I so get it now about Republicans

[Sputnik]

I'm not coloring with a full box of crayons most days, so many of you may have completed the picture well ahead of me. But here's what I've finally concluded:

Republicans don't want "peace and proseperity."

Whether they are neo-cons bent on world domination, corporate fatcats whose bank accounts are fattened by war, religious fundamentalists who want to hasten the end of the world, chickenhawks who feel manly by living vicariously through our brave men and women in the military who are actually risking their lives, selfish elitists who don't want other Americans to prosper, or just angry people who are hellbent on having an enemy (both foreign and domestic), they are actually enjoying the current condition of our country and world. They LIKE things the way they are.

They like being at war.

They like when Americans are losing their jobs, their healthcare, their homes.

They like that most of the world hates us.

Why? Because they are negative, miserable human beings who like wallowing in misery, especially the misery of others.

Am I stereotyping? A few years ago, I might have said, "Yes. Maybe that's not quite fair." But not now. There is simply no other answer.

They don't want peace and they don't want prosperity.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

1. They only care about themselves. When it starts to affect them personally

they go to the other side. They have no ability to empathize (unless it's with a fetus).

This is what is happending to a lot of ranch owners and hunters out west. They were solidly Rep. UNTIL the government started to drill on their land and ruin it. If it was happening to their neighbors it would be ok.

The key to Republicans is selfishness and lack of empathy. Also hatred and fear of people who are different from them. The other factor is that many are racist.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

11. I just realized!

Pro-life doesn't have anything to do with religion! It's people who want to be fetuses: you know, climate control, barcalounger, instant food, the lulling heartbeat of the Fox News Channel....

[Mad_Dem_X]

20. Bingo! No empathy!

That's what it all boils down to. I call it the "I Got Mine" Syndrome. So long as you and yours are doing okay, who gives a rat's butt about anything else? No compassion for others.

[kaitykaity]

2. They don't care about people who "are not like them."

All they care about is their own small world. They
couldn't give a shit about anybody else.

Selfish bastards.

[Kenergy]

3. I agree

[yowzayowzayowza]

4. The GOP is currently bound by two

factors: the primacy of avarice and blind faith (dogmatic and/or religious).

[SharonAnn]

5. They want "situations" where they can transfer wealth to themselves.

Preferably, without having to work at it.

Current:
War gives an opportunity to do this. Creates companies that supply the effort and "transfer" taxpayer revenue to themselves. The Iraq war is a good example of this.

Legislation gives an opportunity to do this. Create laws that provide the service and "transfer" taxpayer revenue to themselves. the Prescription drug bill is a good example of this.

Taxation gives an opportunity to do this. Cut tax rates of upper income people and maintain (or even increase) tax rates of lower income people. Bush's tax cuts on upper incomes and on dividends are examples of this.

Future:
Social Security "privatization" or "ownership" will provide an opportunity to do this. They'll charge us a "fee" for handling our taxpayer money for investments. This is a "two for one" deal. They get a fee for handling it, then they invest themoney in their schemes which will not provide a return (probably will go broke). Taxpayer loses both ways. We get charged a fee forlosing our money.

Medicare "privatization" will provide an opportunity to do this. HMO's will charge a fee for handling Medicare services that they will then deny.

[ComerPerro]

6. Its not so much because they are negative

It is because Republicans always function well in times of war.

Is it because they are experts at foreign policy and respect the military?

Far from it.

They know that they only way a group of rich, elitist assholes can completely loot the country without anyone complaining is by having a war to distract people and to whip them into a frenzied state of nationalism.

[Sydnie]

7. You are right

"They like being at war."

Most of their investments are in defense companies. They aren't making any money if there is no war. Zell Miller showed us that. He was angry that Lockheed Martin wasn't getting enough gov't contracts for his area so blast the very people that elected you and supported you because war was good for his area.

"They like when Americans are losing their jobs, their healthcare, their homes."

Americans losing things means more things they can buy for themselves. They can purchase distressed properties and business for pennies on the dollar, close them and build something that supports their other investments or sell off the land at a large profit. Think about the stereotypes of the fat cats through out the depression, eating high off the hog and kicking the poor out of their way to get to the trough. Nothing has changed there. Nothing.

"They like that most of the world hates us."
Less competition for the prime real estate foreclosures or sweet investments. They want it ALL for themselves!

[slipperduke]

8. Good article on Michael Moore's site

It's all about the change in Republicanism. Going from Eisenhower's progressive conservatism to the present-day collection of shit stains you have ruling over you now.

[DemBones DemBones]

9. It's all about CHEAP LABOR. Check out

http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/beattherightinthree.htm

There are many articles at the site, but in this one, Conceptual Guerilla explains how to beat the right in 3 minutes, and to do that you have to understand that their desire for CHEAP LABOR is behind everything they support.

