An open letter to conservatives. OMG.

I’m taking a very brief (too brief) respite from my Passover cleaning in order to try to draw even more eyes to what is really rather a stunning document: “An open letter to conservatives,” by Russell King. (I found it at TPM, where he cross-posted it, but Mr. King also blogs at Russ’ Filtered News).

King’s open letter is stunning for a variety of reasons, only starting with the sheer amount of labor that went into creating it — he has summarized, in trenchant and often wry fashion, and with a dizzying amount of documentation to back himself up, virtually everything that American conservatives have done badly over the past two-three years. And, sadly — “done badly” hardly begins to cover it.

I’m going to quote from the letter but not at much length, because I want to whet your appetite, but I really, really hope that you will click through and read the entire thing.

And why do I really, really hope that you  read the whole thing? Because, first of all, as I’ve said before (repeatedly) I honestly think that our two-party democracy really needs two fully functional parties if we are going to achieve a more perfect union.

But also because even though all of what King writes is public knowledge, much of it the stuff of daily conversation, he provides an invaluable service in pulling back and showing — in the starkest terms possible — just how deep, and dangerous, the rot is. I had a pretty good idea, and really: I had no idea.

So honestly, please: Read all of it! Look: here’s another link so you don’t have to scroll back to find the first one!

“Dear Conservative Americans,” King starts. “The years have not been kind to you.”

I grew up in a profoundly Republican home, so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the one we see now.  You’ve lost me and you’ve lost most of America.  Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy, I’d like to give you some advice and an invitation.

First, the invitation:  Come back to us.

Now the advice.  You’re going to have to come up with a platform that isn’t built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own; fear of reform in banking, health care, energy; fantasy fears of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps; and more.  But you have work to do even before you take on that task.

Your party — the GOP — and the conservative end of the American political spectrum have become irresponsible and irrational.  Worse, it’s tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred.  Let me provide some examples — by no means an exhaustive list — of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.

From this point on, the letter is split into four main sections: Hypocrisy, Hyperbole, History, and Hatred. I’ll provide just a taste of each, and then, again, urge you to click through and read the rest (look! It’s another link!)

Hypocrisy

You can’t flip out — and threaten impeachment – when Dems use a parliamentary procedure (deem and pass) that you used repeatedly (more than 35 times in just one session and more than 100 times in all!), that’s centuries old and which the courts have supported. Especially when your leaders admit it all.

…

Hyperbole

You really need to disassociate with those among you who:

• assert that people making a quarter-million dollars a year can barely make ends meet or that $1 million “isn’t a lot of money”;
• say that “Comrade” Obama is a “Bolshevik” who is “taking cues from Lenin”;
• ignore the many times your buddies use a term that offends you and complain only when a Dem says it;
• liken political opponents to murderers, rapists, and “this Muslim guy” that “offed his wife’s head” or call then “un-American”;

…

History

You can’t just pretend historical events didn’t happen in an effort to make a political opponent look dishonest or to make your side look better. Especially these events. (And, no, repeating it doesn’t make it better.)

…

Hatred

You have to condemn those among you who:

• call members of Congress n*gger and f*ggot;
• elected leaders who say “I’m a proud racist”;
• state that America has been built by white people;
• say that poor people are poor because they’re rotten people, call them “parasitic garbage” or say they shouldn’t be allowed to vote;
• call women bitches and prostitutes just because you don’t like their politics     ( re – pea –ted – ly );

All righty then, it’s back into the kitchen with this Jew, because Passover waits for no woman. But if you have anytime to read anything at all on the intertubez today, pleaseplease, make it “An open letter to conservatives.”

Thank you Russell King. It’s a very good thing that you’ve done.

Posted by emilylhauser on March 28, 2010

https://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/an-open-letter-to-conservatives-omg/