tfp23

"THE FINE PRINT"
The musings of Michael Schrader

                       REPUBLICANS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH
(Written under the psuedonym, "George Steinkrueger",and published in the Neighborhood Journal 14 August 1996. Posted in toto with Preface and Epilogue 9 September 2001)

PREFACE --   The third column written under the pseudonym of George Steinkrueger.
       Governor Jim Guy Tucker, Bill Clinton’s successor in Arkansas, was the victim of the most nasty, crass, and vicious partisan witch-hunt promulgated upon the American people. Tucker’s crime? He was an Arkansas Democrat, and Clinton’s Lieutenant Governor, and when the Republican hitman Kenneth Starr cast his Whitewater dragnet, the big fish he caught was not Clinton, but Tucker. Tucker was the victim of bad luck, bad timing, and bad business decisions. Tucker was convicted of a “crime” (the evidence was very weak that it was even that) resulting from a poor business decision he made in the private sector more than ten years earlier. Those reaping the fruits of Tucker’s misfortune were the Arkansas Republican theocracy, three gentlemen who hung their Christianity for all to see: then Lt. Governor (and now Governor) Mike Huckabee, an ordained minister; then Congressman (and now United States Senator) Tim Hutchinson, an alumnus of an ultra-conservative theological university; Tim’s brother Asa Hutchinson, the then head of the Arkansas Republican Party (now the Congressman from the district his brother Tim abandoned to become a Senator), also connected to the same university as his brother Tim. Each of these gentlemen had engaged in practices as questionable as Tucker: Huckabee, with his Action America group, his “hidden” bank account in Texarkana, and the leasing of his personal aircraft to his campaign and the state; the Hutchinson brothers with their ties to right-wing conservative groups who have professed intolerance (such as Bob Jones University in South Carolina).The most galling thing about all three was their use of the label “Christian” (and the presumed moral superiority that comes with the title) to aid in the trashing of the Democrats. Hypocritical? Each is entitled to his or her own opinion. This column clearly expresses mine...
       There are several other items I should mention here. First, I used to work in the defense industry, but I had to leave as a matter of conscience. Second, I am avidly pro-life (life is our greatest heavenly gift). Third, because I am pro-life...well, you’ll figure it out.
      WARNING! REPUBLICANS MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH! Like the warnings for tobacco and alcohol, this warning should be mandatory. This warning should be broadcast at every commercial break of the Rush Limbaugh show, should be printed with every column by George Will. Every citizen has the right to know that what they are about to consume could cost them their livelihood and possibly their life.
       The Republican Party has declared it is okay to kill one living being because another living being may or may not die. On any given day, any one of us may die. We could get run over by a car, or have a fatal heart attack. Does this mean, then, that we should take another's life because of the possibility that we may die? According to the Republican Party, yes. The Republicans, who pride themselves on being pro-life, have decided that it is okay to kill an infant if the mother may die. A sure death for a possible one. Read the platform. Abortion (infanticide) is okay if the mother's life is threatened. Who's to say that the mother will die if the baby is born? No one can make that statement. The logic behind this allowance of infanticide assumes that the mother will die if the baby lives in all cases. However, when pregnancy threatens a mother's life, there are four possible outcomes: both mom and baby live, both mom and baby die, baby lives and mom dies, mom lives and baby dies. Assuming equal probability for all possible outcomes, there is a 50% chance baby will live and a 50% chance mom will live. With the allowance of infanticide, the two outcomes with baby living can be eliminated, leaving only two possible outcomes: mom live and baby dies, both mom and baby die. With these two outcomes, there is a 0% chance baby will live and a 50% chance mom will live. So, an infant's life is eradicated for what? Mom's chances of living are still no better than they were without an abortion. Plain and simple, it's murder. Who are we to do God's will? Maybe it is God's will that the baby live and mom die. Who are we to question him? Maybe the infant that was murdered was the next messiah.
       The Republicans believe that if you ever murdered, you should be murdered. (An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.) Many so-called Christians, including our governor (who is so pro-execution that he moved up a murder date) embrace the death penalty as the manifestation of this principle. To be a Christian and to support the death penalty is a contradiction; one cannot be a true follower of Jesus and support it. After all, it was Jesus who said "As you know, we were once told, 'An eye for an eye' and 'A tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you: Don't react violently against the one who is evil: when someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other as well." [Matthew 5:38-39, SV] So, how can one profess to be a Christian and do the opposite of what Christ tells us?
