And we the Progressive Liberals are supposed to yield, to abandon our principles to meet Republicans half way in order to “compromise”
There are many who do not see the differences and are in denial about their dear Republican Party, their Patron Saint Reagan and the askew ideologies he unleashed. To us on the left the differences not only are clear but very much objectionable and unacceptable.
Republicans are in favor of benefiting the rich and the corporations while Democrats want to improve and help the poor and the middle class.
Republicans don’t want any type of regulations; they believe in letting “the markets” decide instead of We, the People making decisions through our government. Talk of developing a national industrial/economic policy is derided with such slogans as "government interference" or "picking winners and losers."
Republicans would like nothing more than to privatize Social Security or worse; do away with it altogether; while Democrats want to maintain it and even enhance it.
Republicans want to give the Evangelical Fundamentalists a free ride to turn America into a theocracy while Democrats are firm believers in the separation of church and state.
Republicans believe that homosexuality is a chosen “lifestyle” that does not deserve to be protected, if anything it should be punished. It is their aim to criminalize it; while Democrats believe that people are born that way and gays and heterosexuals should have the same rights…no apartheid, no differences in the way any particular group of people is treated by their government because of their sexual orientation.
Republicans think that people with different skin pigmentation or born too far south for their taste are inferior and do not deserve the same opportunities or to share in the democratic process; while Democrats celebrate diversity and are watchdogs for the rights of minorities.
Republicans don’t like public education because the government should not run this endeavor nor do they value a well educated public because smart, well informed people are a lot more difficult to govern and dupe; while the Democrats believe in not just keeping public education but improving it and making it accessible to everyone.
Republicans think negatively of intellectuals and the sciences because they consider these elitists left-wing, east coast liberal entities and instead they even make it laudable to be ignorant and misinformed. Democrats on the other hand hold meritocracy in high esteem and insist on using science and technology to propel our nation forward.
Republicans are Climate Change deniers, ignoring the data and facts to the contrary; while Democrats are not just concerned about climate change but also the preservation of our environment.
Republicans want to benefit the oil companies, the big banks, Wall Street firms and make it more profitable for them even if it means hurting the middle class and the poor. Democrats still believe in a free market economy but it has to have regulations and it has to be conducted with ethics and transparency because greed has no conscience and neither do corporations which are not human beings but artificial entities without a brain or a heart.
We could go on and enumerate many others but let us just say that it will be a cold day in hell before we, the progressive liberals even deviate from our principles…if nothing else because these are correct, both politically and in human terms. We can’t step aside and allow Republicans to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor and the middle class, we can’t allow the elimination of Social Security or Medicare because the misery inflicted by doing that would be catastrophic. We can’t under any circumstances allow our country to become a theocracy with the tint of Christian-Evangelical-Fundamentalism as its roots. We further will never agree to legalize any kind of discrimination; be it for reasons of race, national origin, religion or sexual orientation…it will never happen. We will not abandon our commitment to educate and through education make America a more prosperous nation…that too is not a viable possibility and lastly, we are never going to agree that we should give tax breaks and subsidies to the rich and the corporations at the expense of the majority of Americans; particularly if we must incur a debt in doing so. Why? because TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS IS BULL SHIT, it never worked and it never will.
So, do you really think that there is any possibility of reconciliation? Is dialogue and civil discourse even possible considering our differences? Are we supposed to abandon all our principles to ingratiate ourselves to ultra-right wing fanatics and pretend that we have reached a compromise? I think not and anybody who thinks different is but naïve and in denial.
