Depressing reality.

There is very little I feel like writing about these days. I could make another supposedly “pointed and snarky” post about some current television ads that I find particularly insulting. However, given the political situation facing this country right now, I just don’t have the passion to put anything into a post that is not about politics and how the current Republican party is bankrupting this country; monetarily, physically, ethically, morally bankrupting it.

This is just not the country I was taught about in school. I was taught that we held ourselves up to high standards, and that our system of government, while not pretty or easy, ensured equal treatment for all, not just the current majority, and also ensured that no one person could run amok without the checks and balances coming into play in very short order.

Of course, much of what we were taught at that level turned out to not be totally true. I was never taught, at that level, the injustices that blacks, other minorities, and even women faced on a daily basis. Certainly, we learned about some of the scandals, such as Teapot Dome and the corruption of Tammany Hall. I think I heard something about Joe McCarthy back then, but didn’t know much about that whole episode until after I was out of high school. But all those “unpleasant” episodes were in the past, some relic of some long-ago age that really had nothing to do with the shining ideals to which our country always strived for.

I lived through Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. I was absolutely fascinated by the Watergate hearings. I watched them incessantly. I was impressed by the fact that the panel was made up of both Republicans and Democrats, all seeking the truth. Howard Baker’s “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” still rings with me. Baker was a true Republican, as were several other members of the committee, but I always felt that all of them had one goal, to get to the facts of what happened that a corrupt administration was trying desperately to hide. The entire response to the excesses of a President out of control seemed to show the best of this country. We may hit bumps in the road now and then, and some pretty severe bumps at that. However, the system that we have will protect us from really straying too far from the course.

All of this is an attempt to describe how utterly frustrated, disappointed, and frightened I am by the current situation. This is not a country I recognize.

Here is my assessment of our current situation. There is a very large element of the current Republican party whose goal is not to govern. Their goal is to implement their utopian, their “perfect society”. It doesn’t matter how many people they hurt or alienate to attain that goal. They will do anything they can. They will destroy any and all perceived enemies that stand in their way, or even those who slightly disagree with them. They will righteously hold up the Constitution when it suits their needs, but ignore it or actively try to undercut the very foundation that our country has depended on since its’ inception with ease when it becomes convenient to do so. They will lie, cheat and steal when they see that such activity might further their goals. They will manipulate and steal outright elections upon which our system of government depends. They will corrupt the infrastructure of our society, such as a free press and a free education for all who desire it. They will not hesitate to impose their set of neo-Christian beliefs on the rest of us. They will scream “foul!” whenever anyone tries to fight back against their tactics.

This is the road that I see this country on. This is nothing more than the willful destruction of the system of government, checks and balances, and free press that we have depended upon to maintain our freedom and our high moral status among the nations of the world.