The Do It Yourself Party

   In tough economic times a “DIY” mentality gains favor, one can save money if you do it yourself. But for the right wing of the Republican party the DIY option has been a long time principle in their outlook for society. Everyone should be on their own!

   Self-reliance, independence and toughness are all great individual qualities. But when citizens are hurting it may not be the best qualities for the national attitude. Strong will cannot always win over the strong winds of adversity. Bad things happen—people get sick, factories close, spouses die and nature does damage. A family’s American dream can quickly become a nightmare.

    In tough economic times a shockingly high percentage of Americans are one bad thing away from bankruptcy or even homelessness. It is not helpful to those individuals, or society overall, if our collective response, at a time like this, is “fix it yourself”. Yet the bedrock response of the far right is something along the line of--they must have brought it on themselves, why should we help.

    So much for the legacy of compassionate conservatism or the forgotten lesson of the good Samaritan for the so called “religious right”. They should put their energy into an attempt to commiserate with the needy rather than humiliate them.

    You can see other aspects of this independent mindset in the tea party’s love of DIY science and logic. If the facts are not endorsing they create their own and if they don’t like the findings of the subject matter professionals they turn to their own “experts”: talk radio hosts, politicians and political pundits. As a result we have a body of “knowledge” on the right which contends: Obama is a Kenyan, global warming is a hoax, dinosaur bones are from an over grown ox, gays and lesbians can be “cured”, someone else’s gay marriage will destroy mine. What is next--preschool education is a government plot to over educate children?

     We have multiple national challenges and everyone needs to pull together. To have a segment of our populace retreat to a parallel universe where convenient fictions trump inconvenient truths is not helpful. Solving problems does not include stopping everything, backing up or making up theories. Nor is it rational to forget the old adage—there, but for the grace of God, go I.

      Do it yourself may work for home improvement or car repairs but it is not an effective methodology for aiding the unfortunate and resolving major national issues.

      It is time for the far right to put away their prejudices, come to grips with their fear of change and work with, not against, the majority of Americans in solving our challenges.