Faux Republicans create the party's woes.
Henry Riekert, a contributing columnist for the Lexington Herald - Leader, must have been reading my blog post regarding the morphing of the Republican Party into the party of the Dixiecrats. This morning he wrote an interesting column opining that the control of the Republican Party and the nation is in the hands of Faux Republicans. You may not agree totally with some of his opinion which appears anti-Republican, as I did not, but he is right on the money on the others as excerpted here: The irony is that the clowns the conservatives are electing aren't even Republicans. Real Republicans are fiscally conservative and wouldn't point to a quarter-trillion dollar deficit -- down from $425 billion -- as proof that their economic policies are working. Bush did that recently. That takes chutzpa. Real Republicans believe in conserving the environment, but Faux Republicans are lopping off the tops of Kentucky's mountains and obliterating streams and communities to maintain the production of coal, the burning of which exacerbates the global warming that is already unleashing catastrophe on the planet. Real Republicans believe that government should mind its own business; Republican impostors have eviscerated the Bill of Rights, spied on citizens, ... and legalized torture. Real Republicans believe in limited government. Faux Republicans believe in limiting all but that part of government that indulges corporate America and the wealthy. The GOP paper tigers stood by and watched North Korea go nuclear. They've allowed military housing to deteriorate into slums and sliced Veterans Affairs hospitals' budgets. They gutted the Geneva Conventions, thus endangering future POWs. Then there was that hurricane. And all the while they've engaged in and covered up the sleaziest of behaviors to maintain their grip on power. Maybe the Republican Party has changed and truly reflects the inner soul of the conservative voter. Maybe that's why so many Republican politicians act like morons. Winston Churchill said Americans could always be counted on to do the right thing -- but not until first exploring every other conceivable possibility.
The solution to the party's problems, in my humble opinion, is simple: For Real Republicans (of the Abraham Lincoln/Ronald Reagan types), "doing the right thing" means "exploring the conceivable possibility" of wrestling the soul and control of the party from the Faux Republicans. There are no other alternative solutions.
The solution to the party's problems, in my humble opinion, is simple: For Real Republicans (of the Abraham Lincoln/Ronald Reagan types), "doing the right thing" means "exploring the conceivable possibility" of wrestling the soul and control of the party from the Faux Republicans. There are no other alternative solutions.
Labels: Politics, Republicanism
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 9:46 AM
4 Comments:
Osi,
I don't know who is or isn't a "real Republican" but there are some areas in old fifth Congressional District that have been Republicans since the era of Lincoln. There are also a lot of Democrats who switched parties back in the era of FDR. They're all good people and have never been Dixiecrats.
Furthermore, these people support coal mining, including mountaintop removal, because they know its good for their local economy and good for the nation.
I agree that we need to work harder to lessen CO2 emissions associated with coal. We need to do that for coal burning technology and we need to do that so America can turn coal into liquid fuels and thereby quit buying oil from dictators.
But to slam good people who've worked in the coal fields all their lives and are about as far from Dixicrats as you can get belies a lack of education about the mountains I proudly call home.
Johnathan, mountain top removal is just one of the many issues presented. I know about coal mining -- I have toured Eastern KY coal mining country, crawling on my belly into coal mines and driving to the coal mining mountain tops -- so I am NOT uneducated about coal mining as you suggest. Also, no one is "slamming good people who've worked in the coal fields ... " The Columnist is merely pointing out the environmental damage of mountain top or strip mining and that is an OBVIOUS fact! As for DIXIECRATS, the term refers to those Democrats whose racial politics were rejected by modern day Democrats and who pitched their tents under the Republican umbrella because they couldn't "hack" it on their own or elsewhere. And they have taken over the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.
Osi:
I don't understand why you paint with such a broad brush. What coal mining has to do with the central issue of Dixiecrats is beyond me. Further, you talk about coal mining as if it's a terrible thing.
MTR is one of the only ways coal companies can get at the smaller seams of coal left by previous operations. The mountains should be and by and large are reclaimed per environmental standards. Coal offers Kentucky, particulary Eastern Kentucky, a chance to play a central role in America's energy independence strategy... particularly if we solve the CO2 issue.
I would think that sort of strategy would make a nationalist like Reagan proud.
I was not painting with a broad brush. The columnist's comments about coal mining and my agreement were not to call coal miners Dixiecrats. I'm only confirming my suspicions that Our Republican Party is being hijacked by Dixiecrats and many of us have to fight them or form our own ALRRRP (Abraham Lincoln / Ronald Reagan Republican Party)!
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