[flordehinojos]

10. You couldn't have put it any better, or any plainer!

[Ready4Change]

12. Flame me if you wish. Please don't use so wide a brush.

I, a Republican, am here on DU because I do not believe this Bush administration is in any way Republican in nature, and I'm very dissapointed that my party has chosen to continue supporting this administrations destructive actions.

There are many republicans who feel as I do, and many more who are waking up to what's going on. But if you paint them all with the brush of evil, you play right into the hands of the propoganda in which conservatives are currently steeped. Ie: Liberals all are extremist, tree huggers who would rather spit on soldiers than work for a living. (Not my words or beliefs about liberals, btw.)

Use fact, use reason, win over those with the ability to think their own thoughts, and assail those who seek to silence and supress anyone who would oppose them.

Thanks for listening. I'll brace myself for the impending flames, now.

[FlaGranny]

14. Most of us realize that is true.

This administration is NOT Republican. Unfortunately, though, that's what they call themselves, and many historical Republicans still don't realize that. I'm old enough to remember Republican/Democratic cooperation and have always been of the opinion that both sides are needed in order to reach compromises that are acceptable to all. This new neocon "republicanism" is a whole different story. Compromise is not even in their vocabulary. They are out to destroy America as we know it. Whether they themselves realize this I am not certain, because they have no concept of what America is supposed to be. None at all.

[George_S]

17. True

This is, I think, a sincere post. Many, many Republicans feels this way. Bush and the neo-cons are more like radical freepers than real Republicans. It may come as a surprise after the election how many Republicans refused to vote for Bush even though they didn't vote for Kerry. A surprising number may even vote for Kerry just to get Bush out of office.

We'll see.

[Sparkle]

22. You're a republican?

Then why are you on democraticunderground!?

(just kidding):-)

[Ready4Change]

27. Oh oh, secrets out!

:) Actually, I've been open about it from when I first started posting here. One of the things about DU that impresses me is that, since I've been pretty polite (at least in my opinion.) I haven't been kicked out. I do recognize that it is totally withing DU's rights and powers to do so, and I do my best to respect that.

I came here because I noticed some things about the 2000 campaign didn't jibe with what I was hearing from many media sources. Coming here I found many of the counter arguments which not only were lacking in those sources, but with which I agreed.

[sweetheart]

23. have you considered switching parties?

I myself did exactly that earlier this year when i registered for
the primary. I had spent too much time wishing for eisenhower
republicanism to return. Jim Jeffords was the last republican
in the senate as well... the rest of this lot are trash talking
gutter snipes.

I realize that there was no point in empowering them even with a
distant membership, as i had the fantasy that it was better to oppose
them as a republican... but i feel much better now that i'm a
democrat. I'm with the right people, and i'd rather make my bed
with honest people.

[Ready4Change]

26. Yes, still do.

I'm a 'tweener. Conservatives tend to think I'm liberal. Liberals tend to think I'm conservative. I'm kind of a fiscally conservative hawkish dove, if that makes any sense? :)

[Ron Green]

13. OK, OK, but why is this true???

"...they are negative, miserable human beings who like wallowing in misery, especially the misery of others."

WHY are they thus? I suggest it's because, as others have intimated here, that the pain of life is just too great for them. Being an adult in a democratic society involves learning how to forgive, how to share, how to look patiently at complex problems, how to resist temptations, how to overcome the perceived separation of oneself from others. On one level or another, right wingers have chosen not to do these things, thereby staying stuck in some childish state of taking their marbles and going home when the going gets rough. Diplomacy is HARD, George W. Bush, just as sending an army to war is EASY. That's why you do what you do. You're too much of a child to do the grown-up thing.

[natrat]

15. not to be mean but

alot of rethugs are not very smart, easily led and really aggressive

[TahitiNut]

16. Children who never learned to share ...

... because it's THEIRS! Children who "ran with scissors" just because somebody else wanted to use them. Children who "didn't play well with others" because those 'others' weren't the right color. Children who think they 'earned' their place in the sperm lottery, and Christmas just proves it.

My ('New Deal' liberal) uncle has said it for years ... "the Republican Party is the party of property; the Democratic Party is the party of people."

[ismnotwasm]

18. yup

Someday, when I have time, I'm going work out my theory why some republican/conservative thought is very similar to the criminal mind. Take your average house prowler. They will rationalize "well they should have locked the windows, or had better security, they are fools who deserve to be ripped off" Compare that to the thought "They are poor because they are lazy". Same bizarre rationalization. I've thought this for a long time. I'm serious, these are kind of silly examples, but you get the general picture, (I hope)

[smirkymonkey]

19. You got it!

Also, they're stupid. They don't understand how weakening those "underneath" them will make it all come crashing down eventually.

[MsConduct]

21. Yep, you nailed it! n/t

[Starlight]

24. John Kenneth Galbraith said it best...

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

[nomatrix]

25. You can carry a lunchbox and vote republican

but
you can't carry a lunchbox and BE a republican.