The Morality of Serpents

“Come now, let Us Reason together…”

Yesterday’s announcement, that Mitt Romney had chosen Paul Ryan(Kill Medicare!) as his VP Candidate, is a veritable Bird’s Nest on the Ground for Democrats…indeed, for anyone who does not count themselves among the Super Rich, or their Fleas.
Mitt was bad enough…being the Poster Child for the 1%....hiding income to avoid paying his Fair Share, Exporting Jobs to Bangladesh, and China…being so far out of touch with Regular Folks that no one even knows, on a given day, just what it is he’s talking about.
Add Ryan(Kill Medicare!) to the mix, and it adds some clarification , as to where the GOP/Tea Party wants to take Us.
Ryan is a devotee of Ayn Rand. The Russian Émigré, and her PseudoPhilosophy of Selfishness, are to be found at the very heart of the Economic and Political System of the Reagan Revolution. It is the Ideology of a Pubescent Boy…”I’ll do as I want!...and Damn the Consequences!”…It can also be thought of as the Ideology of a Serial Killer, whom Rand, herself, is well known to have lionized as the quintessential practitioner of her “Philosophy”.
In it’s most simple form, it is the Ideology of the Lizard,or the Snake;
”I shall Devour”.
Pour boiling oil down the ladder you have just ascended, and set it alight….”I got Mine…”
This is likely a fine worldview, if you count yourself among the Very Rich.
If one is not so lucky, it is a recipe for Disaster.
A Snake is simply a “Mobile Alimentary Canal”…a Moving Stomach.(Campbell)
Is that the Model on which We wish to base Our Civilisation?
I submit to you, dear reader, that it is Not.
It is, instead, simply a “Coming Out” of the very same Ideology that We have been toiling under, for 35 years….”Greed is Good”.
One will likely hear much about “Fiscal Responsibility” in the coming months…Ryan seems to be somewhat fond of that Phrase….But let Us look at the Record…
The same bunch who now wants to “Cut Entitlements”(Kill Medicare! “Privatize” Social Security!), are the ones who have engineered the last 3 decades of decline…in Real Incomes, in Quality of Life, in Job Security, in Access to Health Care, in Civil Liberties(Patriot Act!) in Civility!…and on and on….
(Many will cry out,”Bill Clinton!”, as if this is a refutation …but, I assert that Clinton was the best Democratic Friend the GOP ever had:Nafta, Gramm-Leach-Bliley,”Workfare”,and a Womanizer, to boot!)

In this same period, the GOP has ruthlessly attacked Unions(perhaps the only non-governmental foil to unmitigated Corporate Power), and all things “Public”….including Democracy, itself. They Hate and Fear the “People”…hence, the sundry “Voter ID” Legislation, the “Right to Work”(for low wages) Policies, and the wanton Destruction of the Safety Net that, like it or not, We all rely on, and Pay For.(according to the 2010 Census, Mason has 16.3% below the “Poverty Line”, and 25.3% above 65 years of age,who are, therefore, beneficiaries of Medicare, and Social Security…as well as Government Protected(despite Republicans) Savings, Pensions and other Retirement.)( (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/48319.html)
At some point, We the People, will have to take notice of the Reality of Our situation…and who it was who brought us to these unfortunate circumstances…Supply Side Economics has FAILED. Doubling down on the Failure will not Fix anything…it will, rather, make it much worse.
There will be a lot of fine rhetoric about how a Romney/Ryan Administration will be “Fiscally Responsible”…how it will “Get America back on track”…
I ask you…Back on Track, to What? What does the Phrase, “Fiscally Responsible” mean?
Is there any Evidence for it, from the GOP?
They, and their Self Serving, Fat Cat Coddling Habits, have brought us the Highest Deficits, the Highest “Personal Debt”, and the Worst Economy since the ‘30’s…(see: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/downchart_gs.php?year=1900_2012&chart=H0-total and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Household_Debt_Relative_to_Disposable_Income_and_GDP.png )


As for the Debt…who dunnit?
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/us-national-debt)
A review of Our History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United_States#Deregulation_and_Reaganomics:_1976.E2.80.931992) shows, quite clearly, in whom We should Trust…as far as Economics….if We have a care for the Majority of Americans, as opposed to the Tiny Minority who have received most of the Income Redistribution of the Great Republican Experiment.
Shouting, “Me,Me,Me!!!” does not a Patriot make…neither does a Lapel Pin.
”By their Fruits shall ye know them…”
It is far past time that We turned from Avarice as the Highest Good, to some regard for the Wellbeing of US. It is WE, after all, who must live with Ourselves, and Each Other. Civilisation is defined by Our Commonalities…by the Things that We Share. To dismiss this as “Socialism” is disingenuous and ahistorical….and will lead, inexorably, to more economic hardship and Poverty for the Rest of Us.
I ask that my Countrymen begin to Think…beyond the Bumpersticker…ask yourself, what sort of country do We want?
One of Greedy, Self-Serving Snakes, without any care for their Neighbors?
Or one where We…All of Us…have a chance…an opportunity…to attain some semblance of that increasingly elusive American Dream.
( just for fun: Paul Ryan’s Heroine, Ayn Rand, was an Atheist…and, in the hight of Hypocrisy, signed on to Social Security, and Medicare, when she got old and sick!)