The Problem with the Republican Party

This blog post was originally written the day after the re-election of President Obama on November 7, 2012. It's conclusions appear even more salient today with the Federal Government closed down by the Republican Party on 10/2/2013. Albert Einstein is believed to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. I would just like to point out to the Republican Party that many of them will be up for re-election next year. Does Speaker Boehner really beleive the American People are so stupid as to believe President Obama is to blame for their obstructionist behaviors? I assure you, sir, we are not. See below.

The Problem with the Republican Party
Versus the Art of Allowing
by Karen Nelson

The Law of Abundance which works through the art of allowing (according to Abraham-Hicks and other publications) says that if you are in alignment with your desires, the Universe or God or whatever you call it will provide you with your desires. Out of 120,000,000 votes cast on November 6, 2012, 2,000,000 votes separated the winner of the presidency from the loser. So, what happened? The Republican pundits are blaming everyone and everything on this loss: it’s voter fraud, it’s super storm Sandy, it’s the Electoral College, it’s the influx of minority voters, it’s…

Doing my best to put aside my personal biases, here is my understanding of what happened: in January, 2009, Republicans in Congress made a big mistake. They decided that President Obama would serve only one term and, in order to effect that, they would refuse to work with him and Democrats. After having taken an oath of office in which they swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to protect it from all enemies, foreign and domestic, they effectively labeled themselves as the enemy. And, for the next three plus years, they reinforced that internal conflict over and over again. Then, their standard bearers, in November, 2011, began spreading that conflict by blaming Democrats and President Obama for the Republican’s failure to cooperate. When someone extends a hand in the spirit of cooperation and you refuse to take it, who’s failure is that? Many progressives, during that three plus years, complained about President Obama, that he was too conciliatory toward the Republican house, that he kept extending his hand across the aisle while Republicans refused to take his hand. Nevertheless, President Obama was able to accomplish many things in spite of the obstructionists.

Just prior to the election, Republican pundits expressed confidence that they would win across the board while, at the same time, threatening that, if they lost, the Republican Party would cease to be.
Putting aside my belief that the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln, of Nelson Rockefeller, of Barry Goldwater died in 1980 and was buried in 1989 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republican Party has failed, has imploded under the weight of conflicting interests which have no place in this democracy: plutocrats, religious fundamentalists, and right-wing, intolerant crazies. All of these conflicting interests espouse the traditional Republican ideal of small government leaving people to locally work out their differences while, at the same time, championing extreme governmental intrusion into the private lives of its citizens and big defense spending. This does not even consider the anti-minority, anti-women stance of many within those interests. Look at the Republican Party’s responses to Todd Akin/Richard Mourdock on the one hand, and to Chris Christie on the other. Todd Akin stated his rationalization for anti-choice in the case of rape was that, “legitimate rape” would not produce a pregnancy. Mourdock rationalized his stance that, if a pregnancy resulted from a rape, then it must be God’s plan. After some hiccoughs from the Republican Party, they fully supported these ideas publicly. Chris Christie spoke at the Republican Convention, was highly touted by Republicans for his leadership in a State (New Jersey) that was surrounded by a Democratic stronghold UNTIL he praised President Obama for the president’s response to super storm Sandy. Now, he’s persona non grata to the Republican Party.

This is the set up for the Republican internal conflict: if you are a woman, or if you support the Constitution of the United States’ ideal of separation of Church and State, or if you support a woman’s right to choose her beliefs, or, God forbid, if you can see the positive in people having differing viewpoints yet wish to look for the commonalities in a spirit of cooperation, then DON’T SPEAK IT publicly. All throughout his campaign, Mr. Romney blamed the president for his lack of bi-partisanship while knowing that it was the Republican members of congress who refused to take the president’s extended hand. In the waning days of his campaign, Mr. Romney tried to claim in Ohio that the auto industry bailout was unimportant while also claiming that the president took that auto industry into bankruptcy. Mr. Romney floated the idea of privatizing FEMA. When super storm Sandy hit the east coast causing wide-spread destruction in multiple States, he refused to answer any questions about privatizing FEMA. I believe this conflict is why Romney often appeared as if he were an octopus on roller skates, and why the Republican candidate lost both Electoral College and popular votes.



Now, back to the Law of Abundance and the art of allowing: if you have a desire and that desire is opposed by conflicting thoughts and beliefs, then you have effectively blocked the desire’s manifestation. If you have a desire and there are no internal conflicting messages, then your desire will be. This is true for everyone: rich, poor, powerful, weak, enfranchised, disenfranchised, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Republican, Democrat, Independent, Peace & Freedom Party member, Green Party member. Romney was an extremely successful business man because he had no internal conflict about what he did. Saddam Hussein held his dictatorship for forty plus years because he had no internal conflict about what he did. Abraham Lincoln succeeded in winning the Civil War and passing the 16th Amendment because he had no internal conflict with his beliefs. Our judgments about these people and actions have no effect at all. Our judgments about ourselves both conscious and sub-conscious will have an effect on what we can achieve. Do what makes you happy and allow that to have whatever effect it has on others. You cannot change what others believe or the path on which they walk, the path they create for themselves. You CAN speak your truth and you CAN speak truth to power if being heard is what makes you happy. You CAN extend your hand to someone on a lower rung, but you CAN”T make them take it. I have a friend who is fond of saying, “It is what it is.” I would say, “It is what you make it based on your internal alignment or lack thereof.” Look at your most cherished beliefs and either bring your desires and actions into alignment with them (ALL of them) or change those beliefs that are in conflict (easier said than done and possible).