Nerve Endings Firing Away

When I am asked to define my political leanings, I often say, I’m a moderate and when asked to elaborate (because frankly, being a moderate depends on the times you live in) I say fiscal conservative and social liberal. At least in the United States, these two characteristics define the two major political parties with the Republicans claiming to be fiscally conservative and Democrats claiming to be socially liberal. Now at least in the fiscal sense, we have seen neither party can be appropriately called conservative. Democrats have had their pet spending projects and Republicans not only dare not touch Medicare and Social Security but in fact tend to inflate (Medicare Part D) its already-large share in the budget.

The other characteristic somewhat differentiates the two parties and that’s why I tend to often support the Democrats. Why? Because, as any Congress voter in India will tell you, the other side is batshit insane. Some may say, the people that make up the Republican base are not crazy but its leaders are. They are the ones who define the agenda by pandering to a lunatic fringe just to garner some publicity case in point, Michelle Bachmann. But then what if the leaders are indeed preaching to the choir that is xenophobic and ignorant to begin with?

That is why this poll conducted by Daily Kos/Research 2000 surveying Republicans only is scary and exemplifies why I could never identify with such people. This past election showed us that Republicans in fact do not constitute half of the American population irrespective of the fact that there are only two political parties. So these self-identified Republicans may in fact only represent say, 20% of the total population. Nevertheless, the views of the supporters of a major political party in the United States is something to be wary of. You should scroll through all the responses but sample some responses and you’ll get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Now for Republicans, no longer is it necessary to bug your opponent’s office and lie about it or have an intern blow you and then lie about it to impeach a President. All you have to do is be black and labeled a socialist (63%) to be impeached (39%). In fact, more Republicans want him impeached than not. And Obama has been in office for like what, little over a year. These are going to be four long years for these poor souls. I mention the black part not because I want to stir racial emotions but because 31% believe Obama is a racist who hates white people. Yup, the biracial kid who had a white mom and was raised by his white grandparents hates his people. Heck, 36% of them don’t even believe he was born in the U.S. and 22% more are unsure and 55% are not sure if ACORN helped steal his election. The really scary part – 53% of Republicans believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama. Yup, the same one who couldn’t tell us what she read.

Talking about social and civil liberties, forget gay marriage (77% disapprove), these Republicans don’t even want gays to receive state or federal benefits (68%), not teach in public schools (73%), and not serve in the military (55%). The Republicans don’t even want (59%) the illegal immigrant who are willing to pay a fine and learn English to continue living in the country. I’m not sure what they want to do to them; rounding them up and sending them packing is not only unrealistic but fiscally irrational. The response that takes the cake is when asked if public schools students should be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world, 77% said yes. Nearly 67% believe that only Jesus shows the way to heaven and these same people talk about Islam offering the unhinged solution to salvation.

No wonder you have reason to be afraid if such irrational thought is pervasive among a significant section of the population. I hope better sense prevails and these folks never get to elect anyone to national office.