Nasty Little Man

The Regressives

It's about time someone connected the dots about the Republicans. Plenty of us out here in the hinterlands know this, but the Democrats aren't saying this or the media's not covering them saying it. This needs to be stated clearly, concisely, and strongly in every press appearance the Democrats do:

The Republicans do not believe in the rights of the people. They do not believe in American values. They believe in restricting rights, rather than expanding them. In short, the modern-day Republican party does not believe in freedom.

You can go right down the line and find so many ways in which the Rethugnicans believe in restricting people's rights:

• Voting rights. Suppressing the vote has a sad history in our country. Unfortunately, it continues to this day. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved a bill to require proof of citizenship at the polls. It was a party-line vote with the Republicans in favor and the Democrats against.
• The right to privacy. The Republicans believe that there is no right to privacy, that the government can and should monitor you anytime, anyplace. They can govern your body. They can govern your sex life. They can listen to your phone calls and read your e-mails and collect your records without showing any reason why they suspect you of a crime.
• The courts. There are at least three bills bouncing around Congress that are complete about-faces on the American value of justice. The "compromise" detainee and military commission bill will block habeas corpus for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, a majority of whom, according to multiple military reports and sources, are innocent. The Streamlined Procedures Act (PDF) would severely restrict the access to federal courts for state prisoners and risk the execution of the innocent. And the Public Expression of Religion Act would keep those with low or moderate incomes from challenging violations of their Constitutional rights. Only the wealthy could carry forth with a complaint when their rights have been violated. The Republicans are in the process of obliterating our system of justice.
  

There are numerous other examples, of course. The attacks on gays and their desire to end their second-class citizenship is one.

The Democrats need to make it clear to the American public that the Republican party is against freedom. When the Republi-cons accuse the Dems of having a "pre-9/11 mentality," the Dems should retort that the Cons have a pre-1776 mentality.

People on the left like to call themselves Progressives. Today's Republican party should be known as Regressives.

posted by Kinder Gentler Little Man @ 7:05 PM