Commentary - 07/21/2006

The End-Game: One Party Country

I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. Here I am this morning, at the gym, getting some aerobic exercise on a treadmill before work, and watching the Fox News channel, somewhat disinterestedly. Then all of a sudden, wham-o, they are discussing this new book "One Party Country."

One Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century (Hardcover) by Tom Hamburger, Peter Wallsten.

Review: "One Party Country proves once and for all that Republicans are simply better than Democrats at the basic blocking and tackling of politics. Anyone who wants to know why the GOP will win more than lose for the foreseeable future needs to read this book." —Jonathan Alter, Senior Editor, Newsweek and author of The Defining Moment

"Hamburger and Wallsten pull back the curtain and reveal the Republican battle-plan to take over American politics. With compelling detail and scrupulous fairness, the two uncover many of the machinations that have been below the radar screen—until now." —Roger Simon, author of Divided We Stand

They were talking about the huge databases that the Republican Party has built up on the American population so they can precisely target their campaign, for your vote, anywhere in our country. "We know where you live, what you eat, where your kids go to school, WHAT HEALTH CLUB YOU BELONG TO! Whoa, nelly. Hold it right there. That's enough! Here I am on the treadmill, minding my own business, and someone back East, right there on TV, is bragging about knowing where I am at this very moment.

I'm a nobody, so why should I care? Well, I figure if they're tracking nobodys, then EVERYBODY is being watched. [Damn it Orwell, why did you have to give people ideas?] Then to my amazement, they went on to say how their knowledge database is going to allow the GOP to continue this control forever.

[Quoted from the book's review at Amazon:]
Despite poor polling for the Republicans, they are closer to making America a one-party country than most people imagine.One Party Country exposes the way Republicans have nearly completed their plan to:
  • Make the most of redistricting, so that most congressional seats aren't really up for grabs
  • Create software and databases the Democrats can only dream of—a huge advantage in turning out their base
  • Make modern polling useless, since even the best polls can't measure the turnout advantage
  • Turn big business into an arm of the party, from K Street to corporate boardrooms and sometimes onto the factory floor
  • Stir up the religious right with one hand, while actually forwarding the competing agenda of their big donors with the other
  • Create policies—like Iraq, Social Security privatization, and faith-based programs—that use the government's resources to tilt the electorate to the right and undermine the Democrats
  • Neutralize the Democrats' traditional advantage with Hispanics, women, and African Americans
  • Fill the courts with conservative judges ready to turn away challenges to this new order

If this is all true, Hitler must be turning green with envy. He never had that much power, that much control, that much knowledge of every man, woman and child. I don't know how you feel, but I've had it. No more tolerance for "psychopaths with attaches." If you're not a person of conscience [meaning that your actions match your words, time and time again] then you won't get my business, and you won't get my vote. This makes my previous commentary "November Will Be Too Late" even more timely.

If those candidates of conscience fail in the primaries, then come November we will only get to choose between psychopaths. Party affliation does not matter. Democrat psychopaths are just as bad as Republican psychopaths. I use the term psychopath to mean "those of no-conscience." The term "sociopath" is too polite.

My three children are just now entering the work force, and I'm sure, within the next few years, I'll be hearing "Dad, why did your generation let this happen?" This web site is proof that I at least tried to do something. That eases my conscience. If your son or daughter asks you this same question, will your conscience also be at ease?

© 2006 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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