Letters We Wish We'd Written Dept. -- What Conservatism Is

In today's Washington Post:

In his July 5 op-ed, “Why American conservatism failed,” Fareed Zakaria was much too kind to conservatives when he summarized the “classical liberalism” they espouse as “promot[ing] limited government and the veneration of individual liberty.” Heck, I’m no “conservative,” but I believe strongly in limited government and individual liberty. That’s why I am not a Stalinist, among other things. 

While American conservatives have been complaining throughout my adult life about a perceived loss of our liberty to an allegedly self-aggrandizing federal government, the fact is that the federal government has compelled me to do only two things in almost eight decades: pay my taxes and enlist in the Navy. What American conservatives have actually “promoted” during those decades can be boiled down to opposition to three things: equal rights (e.g., voting rights for minorities), federal regulation of commerce (e.g., environmental and workplace safety standards) and government benefits (e.g., Medicare and food stamps). Mr. Zakaria may characterize all this naysaying as a “venerable creed” championed by Ronald Reagan, but he would do well to recall Reagan’s inaugural pronouncement that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” No, it isn’t. American conservatism is.

Robert J. McManus, Bethesda

As you follow, for example, the Obamacare- killing suit brought by Republican State attorneys general making its way through the Republican- stuffed Federal courts, keep in mind what Republicans have always been in favor of: afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.

O'Reilly Not Spending More Time With His Kids

The Fux Channel's star propagandist, Bill "O'Liely" O'Reilly, was ordered by a Nassau County, NY appeals court recently to relinquish all custody of his two teenage children to their mother. The custody issue was central in a years-long battle between O'Liely and his ex-wife, who divorced him in 2011. During the divorce proceedings, his ex-wife claimed that O'Liely had physically abused her, and his 17 year-old daughter told court appointed officials that she had witnessed her father drag her mother by the neck down a flight of stairs. In their decision, the court cited the children's clear preference to reside with their mother exclusively. Small wonder.

In reading the linked article, it's clear that rageaholic O'Liely isn't through with his personal post-marital war.  He's apparently seeking to nullify the marriage which produced his two children. Family values!

The Republican War On Women - Equal Pay Day

Today is Equal Pay Day, a day for promoting and taking action on guaranteeing equal pay for equal work.  Pretty simple concept:  regardless of your gender, you should receive pay equal to that of anyone else doing the same work.  A little background first, courtesy of the Department of Labor (the link has a lot more background, information and resources on the issue - please check it out):

When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963, women were earning an average of 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. While women hold nearly half of today's jobs, and their earnings account for a significant portion of the household income that sustains the financial well-being of their families, they are still experiencing a gap in pay compared to men's wages for similar work. Today, women earn about 81 cents on the dollar compared to men — a gap that results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages. For African-American women and Latinas, the pay gap is even greater. 

Each year, National Equal Pay Day reflects how far into the current year women must work to match what men earned in the previous year. On National Equal Pay Day, we rededicate ourselves to carrying forward the fight for true economic equality for all. (our emphasis)

As you might suspect, Democrats get it, hence the proposed "Paycheck Fairness Act" and executive actions President Obama announced today:

President Barack Obama is marking Equal Pay Day by announcing two executive orders strengthening equal pay protections at federal contractors. One of the orders will prohibit employer retaliation against workers who inquire about or share pay information, making it easier for women to find out if they are being discriminated against, and the other will call for the Labor Department to collect pay information from federal contractors, with the data including race and gender to make it easier to identify employers who discriminate.

The troglodyte Republican response?

Republicans are mounting a counteroffensive against Equal Pay Day, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and indeed the very notion that equal pay is a serious issue. Since you can't straight-up admit to opposing equal pay, the substance of the Republican counteroffensive is essentially this: We support equal pay. Just not any efforts to actually make it a reality.  (our emphasis)

And what does Senate Republican Minority Leader and chinless wonder Mitch "Missy" McConnell call equal pay for equal work?

"Instead of focusing on jobs, [Reid] launched into another confusing attack on the left's latest bizarre obsession," McConnell said, adding that Reid was refusing to entertain GOP suggestions on the economy. "Democrats chose to ignore serious job-creation ideas so they could blow a few kisses to their powerful pals on the left."  (our emphasis)

And did the Stepford Wives token Republican women stand up for their fellow women?  Pssht.  Here's Kansas Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins giving her sisters a kick in the ass:

"Many ladies I know feel like they are being used as pawns, and find it condescending [that] Democrats are trying to use this issue as a political distraction from the failures of their economic policy," Jenkins said.  (our emphasis)

And that Republican front group "Independent [snicker] Women's Forum" says what?

And talking about unequal pay is bad because, in the words of Sabrina Schaeffer of the Independent Women's Forum, "Perpetuating the myth that women are a victim class harms women and makes them feel weak." Heavens, no. Women are empowered by their lack of economic power, I suppose.  (our emphasis)

Sisterhood!  Solidarity forever!

We haven't seen so much embarrassing flat-footedness since Tom "The Hammer" DeLay was on "Dancing With The Stars."

The issue has been laid out in stark terms.  The government can and should act.  The only question remaining is "Whose side are you on?"

Not surprisingly, with their long history of looking out for reactionary bidness interests, maintaining socially regressive =cough= fundamentalist = cough= policies, and disenfranchising non-Republican voting blocs, we see Republicans once again on the wrong side of history.

Oh, and how's that Republican rebranding coming along?

UPDATE:  Also "Hummina, hummina, hummina."

UPDATE II:  We're shocked!  Shocked!  Senate Republicans block the Paycheck Fairness Act from proceeding.

Excerpt of the Day: Free-Floating Clouds of Hysterical Contempt

Today's conservatism in a ... um, nutshell:

Another constant about Conservatism is that it is now entirely parasitic, with no beliefs or ideas of its own.

Instead it exists as free-floating cloud of hysterical contempt for anything it perceives of as "Liberal" that rises to an 11 on the Shoutycracker Scale whenever the White House is occupied by an American president who does not have an (R) after his name.

Conservatism is like some cheap, non-FDA approved off-brand Green Lantern power, which is eternally straining to tangibly manifest their incoherent and inconsolable rage into whatever form they believe will cripple as many Liberal ideals and make as many Liberals cry as possible.

They have so far failed to turn any of their non-scandals into anything stabby or smashy enough to bring down the Kenyan Usurper, but until the day he leaves office, they will never stop trying.

And the Beltway Both Sider Crew will never stop enabling them.

They'll impeach him yet, just you wait.

 And if they can't somehow get to Obama, this other black guy will do.

ACU Caught in "Pay for Play" Shakedown

The blind squirrels over at Politico are finally on to something. They're reporting a "pay for play" shakedown attempt on the part of the wingnut welfare nest known as the American Conservative Union, headed by David "Peachy" Keene. These free market buccaneers tried to sell their services (including offering favorable op/eds penned by Keene) to Fed Ex for $2 or $3 million. Seems Fed Ex is in a legislative dispute with rival UPS. But when Fed Ex refused to go along with the offer, the moral giants at ACU immediately flipped sides and sold their services to UPS. It's all about the Benjamins, baby!

Well, if nothing else, this demonstrates that wingnuts are in the pay for play game just as heavily as are their ideological brethren at certain newspapers.

(Photo: David "Peachy" Keene, ACU pimpmaster)