Reason To Be Upset

Republican operatives and pundits just can’t understand why the rest of us are so upset. Hands to their cheeks and mouths agog they recoil, wide-eyed, whenever they confront the rage that has built up over the last five years, calling it “unseemly,” “immature” and “over the top.”

After all, what could Moderates, Independents and Democrats be so worked up about??

When Bill Clinton raised his pitch and got in Fox reporter Chris Wallace’s face after being asked a loaded question, Republicans responded as if Clinton has gone berserk and leapt out of his chair, arms flailing, mouth frothing.

Their playbook response is to trivialize and dismiss such anger, explaining that the perpetrator “just hates George Bush.” For no reason--they just hate him.

Well I don’t know George Bush and I don’t hate him. He’s probably a nice guy to spend an afternoon flying around the Gulf Coast with.

But I hate the things he and his incompetent team have done. And I have good reason to be outraged and appalled by what has gone on in this country of late.

President Bush and the GOP built their success on phrases like “Family Values” and “Party of Values.” The moralizing was so thick and constant you might have mistaken them for Puritans. But the goody-two-shoes Republicans have shown us their true values. As the saying goes, "You are what you do". Thus, by their actions, they clearly value:

• Torture
• Diminished civil rights
• Restricted liberties
• Government intrusion
• Profligate spending
• Favors for the rich
• Massive deficits
• Rampant cronyism
• Secrecy and backroom deals
• Unchecked pollution
• Environmental destruction
• Influence peddling
• Diplomatic bullying
• Character assassination

Furthermore, they’ve succeeded at virtually nothing (unless you’re a wealthy taxpayer). And they’ve turned most everything they’ve touched into a disaster, or worse, a tragedy.

So the next time rational, reality-based citizens get angry in a public forum, it’s not because they “hate Bush.” It’s because his administration and congressional enablers have made a big, fat, stinking mess of the things the rest of us cherish.

Not a small mess, not a trivial mess, but a significant, disastrous, harmful alteration in the direction and fabric of our nation. If that’s not worth getting upset about, I don’t know what is.

- JT Compton