With politics, as with any other emotional issue, sometimes it is good to “give it a rest”. And I’ve heeded that advice after the election. Many misunderstood my message. My message was not to denigrate the GOP, they were doing that well enough themselves, it was to try to make them aware that the FOX BUBBLE was not leveling with them (of course they’ve used Karl Rove as the scapegoat du jour) but they are all complicit.
How do I know? I worked there in the 1980s as their Editor-In-Chief at their flagship station in Washington, D.C. It was not even called FOX yet and Rupert Murdoch had not yet purchased it. It was called Metromedia and owned by (who was then one of the wealthiest men in America John Kluge).
I knew the drill. I knew the slant. I knew how and why they broadcast. I knew how they raised the money to broadcast to “people who didn’t necessarily want facts” comfort zone. I knew the whole story and still do. It sounds like facts. It feels like facts, and admittedly, it often has a kernel of truth. But it is anything but the truth. I promise.
What and whom I didn’t know was The Koch Brother’s history. I bought Brawny Towels but that was as close as we got. I used to joke (once Governor Scott Walker started union busting), and later Todd Akin and Richard Mourdoch began spilling the beans of what the GOP/Tea Party was really all about in spite of their “some rape is just fine” verbiage, that they were becoming like Stalin On Steroids. Nothing small govt about them. They were to become the largest government in the history of the world (not to mention the worst and most hated by the world and 53% of Americans including most of the military. This was no longer a political party. This was the “Cult Of The Egg”.
And if you think I am for abortion, you better think again. I’m about the most pro-life person you’ll ever meet. A lot who vote pro-choice are very pro-life. We are the ones who know the stats and know that in countries where abortions are illegal, are the highest, way highest, rate of abortion. In all of Latin America (except Uruguay, abortion is illegal. Their abortion rate is through the roof. In the early days of RVWade, the Pro-Life Movement, was up to date and doing a good job of finding science that might hold up in court. None did to overturn it, but access, etc was changed. But their movement became outdated. They got into the “Some Rape Is Good” movement which was one of the major factors that lost them the election. This was to create an environment where nobody would need an abortion because the “good father’ would now have visiting rights. Really. How insane is that? It’s very insane, I promise you. I don’t care for abortion any more than Pro-Life far right GOP’s. So I HAVE to vote pro-choice or we’ll end up with millions of more abortions. Sorry, but its true.
GOP, America is changing and you’re heading in the wrong direction. If you keep going in that direction, I assure you, you will be exhibits in the “Museum Of Contemporary Almost Political Parties That No Longer Exist”.
After the election, I, like Susan Eisenhower, Colin Powell, and others figured the GOP would start their long struggle back to the center (simply for survival purposes). But it was not to be. Today we understand the backroom “Right To Work” laws being passed with no votes thanks to some Koch Brothers conniving.
That was a bit of a surprise because now that I know the GOP is going to keep pushing right thinking the rest of the country will follow lockstep (they were wrong in 2008, 2012, and they will probably be nonexistent by 2016, sadly. I don’t want them to go. Our country relies on a strong 2-party system. But parties come and go based on good and/or bad decisions. They are making nothing but dismal ones; acting as if the 53% don’t exist, when the 53% voted them out and bid them farewell. America is headed in another direction. Many have promised to secede. Promises, promises.
The biggest surprise was what I learned today. The Tea Party actually really did get its education from a man who truly understood how to run a huge government, yet make it sound small. His name was Joseph Stalin. The Koch Brothers father, was his right hand man. And the philosophy of “Right To Work” not a lot different than what Stalin offered workers (and every bit as evil). Heaven forbid if anyone tried to start a union under Stalin’s USSR. He/she was massacred on the spot. That’s why Michigan was so scary last night with the back room laws.
The bottom line is this….and the GOP who is out of the Fox Bubble already get it. Those trapped in it may never get it. The country does not want far right, but don’t worry,it doesn’t want far-left either. It wants Constitutional Law. Some of that may bother you. It may not. But that doesn’t matter. Just know the people are trying to form a “more perfect union”. That may mean gay marriage because everyone, according to The Constitution gets equal rights and should.
I know, I know. I learned in Sunday School too that was a “no no”. But remember, those lessons were for how “we who went to that Sunday school might live”, not for us to tell others. They know what is right for them, we don’t. Get used to it. They know better about their lives than you or I do. Sorry but it’s true. And the Constitution is on their side and should be.
Marijuana is most likely to be legalized. That is probably not as big an issue to most. We now know that it is probably the most medicinal plant on our planet. By controlling and taxing it we can most likely dissolve our country’s debt. By not doing that we leave it in the hands of criminals. It makes no sense to keep it illegal. Million need it and are already smoking it, paying way too inflated prices, braving rough neighborhoods at times, just to get medicine they have to have when nothing else works.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are staying safe with the government. No privatization. Don’t like it. Tough. A lot didn’t like it when Herbert Hoover privatized everything which led America into the Great Depression within a year.
The middle class is the core of America. Nothing wrong with the wealthy or even extremely wealthy. They just need to pay their share. Sorry. Bill Gates is okay with that. Warren Buffett is too. Those two can buy out most other wealthy Americans with their pocket change.
This is America. It is changing. Change with it, or stay where you are. Nobody can make you change and learn and grow. I will be working on myself, but I think I can handle it. If you find that I can’t, i encourage you to correct me, but constructive criticism please. And if you’d like, I’ll do the same for you.
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Rick London is a writer/cartoonist and designer. Politics is a “hobby”. He launched Londons Times Offbeat Cartoons & Funny Gifts which have been Google’s #1 ranked since 2005. He and his wife nature photographer Lee Hiller-London enjoy hiking in their mountains The Ouachitas of Arkansas.
Rick London Syndication 