Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Meet the Newly Empowered Right-wing Radicals

Some of the most extreme right-wing radicals got elected to Congress Tuesday. Let's begin with Glenn Grothman, who won Wisconsin's 6th District. Grothman wants toeliminate weekends, and believes "no people...care about Kwanza, just white left-wingers." He co-sponsored a bill that equated single-parenthood with child abuse. In addition...

He calls Rick Santorum his "soul mate" and labor union activists "slobs." He wants to end not only the minimum wage but weekends and paid sick leave and called for the elimination of municipal water disinfection, calling it "big government."
He opposes abortion for any reason and wants to make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion even to save the life of the mother.
He has said that the "gals" are running the nation and ruining it and that the "country is not going to survive if we continue this war on men."
Grothman has called Planned Parenthood "the most racist organization" in the country while supporting the Ugandan law that makes homosexuality a crime.
Joni Ernst, the newly-elected Iowa Senator, is another Tuesday winner who goes where the buses don't run. She has referred to President Obama as both "apathetic" and a "dictator." She carries a gun, which, she says, she may need to defend herself from the government. Ernst echoes the the John Birch Society on Agenda 21, an innocuous United Nations initiative that "seeks for the government to curtail your freedom to travel as you please, own a gas-powered car, live in suburbs or rural areas, and raise a family. Furthermore, it would eliminate your private property rights through eminent domain." But what really is Agenda 21? It's a non-binding UN resolution that asks nations to conserve open land by encouraging people to live in more populated areas. Period. That's it. Nothing to see here. Ernst is "flattered" when she is compared to that "strong leader," Sarah Palin. Ernst believes in nullification, a Civil War-era notion that states could nullify federal laws they didn't agree with. She referred to the mass shooting at University of California, Santa Barbara as "an unfortunate accident." As a senator who can weigh in on judicial nominations, she's vowed to block nominees who don't follow Biblical law. As a state senator, Ernst says she missed half her votes because of National Guard service, but an investigation byThe Gazette revealed that just 10% of missed votes were on days she was on duty.
Thom Tillis, who eked out a North Carolina Senate win by less than two points against Kay Hagan, agrees with Joni Ernst that there should be a personhood amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As Speaker of the House in his state, he tacked an anti-abortion provision to a motorcycle safety bill that would have closed all but one of North Carolina's abortion clinics. Tillis has compared welfare to reparations, claiming the United States has "redistributed" "trillions of dollars over the years" -- amounting to "de facto reparations." And Tillis has stated, "What we have to do is find a way todivide and conquer the people who are on assistance."
It's no longer the burden of Democrats to produce. It's incumbent (you'll pardon the expression) upon the right to show what it can accomplish. I'm reminded of the old saw about being careful about what you ask for, because you might get it. If these far-right radicals are half as good at governing as they've been at heckling from the sidelines, they'll be political superstars.
Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com/
Author: Alan Colmes

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