       Although it's been said many times many ways, Bob Dole's remarks about tobacco not being addictive was one the most imbecilic things I have ever heard a person say. According to Mr. Dole and the Republicans, "Go ahead. Light up. Kill yourself and others with lung cancer. We don't care about you, we only care about the reelection of Jesse Helms." Jesse Helms, the "honorable" (and I use that word loosely) Senator from North Carolina, is a friend of the North Carolina tobacco industry, so close that he has pushed for the continuation of subsidies for tobacco growers, while at the same time criticizing farm subsidies for corn and wheat growers in the Midwest. Why grow life when you can grow death? Here, kids. We're not going to have that bad old corn for dinner tonight; we're going to have some tobacco. Umm. And no milk, either. Bob Dole says its addictive. But when we get done with our tobacco, we'll have a nice smoke.
      Since the enacting of the Contract on America by the disciples of Newt, the man who wants to be king, one of the areas targeted by the Republicans has been environmental regulations. Why Billy Joe, so what if your well water is brown and is loaded with goodies like lead, cobalt, and sulfuric acid? Just put some lemon in it and it won't taste so bad. And the color? Just pretend it's coffee. After all, we don't want to make that business have to clean up after itself; why, the CEO wouldn't be able to afford caviar anymore! And, you know, they can't cut executive salaries; no sir. Those executives are much too important. They would have to cut the jobs of working men, like you, Billy Joe. You wouldn't want to be responsible for your neighbor losing his job, now would you, Billy Joe? The flaw of this logic is this: preserving jobs by destroying the environment does absolutely nothing for the economy when you have no labor force to fill the jobs because they are all dead from toxic poisoning as a result of the lack of environmental controls on businesses!
       Let's not forget the symbiotic relationship between the Republican Party and the death, I mean the defense, industry. After all, why spend billions of dollars discovering new ways to help people when we can spend it finding new ways to kill people? And, after we spend all this money, we then must find people to kill with our new toys so that we can say the billions spent were necessary. How about some little, insignificant island in the Caribbean which couldn't realistically be a threat to Delaware? (I forgot, it's been done already.) How about some little banana republic in Central America? (Oops...that's been done, too.) The Republicans would have you believe that it was the great defense build-up of the Reagan-Bush years that caused the collapse of the Soviet empire; actually, the breakup of the Warsaw Pact was precipitated by a small army of men fighting to protect their homeland (Afghanistan) from a much larger invader. And we all know that the Afghans have the best technology of death available. No, they won using "primitive" equipment that looks like it came from the Stone Age compared to our fancy gadgets of death and destruction. Amazing, isn't it?
       It is really galling, then, to see the Republicans bill themselves as the Christian, family values, pro-life party when in actuality they are anti-Christ and pro-death. Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known, must sob in his grave knowing what kind of monstrosity his party has evolved into. I'm not saying the Democrats are any better, because I'm not. But at least with the Democrats, it's "What you see is what you get." Not, "Do as I say, not as I do." Hopefully, it's not too late to return to Republican Party back into the great Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln.
EPILOGUE -- I have never had any tolerance for liars and hypocrites. I especially have little use who publicly proclaim their “Christianity” and then use it for moral leverage to injure others. Take for example, the typical SUV with the fish on it. Ever notice how it’s driver tends to cut off others and be the rudest driver on the highway? It’s as if having a fish on the back gives the driver a superior right to the road.
       As I have grown older, my dislike of the Republican Party and the evangelical right has grown. both groups are loaded with hypocrites and liars, and I care for neither. The Hutchinson brothers led the Republican Congressional assault on Clinton, constantly touting their moral superiority. Interestingly, after the coup d’etat against Clinton failed, Senator Hutchinson filed for divorce from his wife and it came to light the he was having a “relationship” with one of his entourage. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.