Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 31. Mars 2011 / Time Line March 31, 2011
Version 3.503/31/2011
Buy Cable TV, Get a Free Gun: Welcome to the New America
By Don Monkerud
Guns in churches, schools and bars. Immigrants expelled to solve
financial problems. Morality praised as the key national issue.
American politics are getting more bizarre and in some cases,
borders on the nutty. Current politics include Republican
legislatures in Texas, Arizona, Georgia and Minnesota fighting for
their "rights" to reject energy efficiency light bulbs, while South
Carolina will manufacture their own state's rights incandescent
bulbs.
Alaska wants to eliminate Federal protection of salmon, polar
bears, seals and wolves in favor of "state sovereignty." Dozens of
states pledge to roll back "Obamacare," and protect their citizens'
right to high-priced monopoly healthcare. A GOP legislator in New
Hampshire recommends sending the disabled and homeless to Siberia
where it's cheaper to live.
Americans have always relished smears, scandals, and partisan
struggles that appeal to the lowest common denominator. A fierce
national anti-intellectualism, fear of losing social position, and
an economy run into the ditch by greedy bankers are driving the
public to look for answers. The Tea Party and their Republican
sycophants used this by making the Federal government the enemy to
win recent elections: They are having a field day.
Important issues they've tackled include expanding the rights of
gun owners, portrayed by the National Rifle Association as
oppressed victims of government regulation. These oppressed victims
bought 200,000 more guns than usual in 2010, to make a total of 200
million to 350 million guns in the U.S. Despite 30,000 deaths a
year and 70,000 injuries caused by these guns, the NRA insists,
"guns save lives."
In Florida, NRA supporters seek to impose a fine of $5 million on
any doctor who asks patients if they own guns. In South Dakota, NRA
supporters want to require every adult citizen to purchase a gun.
Georgia is about to allow guns in bars, churches and political
events; Arizona allows anyone to carry a concealed weapon without a
permit; and Utah has named an official state firearm, soon to be
followed by Texas.
NRA supporters in nine states seek to legalize guns on school
campuses. In Montana, Radio Shack is giving away a gun with every
purchase of Dish Network, and in Missouri a car dealer is offering
a free AK-47 with the purchase of a new vehicle.
Congressional Republicans forced "gun rights" into the healthcare
bill to prevent the collection of "any information relating to gun
ownership." Congress refuses to ban ammunition clips that hold 40
bullets and fire two shots a second, and the NRA refuses to meet
with President Barack
Obama because he has "spent a lifetime trying to destroy the
Second Amendment."
In another effort to "save the country," GOP legislatures are
attacking illegal immigration. Georgia wants to charge any
undocumented resident caught driving drunk with a felony, condemn
immigrants for stealing "job opportunities" from citizens, and make
it a crime to "transport" or "harbor" illegal immigrants. Several
states seek to bar illegals from college and prevent them from
marrying U.S. citizens. Alabama would make it illegal to rent to an
illegal immigrant, and several states want to pass laws requiring
employers to check with a Federal citizenship database before
hiring anyone. One GOP legislator says he wants to "make South
Carolina a very hostile place for those who are in this country
illegally."
Meanwhile GOP presidential contenders support a moral crusade to
save America:
- Mike Huckabee of Arkansas blames the economic downturn, crime and high school drop out rates on our "morality." He wants America to "rediscover God" and worship evangelical Christianity.
- Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi lauds the White Citizens Councils of the Civil Rights days and pledges that we should do "everything that we can do to stop abortion."
- Newt Gingrich claims, "religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite" that wants God "driven out of public life." He places moral values at the top of the U.S. agenda, as important as the economy and national defense.
- Michele Bachmann promises to increase the importance of social moral issues and says, "Social conservatism is fiscal conservatism."
Working people are not faring well in the business-supported GOP
push to dominate politics. In Nevada, the Las Vegas Chamber of
Commerce is seeking to repeal the state's $8.25 minimum wage.
Darrell Issa, Republican from California, wants to outlaw any
states minimum wage higher than the Federal minimum wage. Wisconsin
overturned the rights of state workers to collective bargaining,
and Republican governors around the country are laying off
thousands of workers, privatizing government jobs and firing
schoolteachers.
Republican Congressional leaders abolished committees on global
warming and ended recycling programs in the House cafeteria,
claiming "green" initiatives are too expensive and compostable
utensils melt in hot soup and break in salads. The GOP wants to end
cheap government mortgages by abolishing Fannie Mae because it
competes with for-profit banks. They also seek to abolish the EPA,
along with government support of Planned Parenthood and National
Public Radio; and Republican Ron Paul wants to abolish almost all
government agencies.
Is the GOP creating a new role for America as a laughing stock of
the world, or is American simply becoming one giant loony bin?
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