Where Were the Republicans?

Richard Cohen, not one of my favorites, writes this:

Anger comes from fear. What was once a white Protestant nation is changing hue and religion. It is no accident that racial epithets were yelled at black lawmakers on Saturday in Washington and a kind of venom even gets exclaimed from the floor of the Congress: "You lie!" "Baby killer!" The protesters were protesting health-care legislation. But they feared they were losing their country.

I think this is right. The tea party is a perfect example of the above. They are mostly white, middle-aged to older individuals who are fearful of change. Our nation is changing and persons of a conservative bent take change poorly.

Social security was passed with 81 republican votes in the House and 16 votes in the Senate. Only 6 republican senators voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Medicare was supported by 13 republican senators. The health care reform act passed without the support of a single republican.

So what was different in that vote? The answer is pretty simple. There are no longer republicans in the GOP like those that voted for SS, or Civil Rights, or Medicare. Those were RINO (republicans in name only) republicans. The Republican party today is made up of fearmongers, doomsayers, and politicians who care more about getting re-elected than doing the right thing.

See the post immediately below. Republicans have decided that the way to regain control of government is to obstruct every Democratic proposal, then run a campaign on how Democrats were unable to pass any legislation. It may work in the short run. But remember, the nation is getting less white, less racist, less religious (albeit very slowly) and more tolerant.

Republicans only need to keep using current tactics to eventually destroy their party.