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Hello folks, come on in. And welcome to the Republican
States of America (RSA). I’ve been authorized by Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers and
billionaires everywhere to invite you in for a visit. But not to stay.
You can only stay here in the RSA if you are a declared
heterosexual, American-born—possessing two birth certificates if you’re black
and running for the presidency—fully observant of the moral dictates of
women-subjugating religions or right-minded politicians, and committed to
enshrining selfishness into the Constitution.
While you are visiting with us in the RSA feel free to wear
your gun to the movies, abuse your undocumented Latino servants and drop off
your grandparents at the local emergency room, should they have health problems.
In the RSA anyone struggling to earn a living wage is responsible for his or
her own difficulties and is requested never to ask for assistance, especially
if they’re poor, elderly, recently out of work, living in a single parent
household, or in ill health. Take note that women in the RSA are not allowed to
be raped or have abortions in cases of rape.
Also be aware that your unborn children are of greater
importance to us than those noisy, filthy and irritating children poor people
seem to breed as if they were sex-starved rabbits.
Please take note that as of January 2013, membership in a
public or private employees union will be considered contrary to the public
welfare, punishable by extended stays in Arizona or Wisconsin. In the interest
of fairness, every citizen will pay the same percentage of his or her income in
taxes, regardless of how rich or poor they may be, except in cases where a
minimum level of assets qualifies you for the Oil, Gas and Millionaires tax loopholes.
In the Republican States of America it is understood we may declare
preemptive war against a weak third-world nation anytime we deem it necessary
to use up, and thus upgrade and re-manufacture at great cost, our store of aging armaments.
If we de-stabilize a region, we take no responsibility and will blame it on the
mainstream media.
In the Republican States of America it is perfectly
acceptable to declare war on another country in the interests of spreading
democracy, even while here at home we combat voter fraud by denying voting rights to minorities, students and other
left-leaning elements of the population. To that regard, it is also permissible
to steal elections in swing states.
Welcome to the Republican States of America. Please
remember, we don’t do torture, and we’ll waterboard anyone who says
different.
You've entranced me again, Paul, with your discerning description of this neocon Eden. I especially appreciate that you distinguished between torture and a little lighthearted waterboarding.
ReplyDeleteDennis, I so appreciate your drawing a distinction between the fine art of torture and the black art of water boarding. Such nuanced distinctions are what keeps us both moral and safe in an uncertain world. And to think we actually executed Japanese soldiers who had the audacity to water board our own soldiers during World War II. What could we have been thinking?
ReplyDeleteForgive me my poor attempt at irony. However, life in my judgment tends to be a matter of degrees.Torturing someone to death, maiming him for life, destroying his psychological makeup--very bad. And only vicious sadists or sadistic entities would participate in such activities.On the other end of the spectrum waterboarding and humiliation are also not pleasant, hurtful, and generally can be defined as torture. But sometimes there are ethical consideration that may trump these unpleasantries.For instance, if a lot of people's lives depended upon hidden information held by the waterboarded victim. I would like to think that there are not too many other examples.We as a society put people in jail. There are many inmates who believe that this is torture and some escape via suicide.Jail can be very unpleasant and does sometimes amounts to torture.
ReplyDeleteMy argument doesn't quite satisfy even me, yet I do believe it to be true. I certainly do not advocate waterboarding as routine or even as a matter of publicised policy. And those who on rare occasions use it under very extreme circumstances should be answerable for their actions.