THE GOP REALLY IS AN “OLD WHITE MAN’S” POLITICAL PARTY

…The so called, “Joe the Plumber”, that isn't a plumber.

Now, both “Joe the Plumber” and the Nevada Cowboy "Cliven Bundy” are both, true Republican conservatives.

Unfortunately for the GOP, we are many times all judged by the company we keep.  For a number of the nation’s conservatives, they had neglected to properly check out one of their conservative Republicans from the Wild, Wild, West, before jumping into bed with him.

Yep, as they had previously taken on, “Mr. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher”, AKA “Joe the Plumber”, during the 2008 election campaign.  They had also made that move before they learned that what he was saying was not the truth, and that he wasn’t even a plumber. 

 

Well, they took the same knee-jerk approach last week with the unlawful Nevada rancher, Cliven Bundy.

Most notably, Fox’s Sean Hannity, and many of Fox’s “talking heads”, plus Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, jumped into bed with, but later had to distance themselves from the disgusting racist comments by Nevada's, Cliven Bundy. 

 

However, apparently these conservatives still seemingly had no objections to Bundy’s illegal statements against the federal government’s authority over grazing lands. 

 

To these conservatives, it’s terrible that Mr. Bundy is a flaming racist with his outlandish comments about “Negros”, but it’s perfectly fine that he hasn’t paid his federal grazing fees since 1993.  And his total due today to the US government is about one million dollars.  Yes, these are the same grazing fees that all of Bundy’s Nevada neighbor ranchers have paid over all those same years.

And just what were Bundy’s horrible comments about all America’s “Negros”? 

 

Oh, he just feels that perhaps all African Americans were better off as slaves picking cotton and living on the plantation than living in some government housing.  Bundy then shoved his foot in his mouth even further when he said that, “The Negro, aborts their babies and they puts their young men in prisons. Young black males were in trouble because they hadn’t been taught to pick cotton.”

Yes, all of those aforementioned, well known conservative politicians had aligned themselves with someone who not only defies federal laws, but who also arms himself against government officials.  Mr. Bundy and his family, along with the armed volunteer vigilantes that have shown up on his property, have clearly indicated their willingness to deal with Bundy’s government protest through armed violence.

The reality for Mr. Bundy is that as compared to his Nevada neighbors, since 1993, Mr. Bundy has been enjoying the benefits of public grazing privileges without paying any fees or taxes.  This has been a requirement for many decades by federal law for all American ranchers. (Oh, and his federal subsidized grazing fee is less than ¼ of the fee of the private land owners.) This law has also been reinforced by various court rulings against Mr. Bundy through all of these years.

 

Oh yes, Bundy did pay his local and state taxes, but he refuses to recognize the fees from the US government.

Bundy says that he follows all of the laws of the state of Nevada.  But that also is not really true because the Nevada State Constitution clearly states that where there is a conflict between the federal and state laws, the federal laws will take precedence.  Based on this issue, Mr. Bundy is not following the state laws of Nevada. That Mr. Bundy has been acting illegally is not in dispute. The recent, made-for-media armed confrontation was in fact the finale’ in a many years-long string of court battles, and not one of them was resolved in Bundy’s favor. Simply said, Bundy just doesn’t recognize the U.S. government………period.

Now, I agree that the federal government overstepped their roll when they sent federal officers out to the Nevada ranges.  The agents had tried to confiscate some of Bundy’s herd and ended up killing a few of Bundy’s cattle. That was going too far as there were a number of other, more peaceful ways for dealing with Mr. Bundy’s situation.  They could easily have gone after the rancher’s bank accounts or they could have put liens on his property or his herd.  There was no reason for putting the federal agents in a confrontation that could have easily ended up as another Waco or Ruby Ridge deadly standoff.

But when looking back at Hannity, Fox News and the other conservatives, what in hell were these Bundy defenders thinking?

As soon as the Bundy standoff with the federal agents became a news item, these conservatives couldn’t get behind Bundy fast enough.  They immediately aligned themselves with someone who not only ignores federal law, but is someone that also armed himself against all US government officials.  The other conservatives and armed outlaws that then showed up did not even take the time to look into what brought the federal agents to come after Mr. Bundy in the first place.  They just immediately took Bundy’s position against the, “big bully, US government”.

In one short episode, before Bundy opened his mouth with his ignorant statement about, “Negros”, it had started looking like he was getting total support from the outlaws, the conservatives and the GOP.  Then, once Cliven opened his big racist mouth, the conservatives just couldn’t get “out of Dodge” fast enough.

As was stated by the conservative columnists Kathleen Parker, “The GOP is not a party of racists, but it is a party with racists. At some political rallies in the South and elsewhere, Confederate flags do appear that can have only one purpose — and it’s not to celebrate heritage. Dog whistles also can be heard and anti-Obama signs and symbols often include the worst sort of racist stereotypes.  Are all Republicans racist? Of course not.” 

 

But it was hard to tell that last week.

Jumping on the “Joe the Plumber” and the “Cliven Bundy” band wagon, without first looking into what was their true situations has not helped in promoting the Republicans or the conservative agenda.

This has all once again put the GOP in a position of being considered the “old biased white man’s party”, that they have truly become, and a party that still does not welcome minorities.

Copyright G.Ater  2014