The Republicans have become the "Bizarro Party"
I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across “The Bizarro Jerry” episode of Seinfeld. To refresh your memory, this was the episode where Elaine meets three new friends who resemble Jerry, George, and Kramer. But, unlike the selfish and petty originals, the new friends are kind and thoughtful, albeit quite dull and boring. Juxtaposing the original gang with their opposites was awkwardly funny. The episode was one of my favorites.
After the show ended, I switched on the news. The top story was the “Fiscal Cliff” negotiations. And there was the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, defending why the Republicans in control of Congress would not allow tax rates to go up on the rich. How can Boehner and his Republican ilk be so obtuse? Are they really willing to raise taxes on the middle class and risk another recession if the wealthy don’t get to keep their Bush Era tax cuts? Don’t they get it that a majority of Americans support raising taxes on the rich? Don’t they remember the election results? The Republicans lost seats in the House and the Senate. President Obama was reelected after campaigning on raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Then it hit me – this is not my parent’s Republican Party. The Republicans have become the “Bizarro Party”. And, while Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David can pay homage to the opposite world of the Bizarro comic and create a hilarious comedy, in politics, the “oppositeness” of the Republican Party has become a tragedy.
Here is list of just some of the things the Bizarro Republicans have told us they believe:
• Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction - He didn’t.
• In Iran, we would be greeted as liberators - We weren’t
• Obama is a Socialist - He is a Capitalist.
• Obama is a Muslim - He is a Christian.
• Obama was born in Kenya - He was born in Hawaii.
• A woman can’t get pregnant from a “legitimate” rape - Yes she can.
• Mitt Romney is leading in the poles and will be the next president - Obama was actually leading in the swing state polling. And he won.
• The United Nations Agenda 21 is a secret plan to take over the United States - No. It is a non-binding declaration to promote sustainable development in the world.
• The earth is 6000 years old - The earth is 4.5 billion years old.
• Global warming is a hoax - 97% of scientists say that man-made climate change is real.
• The Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA, as well as the entire government as a whole, should be shrunken, eliminated or privatized - Government has the scale and resources to best provide programs and services to the public, and does so effectively when run by educated, skilled and competent people, rather that cronies and ideologues.
• No matter the situation, tax cuts are the solution - In 1929 the top tax rate was 24%. The same year the stock market crashed and began the Great Depression. In all of the 1950’s the top rate was at least 91% and the economy didn’t collapse.
• No matter the situation, less regulation on business is the solution - The financial collapse that brought on the Great Recession happened because of too little regulation, not too much.
• We need Austerity to fix the economy and bring down the debt - No we don’t. That is what Europe has done over the last couple of years and their economy is back in recession and their unemployment rate is climbing. What we need is another round of financial stimulus, an investment in middle class Americans.
In every instance mentioned, the Bizarro Republicans are on the opposite side of what science, economics, history and common sense show the truth to be. So why do they do it? Are they ignorant, or, incompetent? Honestly, I believe many are. But those at the top of the party know exactly what they are doing. The Bizarro Republicans have become the political arm of corporate America and the wealthy. They are greedy. And they want more. Every Bizarro economic position listed above, along with nearly every policy they make, is to benefit Big Business and protect their billionaire donors at the expense of the middle class. The brilliance of their “opposite” propaganda is how they get so many Americans to vote against their own best interests. They do this by pandering to their Fundamental Christian base with the stands they take on the age of the earth, evolution, and abortion to name a few. But, their most effective strategy is terrifying their base constituents with lies about Obama, the UN, socialism, communism, gun control, the liberal media, et cetera. The fear mongers on AM radio and Fox news are so good at these scare tactics, Bizarro followers in every state have signed petitions to secede from the union since Obama was reelected. It is difficult to make rational decisions when you are panicked.
Are there even any rational conservatives left? If so, it is time for you to marginalize the Bizarros and take your party back and start working on the many problems our country faces. The most troubling problem today in America is the disproportion of wealth in the country. When this topic is brought up the Bizarros cry class warfare and call taxing the rich “redistribution of wealth”. The bank bailouts that began in 2008 were the biggest redistribution of wealth in the history of the world. And that was public money given to private business. Now that they are doing well again, many earning record profits, it is time to get some of that back by raising taxes on the wealthy until the rest of the country catches up.
The middle class is the heart of America, the financial engine that drives the economy. If America were a building, the middle class would be the foundation. For too long the rich have been taking blocks from America’s foundation in order to build themselves bigger penthouses. Perhaps in Bizarro Republican world buildings are supported from the top. In the real world however, buildings and economies collapse when all the weight is at the top and their foundations have been eroded.
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K & R and welcome to DU
Is exactly like the bizarro world. Up is down. Black is white. Romney is going to win in a landslide. . .
Excellent OP! 
