It's Not Easy Being A Liberal In Louisiana

I wasn't always a liberal. Back in my early days, I was raised as right-wing conservative. I was taught that liberals rejoiced in abortions and that gay people wanted to recruit young people like me into their supposedly hedonistic and sinful lifestyle.

Life threw me a number of curveballs as an adult, and through a number of circumstances, I found myself living in extremely conservative Louisiana. After reversing a series of unfortunate choices and student debt, I became political again, especially in the wake of the Tea Party takeover of Congress in 2010.



It's been five years now since I moved to Louisiana, and I've moved ever further to the left in that time. Here, I am surrounded by people who despite being incredibly bigoted towards Hispanics and other non-whites, have a poor grasp of the English language.

Not only is their incorrect use of prepositions and possessives enough to give any English major fits, their understanding of the political process is staggering. This is the state that elected Bobby Jindal twice, and has finally elected a conservative Democrat to take his place rather than David Vitter who was crippled by his own past, along with his attacks on fellow Republican candidates.

In my time here, my newfound interest in politics has presented me the opportunities to make connections with people who love the state of Louisiana and want to reverse the failed conservative policies of politicians like Bobby Jindal and David Vitter. These outstanding individuals include Bob Mann from LSU, Lamar White Jr from Cenlamar.com, and Sean Illing who now writes for Salon.

Turning Louisiana back to the center will not be an easy job. I have no illusions that there aren't massive corporate and political interests that will want to keep the state solidly conservative, and in the hands of the fossil fuel industry.

For better or worse, this is where I belong now. And I will do whatever I have to do to turn my adopted state around.

Paul Ryan

True conservatism and the moral bankruptcy of the Tea Party

As the saying goes, "The only thing evil needs to triumph is the indifference of good men". Last night, I saw the most disgusting display of absolute selfish callousness when the hypothetical question was posed to Ron Paul about an uninsured person and whether they should be allowed to die. I know Ron Paul is consistent in his ideology of Libertarianism and while I don't agree with him, I at least salute his consistency even if he is wrong.

I know there are many, many decent people out there who call themselves conservatives and Republican, or Libertarian. I know some of them personally and again, I don't agree with them but I know that in a crisis, they'll help those around them. Yet, there are those people who are so neurotically morally deficient, clinging to the notion that everyone who is poor or sick, deserves what they have because somehow they didn't try hard enough. The craziest thing is that many of these people call themselves "Christians" and justify their position by claiming that "God helps those who help themselves", a quote which is NOT in the Bible.

I actually agree with true conservatives on to some extent on issues which include limited government (and I am almost completely Libertarian when it comes to civil liberties), the death penalty (and not just for violent murders but child rape, etc.) and gun rights (within reason). I have no issue with war, when justified and I believe that those people who succeed should be held up as an example to others. I believe in small business, fair immigration policy and responsible capitalism.

Yet, those people in the GOP have been incredibly silent and allowed the rabid people like Bachmann, Palin, Beck, Santorum and other loonies to drive the bus and dictate policy. These are people who call for making government "inconsequential" in our lives, unless you happen to make lifestyle choices they don't agree with. They are all for letting people raise and educate their kids in religiously nutcase environments but God forbid you want to smoke a joint in the privacy of your own home. They believe that if you are baptized as a baby into their religion, you can't change that but somehow being gay is a choice. They believe that someone born over 2,000 years ago was the Son of God but someone born 50 years ago in a US state isn't an American. They think it is perfectly acceptable to spend trillions of dollars on failed foreign policy and prop up dictators or people like Bin Laden who eventually turn on us, but it is a travesty to use tax dollars to take care of our own people or rebuild our infrastructure. They oppose abortion, yet simultaneously oppose birth control or sex education that would prevent that pregnancy from happening in the first place. They call themselves "pro-life" but clamor for the death of prisoners or even people who can't afford healthcare. Believing that you are not your brother's keeper is the greatest hypocrisy of those who wrap themselves in a flag and wave a cross.

"Screw you, I got mine" is not true conservatism, that's not working class or Middle America values and if the GOP ever wants to get back to possibly gaining my vote, they need to realize that. I know there are good, decent people who call themselves Republicans yet they are allowing the nutcases to speak for them. I don't know if it has become a majority or just a rabid and shrill minority that has come to dictate policy but the reasonable people need to take the wheel back before it is too late. My fear is that it is indeed, too late.

Bring on the Apocalypse

The "Tea Party" is nothing more than a rebranding, a reformulation of the religious right movement that was losing patience with the GOP; a fact which became apparent in the 2006 and 2008 elections when the GOP lost big. So if they could no longer dogwhistle people with "social conservatism", what better way to drum up votes again by blaming the current economic downturn not on hedge fund managers and speculators, but instead on all of those social safety net programs, especially on those not popular with the religious right. The Tea Party is the same old formula as before. Religious fundamentalists, chickenhawks, armchair patriots, nativists, separatists, conspiracy theorists, Neo-Confederates, Neo-Nazis and grumpy old people who just want the welfare kids to get off their damn lawn, these are the usual suspects but this time they're driving the bus. They're driving it towards the cliff and the likes of Boehner and the establishment party members are sitting in the back of the bus as it hurtles to the brink like a suicide bomber's vehicle, except they don't know it is social and political suicide. They're gonna get what they want or they're gonna take everyone down with them.

If the government ceases to exist, they'll be happy then too. No public schools? That's fine with them, they wanted those gone years ago. I remember listening to the likes of Ralph Reed and others saying how Christian schools and homeschooling were the only way to go and they would be more than happy to abolish public education. No public safety? No worries, they have enough guns. Bring on the Apocalypse, that's what they REALLY want.