Here is an interesting summary of the 2015 GOP candidates (dubbed clown car) and their message of “Fear and Loathing” of the ‘other’.  To sum up their message is: “We hate the Mexicans (immigrants), Muslims, Gays, etc… they’re all coming to rape / kill us or in the case of homosexuals maybe force us to marry them?… If by any chance though you are a woman who is raped and now pregnant, you are duty bound to carry the pregnancy to term, because the GOP is “Pro Life” (in other words anti choice for women) and will defund Planned Parenthood even though Planned Parenthood already cannot use federal funds to cover abortions.

Of course, once you have that child, you are on your own, because the GOP loves the fetus, but hates the child —  note how a Catholic Nun Explains Pro-Life In A Way That Will Stun Many (Especially Republican Lawmakers) — “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.” — Sister Joan Chittister

John Fugelsang, one of my favorite comedians offers several insightful quotes —

“Only in America can you be Pro-Death Penalty, Pro-War, Pro-Unmanned Drone Bombs, Pro-Nuclear Weapons, Pro-Guns, Pro-Torture, Pro-Land Mines, AND still call yourself ‘Pro-Life.’”

“Who wouldn’t want to vote for a guy who was a peaceful, radical, non-violent revolutionary; who hung around with lepers, hookers, and crooks; who never spoke English; was not an American citizen; anti-capitalism; totally anti-death penalty; anti-public prayer (Matthew 6:5); but never once anti-gay; didn’t mention abortion; and was a long-haired, brown-skinned, homeless, middle-eastern, Jew?”

Because the Republicans are so fearful that “everybody” is out to kill us — they want Guns, Guns and More Guns (except at their own debates). In the youtube video below, an Australian comedian Jim Jeffries  correctly points out that:

“In Australia we had guns, right up until 1996. In 1996 Australia had the biggest massacre on earth. Still hasn’t been beaten…Now after that they banned guns. Now in the 10 years before Port Arthur, there were 10 massacres. Since the gun ban in 1996, there hasn’t been a single massacre since. I don’t know how or why this happened. Maybe it was a coincidence.”

“I understand that Australia and America are two vastly different cultures with two vastly different people. In Australia we had the biggest massacre on earth and the Australian government went, “That’s it, no more guns!” And we all went, “Yeah, right, then, that seems fair enough.”

Now in America, you have the Sandy Hook Massacre where tiny little children died and your government went, “Maybe, we’ll get rid of big guns.” And 50 percent of you said, “[Expletive] you, don’t take my guns!”

Finally the last points that the GOP stand for are:

  • Tax Cuts for the wealthy [ie. Trump / corporations] / Deregulation [a.k.a ‘smaller government’]
  • Repeal Affordable Care Act [‘Obamacare’] and deny climate change.
  • the need for the US to preemptively attack everybody [which is why they are against the Iran Nuclear Agreement], take their oil / other resources, because God loves us and therefore USA is #1.

Tax cuts for wealthier Americans / corporations lead to income inequality [the rich get richer and the middle class slides into poverty]  and deregulation leads to a more toxic environment for all of us  — witness the recent Colorado Mine Spills.

Animas River watershed near Durango, Colorado. Photo courtesy of TheDenverChannel.com

It is also worth noting that the Republicans constantly want “less regulations on ‘corporations’ [so the corporations can pollute more, exploit workers, etc.], but as their war on women shows, the Republicans love regulating women’s bodies.

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Contrast that to a message from Bernie Sanders — “In my view, the issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time; it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time…”

Bernie Sanders, a Socialist, is often accused of wanting America to look more like Scandinavia. His response?:  “What’s wrong with wanting more income and wealth equality. What’s wrong when they have a stronger middle class in many ways than we do, a higher minimum wage than we do and they’re stronger on the environment than we are.”

Just as Mr. Sanders’s speeches are unorthodox, so are his dealings with the press. A Swedish reporter, Anne-Sofie Naslund, asked him a question, and Mr. Sanders—who has long praised the type of social democracy practiced in Scandinavian countries, turned the tables and began interviewing her.

He asked her what it cost for people to get health care in Sweden.

“Like nothing,” Ms. Naslund said.

And what does it cost to go to college? Mr. Sanders asked.

“Nothing,” she said.

Child care? “It’s almost free,” she said.

“That’s pretty good!” Mr. Sanders exclaimed.

Here is a youtube video of a woman singing why she supports Bernie Sanders — “I Believe in Bernie”.  All I can say is “Me too”.