Pining for Them Good Ole Days

The shame of it all…

The party of Lincoln, as it has been called, was formed to fight the expansion of slavery into the western territories. It was formed by a merger of the old Whig party and the abolitionist movement that was committed to the end of slavery as an American institution. In 1860 the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. He became a symbol of the party for all the generations to come.

Flash forward a hundred fifty years. The Republican Party of the new millennium is now the party of “no”, big money, hate-speech, and Fox News propaganda sound bites. If your in the mood for real uninspired debate, and follow-the leader pledges of
"no taxes ever" then all you need to do is watch the results of the Iowa Straw poll. U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota won. Unfortunately this is the choice that Regan-conservative's are having to deal with.

Sadly the Republican party of today expresses itself more with decidedly militant rhetoric, compassion-less posturing, harmful policy, and unfocused “Teabagger” rage. The Republican party of the 21-century is nothing if not consistent…they want to win at all cost, and they don’t care about the truth, civility, constitutional law, informed public debate, bipartisanship and good old fashion decency.

The GOP is a train wreck unfolding as we speak, and worst of all, their so-called cynical, obstructionist leadership amounts to providing their fellow citizens with misinformation, stroking irrational fears, and sabotaging our government. Let it burn to the ground is the new slogan. Rising the Debt Ceiling...hell no! Rising Taxes On the Wealthiest Americans...hell no! Curbing Military Expenditures...hell no! Approving a Jobs Creation Bill...hell no! Putting America Back to Work... hell no!

And lets be honest… The GOP of the 21-century would shun Abraham Lincoln if he were alive today. And they would also reject Ronald Regan. He increased taxes during his presidency, and that is a major no-no in the GOP today. The party of Lincoln is dead, and in its place is a party that does the bidding of its corporate overlords like the Koch Brothers, or Karl Rover and his Super Pac buddies. The grand ole party has become the party of hell no.

The party of hell no is not interested in putting the needs of the American people first. They want to win no matter the cost and they are using every trick in their magic bag to make that happen. The 2012 Presidential campaign is going to be one hell of a ride.