[img]583|left|Eric L. Wattree||no_popup[/img]The current leadership of the GOP is the most dangerous threat to America in the history of this country.
Hyperbole?
I wish it were.
The evidence clearly demonstrates that the GOP has mounted a concerted effort to circumvent the American people and install a modern-day feudalism that effectively abolishes the will of the people and their elected officials to allow our cities and states to be run by corporate-like CEOs. No telling where it will go from there.
In spite of the GOP claim that they believe in limited government, The Michigan Messenger has reported that newly elected Republican Gov. Rick Snyder is poised to sign an emergency management bill that will hand total control of local governments over to “emergency managers” appointed by the government.
The Messenger reports:
“In a party line vote, and despite impassioned speeches of protest by the body’s Democratic minority, the Michigan Senate approved legislation that threatens to take over and even dissolve local governments that refuse to balance their budgets by breaking labor contracts.
“According to the law, which has already been approved in the House, the governor will be able to declare ‘financial emergency’ in towns or school districts and appoint someone to fire local elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, and eliminate services.”
According to the Messenger, in a last ditch effort to protect the rights of the citizens, Democrats tried to add an amendment that would require “emergency managers” to hold monthly public accountability meetings to inform the citizens of how they are governing, but the amendment was voted down by the Republican Senate.
‘Worst I Have Seen’
Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan state AFL-CIO, said: “”It takes every decision in a city or school district and puts it in the hands of the manager, from when the streets get plowed to who plows them and how much they are paid. In schools, the manager would decide academics or if you have athletics. This is a takeover by the right wing, and it’s an assault on democracy like I’ve never seen.”
Thus, the GOP, a party of “limited government,” intends to completely take over the local governments, rescind the will of the voting public, and thumb their noses at any amendment that will require public accountability. This power-grab is taking place in other Republican-led states around the country.
What’s going on in Wisconsin and other Republican-led states demonstrates that the leaders of the modern GOP are without limits. To put it bluntly, these people are un-American. They are fundamentally opposed to our way of life and greatly prefer a dictatorial form of government. George W. Bush let the cat out of the bag by admitting it when he said, “If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier…just as long as I'm the dictator.”
Where Were They Before?
Americans need to wake up and connect the dots. The GOP now claims that they are so concerned about the deficit that they must suspend the Constitution. Yet they weren’t concerned enough about it to suspend giving the top 2 percent of the population a tax cut that will add $4 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Neither were they concerned enough to discontinue taxpayer subsidies to Exxon, one of the richest corporations in the world, nor prevent the political class in Congress from giving themselves an extra $93,000 in “petty cash.”
While they claim to love our troops, they rushed them into battle in Iraq without the necessary gear to protect their lives. They awarded Dick Cheney’s former corporation, Halliburton (KBR), a no-bid contract to provide the troops with contaminated water and do such shoddy contracting work that at least 18 of our troops were electrocuted in the shower. The Dept. of the Army classified their deaths as “negligent homicide.”
If that weren't enough, the GOP fought against giving the troops additional benefits when they left the service – in spite of the fact that our troops in Iraq were forced into extended tours of duty and spent more tours of duty in a battle zone than any troops in American history.
The GOP has shown the past 40 years they are conniving, lack limits, self-serving, and have little respect for the rule of law. Richard Nixon was forced to resign after being involved in the plot to burglarize Democratic headquarters in the Watergate scandal. Evidence strongly suggests Ronald Reagan was in collusion with the Iranians to hold American hostages until after he won the Presidential election (The hostages were released immediately after he took the oath of office). Reagan also traded arms with his newfound friends during the Iran/Contra scandal. He flooded American inner cities with drugs to support his illegal war in Nicaragua, then suggested that inner city children “just say no.”
Republican George W. Bush lied us into the war with Iraq, costing more than a million lives, including the killing and maiming of thousands of Americans troops. His administration also spied on American citizens. Cheney committed treason by outing a CIA agent. They , committed war crimes that included torturing prisoners and purposely ravaged the national treasury.
Now they are using the excuse of a depleted treasury to claim “a national emergency” in order to mount yet another assault on the Constitution. Meantime, Republicans in Congress are demonizing an entire religion as “Islamofascists” to spread hatred and fear, to distract our attention from their horrific agenda.
Doesn’t that feel like deja vu? If not, it’s probably because you're a victim of the GOP assault on our educational system.
They have a vested interest in keeping you uninformed. They don’t want you to realize that while you may be on their side, they are not on yours. They think of the American people as stupid. They want to keep us that way.
Wikipedia definition:
“Fascism: A radical, authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values and systems, including the political system and the economy.”
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet and musician, born in Los Angeles. A columnist for the Los Angeles Sentinel, the Black Star News, a staff writer for Veterans Today, he is a contributing writer to Your Black World, the Huffington Post, ePluribus Media and other online sites and publications. He also is the author of “A Message From the Hood.”
Mr. Wattree may be contacted at wattree.blogspot.com or Ewattree@Gmail.com
Religious bigotry: It’s not that I hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like me – it’s just that God does.
