Patch Blog: Are Republicans Smoking Too Much Pot?

I've been thinking about politics lately. Well, more like politics has been beating me over the head as of late.    And because I'm involved with the Occupy Los Angeles Movement, I've been wondering about some of the stuff the Republican presidential candidates have been saying during the thousand and one nights of Republican president debates.

Some of the things I hear from the Republican Party are so unbelievable I’m just wondering who can possibly agree with them—and if so why? Is there someone out there who can explain this to me because, honestly, for the life of me, I hear what they say and shake my head in wonder at their stupidity.

But, maybe they're not stupid—maybe I just don’t understand them. Certainly possible—and I’d like someone out there to point out what I'm missing and explain to me.

For starters: Republicans want less government, and the government to stop deciding how we should live our lives.    Right? So why do Republicans want to tell women what they can and can't do with their bodies and why do Republican women support this as well? I'm just not getting this. Can someone clue me into what seems like such a contradiction to me?

Why does Rick Santorum “throw up” over separation of church and state? Would he feel the same way if Muslims, Jews, Hindus—instead of his evangelical faith—were foisting their religion on the rest of the country?

Financial companies giving loans to people who weren’t qualified caused the entire mortgage fiasco. And then those financial loans were bundled and sold to pensions, people and countries (Greece/Spain/Finland) and, when the housing market fell, wiped out all of the above.

So, please explain to me why Republicans say we have to “get out of the way” of “free market capitalism” and “leave it alone” and it will “take care of itself.”

That unfettered capitalism is what brought the depression/recession about! We're still suffering the consequences, and yet the Republicans are still screaming for more of the same. Is it just that Republicans represent the rich? Please, someone, explain this to me.

Republicans believe the Rich create jobs for America and thus, taxes on wealthy are bad for the economy. Well, since Reagan (and actually Carter, too) we've been giving bigger and bigger tax cuts to the Wealthy.

And what has happened? The rich are richer, the middle class has shrunk and the poverty sector has grown. And, anecdotally, I've noticed in the majority of families that both wife and husband must work to support their family when this was not necessary some 30-plus years ago. Seems to me the last time our middle class income was growing and the poverty class shrinking was after World War II, and possibly more recently under Clinton.

I am no fan of Clinton—a child of poverty who forsook the poor and gave us deregulation—but our country seemed to prosper with his policy of, as Republicans call it, “Tax and Spend” government. Please, someone, explain why Republicans still buy “trickle down economics” and think taxes on the rich are a bad thing?

Republicans say Obama's foreign policy is a failure. What part is the failure? Two Bushes and a Clinton were unable to get Osama and his henchmen but Obama got the Murderer in three years.

Republicans invented/created a war in which we invaded the sovereign nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, these have been the longest ongoing wars in our history. They enriched the purse of Vice President Cheney with a 10-year no-bid contract for Halliburton as well as many others. And yet it's a mistake for Obama to break that record and get us out? 

I say our political system is broken. I'm wondering why wouldn't anybody concerned about earning a livelihood for their family—or the kind of future we are leaving for our children and their possibility for a good life—wouldn't be more interested in joining a movement concerned about our country: A movement about the 99 percent—The Occupy Movement. And so, I ask you, why wouldn't you join The Occupy Movement?