Okay, I just can't be silent anymore...

I've been reluctantly following the early events of the new political silly-season, and each time I think it can't get any weirder, it does.

Santorum? Really, Colorado? The guy who wants to return women to the era when birth control was a wire coathanger? Turnout for the Republican caucus must have been really low to let a handful of reactionaries take the day. Pop by next month for the Democratic caucus and we'll show you how it's done.

It's amazing to look back through history and note how conservatism has evolved from its primary concern with fiscal responsibility to obsessing over personal behaviours and choices. Yesterday's conservatives look like today's progressives, and today's conservatives look like yesterday's fascists.

Yes, fascists.

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com, fascism is "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

And by the way, since when did "liberal" become a dirty word, so tainted that we have to use the euphemism "progressive"? I'm liberal and I'm damn proud of it!

Is there anything above that isn't being played out right now by the sideshow slate of characters vying for the Republican nomination? Particularly "forcible suppression of opposition", speaking from my time with the #Occupy movement.

Hey, Occupy Denver, where have you gotten off to? It's sad when an active supporter can't keep track of your activities (or lack thereof) anymore. Like I told you a couple of months ago, you need to keep up with your Saturday marches in order to maintain a public image as a cohesive and functional movement. Instead, you've deteriorated into a camp for homeless and dopers. Yes, they are also part of the 99%, but you're not going to get much support from mainstream citizens if your primary issue is legalizing pot. Which I also told you a couple of months ago. I'm really glad there are still viable Occupy groups elsewhere in the country, and I hope that Occupy Denver can pull itself back together.

But I digress.

I did our taxes this morning. Maybe that's what has me on a rant, or at least represents the final straw. Now I'm seething over Rich Guy Mitt's low tax rate, while we barely scraped by and, incidentally, paid a higher rate than he reported. So not right, since when should people who are barely hanging on have to pay more to support a government than those who have become wealthy in its service?

And whoever decided that Colorado unemployment benefits are taxable income is a truly heartless person. Hubby was unemployed or underemployed for a good portion of 2011, so those benefits were vital to us. I'm still at my nonprofit and teaching, but it's mighty hard to make up for another whole income. (On the bright side, Hubby is doing so well in his auto mechanics program - he's 3/4 of the way through and has a 4.0 GPA! He's working part-time while going to school, which really is about all that's feasible.)

Not to ignore the other Republican also-rans, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Newt dear, I'd rather use you in a spell than think of you as president. Ron Paul is simply scary in his desire to dismantle everything, and he strangely reminds me of Ross Perot, the uber-rich guy who ran in 1992 as an independent and split the conservative vote. But at least Perot was funny and could laugh at himself. Ron Paul believes in the garbage he's spouting and takes both himself and his chances at the Presidency way too seriously.

Another rant-worthy topic: our health insurance premium (group coverage through my nonprofit) went up by 20%. Will someone PLEASE explain to me why the fascists/Republicans/Tea Partiers are so hot to dismantle the health care reforms that Obama signed into law, and why they think we don't need health care reform and a single-payer national health system? I had to move to a deductible so high that I just hope and pray we don't need to use our coverage, because anything short of a critical illness requiring hospitalization will come out of our pockets, which as you might have guessed from the previous paragraphs aren't that deep. And that was to keep my portion of the premium down to 25% of my take-home pay. Elizabeth Warren is right, rising health care costs are what's eroding the middle class. Don't believe me? Check out her lecture on YouTube. It's nearly an hour long but well worth investing your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Uk-DwUvJw

My biggest source of hope right now? It's the belief that one day people will wake up and see just how badly they've been used by the fascist conservatives, and then they will revolt against their oppressors. That is, if they can tear themselves away from American Idol and TMZ, clear their minds of the weapons of mass distraction being pushed to the forefront of the collective American consciousness by the conservative-controlled media giants, and think for themselves instead of mindlessly sopping up the slanted and inflammatory fodder presented by Faux News.

Yes, one day this will happen. It has to. The alternative is too grim to consider.

AuntieM