The GOP Quadrille ~ First Dance

Back in grad school days, there was a class we referred to as Prance’n’Dance.  Now, this might sound trivial but it really wasn’t. Under the watching Mad-Eye Moody-esque stare of Robert Moulton, we learned how to move across a stage in a variety of ways. Not only did we learn classic dance stuff, we learned some pretty useful things….considering our business….like minutes, capers, caprices, and that most beloved of all, the quadrille.

Now, for those of you unschooled in dances of centuries other than the 20th, let me just say the quadrille is as complicated as it sounds. Divided into five (or, if you're Viennese, six parts ,) it is usually performed by four couples in a square formation. And if that information is not exciting enough....it was originally a dance for men on horseback. Really. Think Spanish Riding School kinda stallion dancing. Anyway, if you want to see humans doing part of a quadrille, check this scene out for the last version of Pride and Prejudice. This kind of dancing, where one moves around one's partner and perhaps dances with others in the course of the dance, is still pretty sexy and alluring stuff.  Then again, Matthew McFadyen prancing about is pretty sexy stuff all on its own, but I digress. 

What isn't sexy at all is a bunch of middle aged, mostly white guys prancing about trying to convince the American public they are just like all you middle Americans out there. Right now, there are 5...count 'em on yer fingers....5 "serious" candidates leading the pac. Since the Koch brothers instructed Mittens Romney not to run, the front-runners in the field are Jeb "Mr. Dynasty" Bush, Ben "I'm just like y'all out there" Carson, Rand "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Vaccinations" Paul, Mike "Let 'Em Eat Bacon" Huckabee, and last and very possibly least, Scott "My State, My Rules" Walker. How can you not be fired up about such a selection? Really, it's an almost impossible decision to figure out just who you're gonna throw your dollars at! 

The demise of candidate Romney was not, at least as far as I was concerned, unexpected. The Koch boys were not about to lay down money on a candidate who was suddenly yammering on about income inequality. That is not part of their program. The boys need someone they can rely on to espouse ideas consistent with their right wing idiology. And no, that is not spelled wrong. If it's not a word, it should be. 

This week alone, the GOP herd has brought you fine, intelligent utterances that only support the idea that running requires a modicum of brain death in that party. Think I'm kidding? 

From Chris Christie...the same guy that quarantined an Ebola nurse who had no symptoms whatsoever....:

Mary Pat and I have had our children vaccinated and we think that it’s an important part of being sure we protect their health and the public health. I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so that’s the balance that the government has to decide.

Not to be outdone, DR. Rand Paul, who must've gotten his MD from a box of Cracker Jacks, went on national broadcast television to say:

I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.

Can this guy provide empirical evidence of any kind that supports that statement? Even the guy who first wrote it up back in England says it's baloney.  

Ben Carson, also a doctor, this one a neurosurgeon, is pro-vaccine...he's CEO of a company working on a vaccine for colon cancer. However, for a man of science, he has some pretty interesting ( in a purely Minnesotan sense of the word)  views...like how the world was created in 6 days as well as his views on gay marriage....which should put him in pretty good shape with the Koch boys. After all, he did call Obama care "the worst thing since slavery." 

The Bush heir-apparent, Jeb, did a bang up job in Florida. Remember Terry Schiavo? Said to be the smartest of the Bushes, he doesn't impress me as being all that smart. He's new to this stage, but not to worry. He's a Bush, and they are all cut from the same cloth. Silk, not dungaree, no matter how many stumps W says he's cleared. 

As for Huckabee....he's a non-starter. All he's got is a little name recognition from the last go-round. His position on immigration, however, is just a little bit left of where the Tea Party wants it to be, and that will be the death knell for ol' Mike's latest attempt to take the White House. Of course, he could turn to his gay friends for help...so long as they don't want to get married. 

And the guy sweeping up after the rest of the herd of elephants, is Scott Walker, erstwhile governor of Cheeseheads everywhere and the working person's worst enemy. Under the guise of a pro-business agenda, he is stagnating the state of Wisconsin. Job growth continues to be below the national average, and lobbyists, despite his promises to rein them under control, continue to run roughshod over the state. As a national politician, he's downright dangerous. On ABC last Sunday, when asked about ISIS and the Middle East, Scott Walker announced:

I think anywhere and everywhere, we have to be – go beyond just aggressive air strikes. We have to look at other surgical methods. And ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that’s what it takes, because I think, you know–.....I think anywhere and everywhere, we have to be – go beyond just aggressive air strikes. We have to look at other surgical methods. And ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that’s what it takes, because I think, you know–        
                                                                                            [And that, folks, is a quote ]

Right now, all of them are busy doing their best version of the obsequious quadrille for the Koch brothers. These are the guys who have the deepest pockets and the best plans for purchasing an election. A BIG, BIG election. This is where SCOTUS allowing Citizens United to stand undercuts the very fabric of our electoral system. The Kochs make no secret that they believe they are the ones who will anoint the next Republican candidate, and they make no secret of their plans to pour endless amounts of cash into the campaigns. 

What galls me the most about the sale of this election is that any shred of belief that a national election is about the will of We, the People, is gone. This is the fire sale of America. From increased class stratification to segregation in schools based on social caste rather than race, a service class is about to be born. Equal opportunity will be for the haves only. The have-nots will become the new peasant, the new servant class. And the middle class will simply fade away.

IF we allow the Kochs and the Tea Party and other extremists on both sides of the aisle to continue, they will do so. Oligarchs unite! The rest of us be damned....while we are preparing ourselves to live in this new, third world country called America. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you don't have a regular will AND a living will, get one. This is about to be important.