Sunday, May 18, 2008
Beware wolves in elephant clothing
From the RoundTable blog
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Jerome Schleifer
Schleifer is a retired businessman who moved from Colorado to Roanoke five years ago.
Will it be Obama or Clinton? Virginia's Republican wolves are salivating over the choices given the Democrat Party: a woman (ugh) or a black (ugh). Surely the Democrats will collapse given the option of two such disparate choices. Abetting the wolves' drool is a party comprised of the most argumentative (within its own sphere), opinionated and individualistic characters on the face of the planet.
Yet that's the charm -- and possibly the salvation -- of Democrats. Unlike Republicans, their allegiance is to their own individual conscience rather than one determined by a political stance allowing not one iota of disagreement once that stance has been declared infallible by the party hierarchy.
It's unfortunate that Hillary Clinton jumped on the Republican wolf-bandwagon, knowing full well what Barack Obama meant when recently commenting on "small-town America." His was not a belittling castigation but a mild chastising of those placing more value and emotional energy on trivialities than on issues affecting the welfare of a total people. Obama hasn't as yet learned the public doesn't do well with truth.
What will it take for Virginians to recognize those wolves detracting from issues concerning the country's serious problems? More so, what degree of introspection must we attain to recognize our own complicity in creating an atmosphere that discourages a meaningful national dialog?
With fangs bared, and aching to taste the blood of the Democratic corpse, Virginia wolves are antsy with anticipation, busily preparing a smear campaign unequaled by past performances. Disguised in sheep's clothing, no dirty trick will be unturned in order to regain control of the nation and the state, one lost to the likes of Jim Webb.
The wolf comes in many disguises: a friend of the common man, the only true protector of our shores, a bulkhead against creeping socialism (i.e. universal health care) and, most egregiously, the cloak of religion.
It's virtually beyond comprehension how these conniving, morally deficient deviates managed to convince a large percentage of America's religion-oriented population that they, the Republicans, are in any way, shape or form bearers of a message compatible with the teachings of the prophets. But, then again, fooling Little Red Riding Hood was not particularly difficult.
What the Republican Party wants is obvious: welfare for the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. It desires to perpetuate physical conflicts, sacrificing the lives of men and women, many of whom have not even reached their majority. The party of Bush has vacillated from one reason to another as to why it chose to invade Iraq. Yet, if truth be known, as with all conflicts, it's merely economics, a means of stimulating industry regardless of cost to the human factor. The GOP stresses free market capitalism -- except, of course, when one of its own needs rescuing. Like Little Red Riding Hood, far too many Virginians succumb to the wiles of the Big Bad Republican Wolf, blindly trusting that the wolf truly has their interests at heart and not those of the CEOs who fill their political coffers year after year.
It appears as if the appellation "me generation" has rubbed off on a large segment of our population. The wolves, time and again convicted of corporate greed and fraud, encourage the populace to focus on self-aggrandizement, a condition that no amount of religious worship and amens will purify.
Resorting to dirty tricks once too often will be the Republican Party's downfall. Better late than never, the Little Red Riding Hoods of the world eventually recognize wolves for what they are.
John McCain, despite being totally off base regarding national and foreign issues, may be the honorable man that he asserts, but his party will sink to new lows rather than concede the forthcoming election to a Democrat; in which case, the working-class Republicans will suffer equally.
