”) has recently said of Republicans, “At the beginning of this process (Healthcare Reform) we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo.”  David Frum has now famously said that Senator DeMint’s threat of “Obama’s Waterloo” has become Waterloo for the Republicans.  

Frum’s wife, Danielle Crittenden, also writes, “The thuggish demagoguery of the Limbaughs and Becks is a trait we once derided in the old socialist Left. Well boys, take a look in the mirror. It is us now.”

Rigid conformity is being enforced in the Conservative/Republican Party, no dissent is allowed and the party must pay homage to the Tea Partiers, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Fox News.  The Republican Party is no longer a party of ideas, it is one where the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia with only slogans and bumper stickers in place of a governing policy for a new century.

It’s actually pretty shocking to see the level of Republican immaturity in Congress. They’ve now gone so far as to refuse to work past 2:00pm, in retribution for losing all the marbles in their game of “chicken” on Healthcare Reform. They’ve even found an obscure Senate rule that makes it binding.  John McCain has announced that he and fellow Republicans, in a fit of pique that they lost the vote on Healthcare Reform, will not work with the majority to move our country forward.  This will surely be perceived by the electorate as obstruction without purpose. 

Already there’s a new poll out, Democracy Corps, that finds the Republican favorability among Independents has dropped 11 points, and dropped 12 points on the generic congressional ballot. The conventional wisdom about a wave election which would sweep Republicans into power in November may be upended, if that trend continues.

So, listen-up Republicans, you DO have some wise members of your party who are trying to wake you up before it’s too late. If you don’t pay attention to the voices of reason in your own party, it will be permanently branded in such a negative light that you’ll never make a real comeback.

There could be a voter backlash against this right-wing intransigent nuttiness, and the Democratic Party might benefit from Republican extremism.  But, I agree with David Brooks: this is not a good thing for our nation in the long run.  America needs to have two rational parties, and as David says, “And right now we don’t.”