Thursday, October 11, 2012

More And More - Right Wing Racism Passes As Mainstream Political Discourse In Today's GOP



By Frankly Speaking 

The GOP, The Gift That Keeps On Giving!


In Arkansas, GOP candidates and lawmakers have made the following assertions in the last week:

1) Charlie Fuqua wrote in his self published book that Muslims should be exiled, "rebellious children" should be executed and negligent parents sterilized:

"Former state Rep. Charlie Fuqua, who is seeking a comeback to the state House this year, wrote in his 2012 book, "God's Law," that parents who do not support their children or have had their parental rights ended by a judge should not be allowed to have more children, the Arkansas Times reported. Fuqua also called for the Muslim deportation and the child death penalty in his book."

 2) According to state legislator John Hubbard, African Americans should be thankful for slavery...
 The Republican Arkansas state legislator whose writing in favor of slavery has embroiled the state GOP in controversy is now defending his viewpoints on the subject:
"… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.”..."
And:
"African Americans must “understand that even while in the throes of slavery, their lives as Americans are likely much better than they ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa.”...
Oh... and this:
“Knowing what we know today about life on the African continent, would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?”. 

 3) State Representative Loy Mauch said:
 State Rep. Loy Mauch (R-Bismarck) wrote a series of letters to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, defending slavery and attacking Lincoln, the Arkansas Times reports.
And all this was just from ONE State.

The State and National GOPs, are of course distancing themselves from these statements and these people. And while it is true that these are local politicians and local politics, it is also very clear that this is more than just a couple of isolated and coincidental events. This is, in fact, a Party-wide phenomenon.

Candidates with extreme ideas, ala Todd Akin, Peter King, Michelle Bachmann, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich etc; as well as extreme positions on issues such as abortion, taxes, social safety nets, wars and the environment, strike a sympathetic chord with an increasingly influential and active block of GOP voters nationwide.

A decade ago these clowns and their ignorant statements would have been considered stereotypical and exaggerated examples that belonged in a satirical skit mocking politics...

In 2012 these statements are accurate portrayals of the dominant wing of a Political Party gone Bat-Shit Crazy and they are viewed as legitimate civil political discourse by a shockingly large segment of the voting public.