The Politics of "Hell No", Patriotism and Partisanship

The United States, with a new "centrist" administration eager to work across party lines and with a wide range of interests across the globe has a golden opportunity to get it's house in order on the domestic policy front, as well as on the international policy front. The economy, health care, and public finances are key domestic issues that can easily be solved across party lines, as can issues such as poverty, global warming, nuclear disarmament, terrorism, and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately the extreme right of the Republican Party, which claims to represent the conservative movement in the United States, seems more interested in playing partisan politics, than solving the major problems facing their country and the world.  The focus is on dishonestly using the "communist" and "socialist" bogey to try to discredit a new administration that is centrist and by international standards  "conservative", in order to preserve entrenched interests, rather than to propose solutions to very serious problems. One observer of the recent "tea party" in Washington proudly pointed to his favorite sign which boasted "I'm not with the party of no, I'm with the party of "hell no". Another claimed to be delighted to be with so many American patriots. Others claimed "they" want "their" country back. Some wondered why the press was not covering this momentous event, Fox excepted.

Unfortunately many supporters of the Republican party who claim to be conservative in the United States are not conservative at all. They are right wing extremists, divisive, and destructive. They claim to be patriots, but are partisan. They claim to want freedom and individualism, and to protect their country from terrorists, but in fact their "hell no" attitude creates anarchy and a breeding ground for the Timothy McVeagh's of this world, just as the extreme right wing Taliban in Afghanistan creates a breeding ground for Al Qaeda.

If the conservative movement in the United States wants to again be a powerful political movement, it will need to engage with the serious issues facing their country and the world. It will need to propose solutions, work with, and debate with the current administration, rather than resort to partisanship while claiming to be patriotic, sponsor tea parties that divide, and display signs that glorify their "hell no" attitude. To claim that "they" want "their" country back is a euphemism for claiming "they" want "their" entrenched privileges back, and "to hell" with those who don't have those privileges. They should know that the American people have already taken their country back through the democratic process.

Republican conservatives need to have a "hell yes we can too" attitude, move to the center and propose solutions to serious issues or they will remain at the margin as far as the people, the press and the world community are concerned.