Voice of the Left by Glenn R. Swift "Corruption, Corruption, and More Corruption"
Glenn Swift
October 21, 2006
They rode into town on their moral high horse; they’re about to leave on a donkey. (No pun intended!)
The Republican leadership can’t tell you what they really stand for… because other than a few religious zealots and grossly overpaid corporate executives… nobody would ever vote for them. They can’t tell you that they couldn’t care less about protecting the environment and that the Earth is simply to be plundered in the name of profit. They can’t tell you that their views on healthcare are simply those of the pharmaceutical industry and the HMOs. They can’t tell you that they support a tax policy that encourages corporations to outsource jobs. They can’t tell you that their foreign policy is geared to the likes of Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of things that the Republicans just simply can’t tell you.
So, to win elections, they run and hide behind a religious platform to convince the electorate that they (and only they) hold the moral high ground. (Boy how I’d love to be a fly on a corporate boardroom wall to hear how those folks really feel about the Religious Right!) And as for their failed policies, they don’t like to talk about those either. That’s why they love to bring up such “meaningful” topics like flag burning and gay marriage. Amazingly, the strategy has worked. Yes, the Republicans are very good at winning elections; they’re not very good at governing.
Well…It’s taken a while, but America is waking up.
I’ve never questioned the goodness of our country and of the American people. Yes, it’s been very difficult to see so many people misled for so long. But I recognize that the support garnered in recent years for the Republicans by millions of my fellow citizens was well intended. Manipulated by our corporate media and the Republican Party’s well-oiled propaganda machine, many Americans bought into the line of “Down with the Immoral and Godless Democrats.”
To steal a line from an old Dylan tune, “the times, they are a-changin’.”
Never in recent history has there been anything like the level of corruption as we have seen with this Congress. And I don’t think I have to tell you on what side of the aisle has stood the overwhelming majority of the culprits. Whether we’re talking about Tom Delay and his Texas mafia, Jack Abramoff and his bought-off Republican lackeys, the Foley cover-up (tax cuts must really have meant a lot to him), or any one of a number of major breaches in the public trust by my political counterparts, the real Republican agenda is showing through the camouflage.
I guess it’s become a little too difficult to hide.
The Republican National Committee's current fear and smear campaign is little more than the death rattle of a party about to lose power. Their latest ad, which depicts Democrats as “terrorist appeasers,” is full of all kinds of outrageous hyperbole, capped off with a picture of a good ole’ fashioned mushroom cloud and a mug shot of the guy Bush used to want Dead or Alive, Osama bin Laden.
But this time, it ain’t workin’. Even master puppeteer Karl Rove has been unable to explain away the Grand Old Party’s failures.
In the next few days Americans will go to the polls. For our nation’s sake, I’m confident that they will do so in near record numbers…and not because they’re happy with the status quo. Because people are fed up…fed up with the hypocrisy and corruption of those who claimed to know the Will of God, but who were really driven by an unadulterated lust for wealth and power.
Does the environment matter? Does healthcare matter? What about public education? How about the lives of our brave young soldiers?
The decision is yours.
The Republican leadership can’t tell you what they really stand for… because other than a few religious zealots and grossly overpaid corporate executives… nobody would ever vote for them. They can’t tell you that they couldn’t care less about protecting the environment and that the Earth is simply to be plundered in the name of profit. They can’t tell you that their views on healthcare are simply those of the pharmaceutical industry and the HMOs. They can’t tell you that they support a tax policy that encourages corporations to outsource jobs. They can’t tell you that their foreign policy is geared to the likes of Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of things that the Republicans just simply can’t tell you.
So, to win elections, they run and hide behind a religious platform to convince the electorate that they (and only they) hold the moral high ground. (Boy how I’d love to be a fly on a corporate boardroom wall to hear how those folks really feel about the Religious Right!) And as for their failed policies, they don’t like to talk about those either. That’s why they love to bring up such “meaningful” topics like flag burning and gay marriage. Amazingly, the strategy has worked. Yes, the Republicans are very good at winning elections; they’re not very good at governing.
Well…It’s taken a while, but America is waking up.
I’ve never questioned the goodness of our country and of the American people. Yes, it’s been very difficult to see so many people misled for so long. But I recognize that the support garnered in recent years for the Republicans by millions of my fellow citizens was well intended. Manipulated by our corporate media and the Republican Party’s well-oiled propaganda machine, many Americans bought into the line of “Down with the Immoral and Godless Democrats.”
To steal a line from an old Dylan tune, “the times, they are a-changin’.”
Never in recent history has there been anything like the level of corruption as we have seen with this Congress. And I don’t think I have to tell you on what side of the aisle has stood the overwhelming majority of the culprits. Whether we’re talking about Tom Delay and his Texas mafia, Jack Abramoff and his bought-off Republican lackeys, the Foley cover-up (tax cuts must really have meant a lot to him), or any one of a number of major breaches in the public trust by my political counterparts, the real Republican agenda is showing through the camouflage.
I guess it’s become a little too difficult to hide.
The Republican National Committee's current fear and smear campaign is little more than the death rattle of a party about to lose power. Their latest ad, which depicts Democrats as “terrorist appeasers,” is full of all kinds of outrageous hyperbole, capped off with a picture of a good ole’ fashioned mushroom cloud and a mug shot of the guy Bush used to want Dead or Alive, Osama bin Laden.
But this time, it ain’t workin’. Even master puppeteer Karl Rove has been unable to explain away the Grand Old Party’s failures.
In the next few days Americans will go to the polls. For our nation’s sake, I’m confident that they will do so in near record numbers…and not because they’re happy with the status quo. Because people are fed up…fed up with the hypocrisy and corruption of those who claimed to know the Will of God, but who were really driven by an unadulterated lust for wealth and power.
Does the environment matter? Does healthcare matter? What about public education? How about the lives of our brave young soldiers?
The decision is yours.
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