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Health & Fitness

The Embarrassed Republican: In the corner, in the spotlight

Ever get the feeling some people woke up in the wrong country?

  

Ever get the feeling some people woke up in the wrong country?   During last week’s demonstrations over DOMA and California’s Proposition 8, I had the distinct impression of an invasion from a parallel world.  Senators, representatives, clergy men and regular everyday citizens demanded that the Supreme Court obey the “will of the people” and uphold the right of Congress to decide just who should marry who.

What “people” are we talking about here?  All the current research and polling is telling us that attitudes have changed.  Among the American people anyway, gay marriage is mostly OK.  Either we’re moving more and more to be in full support of Gay marriage rights, or we just don’t think it’s such a big deal anymore. I’m sorry that so many feel that the Supreme court is running away with their rights to repress, but if they do strike down DOMA and let the lower court ruling stand on Prop 8, most Americans actually think that would be supporting the spirit of the Constitution.  The ones who don’t think the Constitution is the last three pages of Revelations, anyway.

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In fact, quite a few of the lofty right-wing are starting to soften their stance on what constitutes “American values”, it almost restores my faith in democracy.  “You can think any way you want Senator, but I don’t have to vote for you,” is an effective battle cry.   The party is starting to get the message that it helps to actually listen once in a while, instead of starting up the hyper-conservative band to drown everyone else out.

Or maybe we are all just getting a little tired of the constant threats of “Disaster.”  Now that things are easing up a bit, the housing market doesn’t look quite as bad, Jobs are starting to trickle down to some of us, the voices of “Imminent doom,” are starting to fade just a bit.  Of course none of us seem to be doing as well as most corporations are, and they’re certainly not sharing, but we’re doing a little better.

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That’s a good trend, politicians waking up to the wants and wishes of actual voters and not just corporate sponsors.  Oh, there are still cries of “The UN is taking over the world!” and a beloved .223 Bushmaster can still expect a nice card on Valentines day, but those more strident voices are moving back to the rear of the cave where they belong.  They’re happier there anyway.

Maybe it was “Ending Medicare” or threats against Social Security that moved the pendulum of power slightly back in the voter’s direction.  After all we pay for those things, and we’ve already paid quite a bit over our lives.  Nothing riles people up like the old switcheroo when you come to get your money back.  That has made a lot of us start looking very hard at what our representatives are actually doing.

It has also become very hard to drown out the hard questions when everything, I mean everything you say and do, is available and neatly indexed on the Internet.  Mitt Romney learned that lesson the hard way and school is definitely still in session.  One after another politicians are ending up standing in the corner over the little things they say.  The little things that are so telling about how someone actually thinks.

Take Dave Agema, Republican national committee member from Michigan, posting articles on the “Filthy lifestyle of Gays” on Facebook.  That’s not exactly getting caught on hidden camera, Dave.  Especially when you go on the radio a week later to announce you firmly agree with everything in the article.  Dave is currently protesting that calls from other party members for him to step down because of it, “are just a joke.”  Not really Dave, not really.  Remember when no one had even heard of you?  Good times, good times.

The point here is all this exposure is probably a good thing.  What’s that movie with the line “Most times, people will tell you their bad intentions ahead of time, if you listen.”?  Well, a lot of voters have woken up and they are listening, and watching.  So the next time someone says “Let’s offer Lady Gaga a million dollars to sing at the Republican National Convention.  We'll look really hip and cool.”  can we just say “Oooh, let me think about that.......wow, really dumb idea!”

http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/01/report-lady-gaga-declined-1-million-to-perform-at-rnc/

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