An Open Letter to Republicans Regarding Reality

Things will only improve once the Republican Party joins the reality in which we all live

Dear Republican, conservative, Tea-bagger or whatever you are calling yourself today,

It’s been too long since we last spoke. I see that you’ve covered your Facebook wall again with pictures of Obama burning in effigy and it looks like you’re sporting your new misogynistic anti-Hillary Clinton pin.

I am not writing to you in the  hope you’ll reconsider showing the younger generation that it’s okay to objectify women so long as you don’t agree with the woman’s ideology. No, I believe that is covered in our freedom of speech, although hate speech is starting to become less and less tolerated. If you want to make yourself look like a woman-hating misogynist role model for your children, or be harshly judged as such by the rest of the world’s children, then that is your choice.

Choice. You know, the little thing that you flaunt when it comes to buying weapons that kill, but shy away from when it comes to a woman’s vagina. There is a choice here; the choice is between two binaries. Yes, I am using binaries since it seems you are most comfortable with it.

After all, didn’t your messiah say that if a girl is sexually active, she must be a whore? If you can’t remember, let me point you towards Reagan’s Evil Empire Speech. I know you have a copy, it’s probably next to the copy of the constitution you carry in your breast pocket. You can tell the difference between the two by feel; one is worn thin from over-reading and the other is the constitution.

Your choice here, today, is to either allow the United States a chance to prosper, or to have it crumble like a poorly executed Greek tragedy. I’m sure there is enough non-Tea-Party Republicans left to join the Chorus.

So far, you have chosen to let the United States crumble. I don’t mean just the government shut-down, that’s a mere temper tantrum for you. I don’t even mean the anti-humanistic approach towards Obamacare. Heck, I won’t even bring gun control up, the Koch Brothers or even gay marriage. Instead, I want to discuss something a bit more fundamental here. You see, I have identified what’s going wrong with the United States and the answer is: Reality.

We, as a nation, need to agree on a Reality. This is where you come in. You, like it or not, are part of this Nation. Now, if only we can get you to be part of it’s reality as well. You cling on to a past, a promise of a return to “better times of yesteryear” often floats from your lips. This is where you might want to take a long hard look. I’m sorry to say that the image of Rome that you built your mighty empire upon is just that—an Image. It isn’t based on a structured Reality.

We never were the country you thought us to be. We could never live up to those exceptional expectations; the long echo of the American Jeremiad. Those conditions were artificial, at the best of times. The United States has not seen the best of times; we are, if you can get on board with the rest of us on the Reality Train, headed there. Sure, there will be a few stops along the way;  something from the food-cart may upset our stomachs, but it is far better to take those stops together, than to pretend they don’t exist.

Healthcare exists, Socialism in the United States exists (and has for a long time, just ask anyone without a child who is currently paying taxes), a need for Gun Control exists, a need for Campaign finance reform exists, and a need to put our petty squabbling and our blind chatter in the past exists.

If you really believe, I mean truly believe in Reagan, then remember that he did echo – America is great because it is good. It isn’t enough to just say America is Good, but rather push forward – ever forward towards that Good.

Don’t be the group of people who feared the boogeyman so much they burned the house down. Be the people who want to truly instill the changes that they insist existed in a past that never happened. Remember, joining Reality will take baby-steps.

Your first step, and I will hold out my hand for you to take, is to pass a clean budget; get people back to work; get them on their feet in their economic and medical situations.

I know, you probably already gave up reading this; maybe you’re probably bursting with rage right now. I had to try though… and I hope you try too. You’d be amazed at what a wonderful world we have when you remove the blinders of hate and greed.

I will leave you now with these words; not the words by your mentor Mr. Reagan, but rather ones by a silly Tramp. One that your kind kicked out of the country years ago because he said our small nation should stand up for liberty and fight the Nazi Regime at all costs. Funny how times change.

“The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in;
machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical,
our cleverness hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little.
More than machinery we need humanity,
more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.

Without these qualities life will be violent and all will be lost.”

– Charlie Chaplin: The Great Dictator