Time for a House-Cleaning…

…and a Senate-Cleaning, too

Some of us are life-long Democrats and have always distrusted Republicans, based on the fact that Republicans have typically been selfish, oriented towards White supremacy, and socially irresponsible. Their views have dramatically worsened since the advent of the Tea Party in 2009. Their “I’ve got mine, and to hell with you, Jack” attitude has taken traditional Republican notions of support for limited government and free enterprise and put them on steroids. (Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead” provided much of the ideological justification for modern Republicanism’s worst impulses, and we still haven’t recovered from Rand’s cruel and anti-social distress at the requirements that people should work together to seek a just and humane society.)

Some of us remember Richard Nixon from the 1950s and 1960s; Barry Goldwater in 1964; the John Birch Society from the 1950s, and going forward; the numerous hate-filled TV and radio talk shows (Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Wally George, Alan Burke, Chris Matthews, Morton Downey, Jr., Bob Grant, and Michael Savage); the right-wing politicians from Orange County, California, such as “B-1 Bob” Dornan; and, of course, the terrible coverage provided by the Fox Network, especially after its acquisition by Rupert Murdoch.