I had this urge to jump on the "blame Obama" bus, but I think everyone who's written a diary criticizing the President's handling of this manufactured crisis has spoken for me. But this whole process that was such a charade in the beginning has done something much more to my beliefs than anything before.
First and foremost I am a former Republican. I'm not ashamed to admit it. The invasion of Iraq by this country turned me into a liberal and the rise of the tea party turned me into a socialist. I'm proud of my turn to socialism (I'm a Bernie Sanders socialist) if you want to call me an extremist, be my guest, because no matter how many well written diaries about the virtues of pragmatism are published on this website, you will never change my mind. But I'm not going to go further into how I changed from Moderate Conservative to Independent Socialist.
But what I'm about to say is going to violate the terms of civility that were handed down by the President and Jon Stewart and of course many others.
What this whole mess with the debt ceiling has done is that it's made me dislike Conservatives even more. Almost borderline hatred.
I know, I know, if Barack Obama were here he would tell me not to take politics personally. That we're all Americans. No matter what our political views are, we must come together for the common good.
Well, you know, you can take your common good talk and stuff it down a toilet.
This whole notion that me and others shouldn't take politics personally is stupid. When your livelihoods are on the chopping block then it's personal. When you see a loved one be reduced to depression because he can't find a job, then it's personal. When you see your mother cry because she worked 36 hours of 72 hours, just so she can paid the mortgage, then it's personal. When you've worked hard to receive a master's degree in creative writing, but you still can't find a job, then it's personal.
And when Conservatives trash this country so they can give everything to the ignorant, arrogant, and selfish, then it's personal. It's personal because we have to take a huge hit to pay for their lifestyles. That's not fair. That's not the America I was taught to believe.
But that's where America is headed. And just who is leading this charge? Conservatives.
I hear it all the time from these morons, that we need to keep our fiscal house in order, tax cuts create jobs, it's all about freedom, freedom and more freedom. Well, I got news for these assholes,
Freedom doesn't mean you're entitled to do anything you want. And Conservatives have longed held this belief that being free gives you a pass to fuck up shit and screw with other people's lives.
I can't in good faith show any civility or welcome folks like that into my house. There's a sickness in this country and it's not a lack of civility. It's a lack of spine to standing up to these people. The President doesn't want to engage in a conflict with these people because he wants to project this image of a post-partisian America. How's that looking Mr. President. You're not talking to Jack Kemp, Bob Dole or Chuck Hagel, you're engaging with the worst that America has to offer. Rand Paul, his old man, Mike Lee, Allen West and countless other right-wing bastards. They care not to serve the people, but rather serve the Koch Brothers, the Chamber of Commerce, and rich folks who believe that having money gives them a sense of entitlement.
My disdain for Conservatives will never change. This whole experience, starting with the Bush years and now the Tea Party, will never rinse the bad taste I have for Conservatives out of my mouth. To me, every Conservative is the same as the next. No matter how genial they might be, they will always be that person that will support programs that will fuck the lives of Americans.
What I hope for is that I live long enough to see the day when Grover Norquist's bathtub is smashed into little pieces.