STARPOWER MORALITY

The debacle in California, if nothing else, has been a wake-up call that cannot and must not be ignored. It has laid bare the unmitigated hypocrisy of the Republicans. It has turned right and wrong upside down.

The rychus-ones set us up with the guilt over Clinton that they insisted we carry, and then knocked us down with our own arguments. Without a flicker of embarrassment they turned from the paths of richusness to tread the paths of all they formerly condemned in us.

· Character doesn't matter.

· Virtue means anything goes to win.

· Honor is victory.

After being humiliated by Nixon and unable to throw President Clinton out of office, the urge for revenge became the paramount plank in the Republican platform.

They traded their moral high-ground for 30 pieces of hypertrophied muscle. One has to wonder if their precious morality was their greatest sham.

Now in retrospect we cannot deny their treachery, but at the same time we must take the responsibility for our own idiocy for missing all the signs and playing their fool.

There were plenty of signs. Just look at what Republicans condemned, just what Democrats advocate. They made "liberal" a dirty word and we let

Actors were excoriated for "messing around in politics." Remember all the fuss made and how some were called traitors because they did not support the Iraqi war? It was obvious even then but we turned a blind eye toward it.

We should have challenged them for condemning ONLY those actors that support Democrats, because they fear Star Power. They knew the power film heroes have over many in the electorate.

Reproductive rights proponents are condemned as condoning murder. The Republican majority in Congress will soon make late term abortions illegal. They call all abortion the murder of babies. Yet they supported a baby killer in California because he was running as a Republican.

Military service was touted by them as a prerequisite for political leadership, yet Bush was given a pass for ducking the draft and subsequent desertion from the National Guard. There was hardly a mention of Gov. Davis's Bronze star earned in Vietnam.

The importance of character, which meant a thorough investigation of a candidate's whole life, seems only to apply to President Clinton. Bush was given a complete pass on character as was Arnold.

Sexual harassment again applied only to President Clinton. Bush's past and treatment of women was never revealed by the media, and Arnold's was treated as a joke as the media laughingly called him the "Gropinator."

Their very own, much revered and often quoted guru of virtues, Bill Bennett, was found to be a compulsive gambler. Not a problem. They insist on openness from Democrats yet insist that their own be secretive and unprobed.

And now that highest of the high and mighty, Rush Limbaugh finds himself in the position of those he persecuted for all the years he was a drug addict. He excoriated those he called "bleeding heart liberals" and insisted that addicts should be jailed instead of coddled with programs.

Typically, Rush is already being praised for his "honesty" while a veil is drawn over his six years of dishonesty. It is only Democrats/Liberals/Independents that receive the moral outrage by a media helpfully prompted by Republicans/Conservatives.

Still, the R's are allowed to get away with calling it "a liberal media" despite the fact that it seems to agree to the charge but continues to butt kiss them.

Democrats have willingly allowed themselves to be dragged along by the scruff of their neck as their programs and ideas have been co-opted. They have hung their heads and apologized for the very sins the Republicans now openly brag about committing themselves.

Democrats have stars and power and consistent values. All they need is to get off their knees.

twanda@sover.net

2003-041

Copyright 2003 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@sover.net.