The (Not) Republican Party

Not long ago, the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson was literally put out of business. This occurred as the result, as I recall, of a criminal prosecution stemming from illegal activities of the firm on behalf on the now defunct Enron Corporation. Many people complained at the time that the prosecution was unfair and that thousands of innocent employees were the victims of this prosecution. Yet, the principle prevailed that a corporation engaged in criminal activities had to be held accountable.

In my opinion, the Republican Party has done far more damage -- through its culture of unethical behavior -- to the United States than the Arthur Anderson firm ever did.

This, I believe, goes back to the electoral activities of Richard Nixon. It has gotten to the point where the vicious, biased, negative campaigning that we see today in behalf of the Republican presidential campaign is considered "normal" and "appropriate" by the party faithful.

I won't go into the hundreds of details right now to support my contention. But, I think the fact speaks for itself that many prominent Republicans (such as Colin Powell) are making the same point.

I believe in a two-party system, or a multi-party system. But, at this point, I do not believe that the Republican Party has shown itself worthy to govern or to be a part of that system. Political parties in the past (i.e., the Federalist, the Whig) have had to disband. And, I believe that time is running out for the Republicans.

How, ironic (and hypocritical), in my opinion that the party that once expected to have a permanent majority and lock on both houses of congress, plus the presidency, and governorships -- is now complaining that the Democrats might achieve this same objective in the coming elections.

One of my friends, an intuitive filmmaker, with a deep spiritual orientation, is Dorothy Fadiman. I highly recommend her newest production "Stealing America, Vote By Vote." Here is the website:

http://www.stealingamericathemovie.org/

It documents the tactics used by the Republicans to control elections, and suppress or miscount votes, going back to 2000. It strongly suggests that if all of the real votes were fairly counted, G.W. Bush would never have won or held the White House.

The picture that I have at this point is that the Republicans gained office by, essentially, cheating the voters. Even worse, once they achieved power, they engaged in the active pursuit of proving correct their contention that "government does not work." They made it so. They have been so destructive that, I imagine it will take many years to fully uncover the depth of their deceptions. And, unfortunately, even longer to restore our lost global stature -- and, yet, even longer to restore our economy. (As I recall it took more than a decade to recover from the Great Depression.)

To my Republican friends,  I don't doubt your intelligence nor your sincerity in posting arguments that are consistent with the Republican Party line. And, to be fair, I realize that some of the Republican critiques are important and even, occasionally, accurate.

But, on the surface, the Republicans have so muddied the waters of our American political discourse that I now believe that every statement coming from their camp is best viewed with suspicion. For me (admittedly a lifelong Democrat), it has gotten to the point that the Republican college student who, recently, fraudulently claimed that a black Obama supporter had mutilated her face (by carving the letter B) has become almost emblematic of the entire Republican Party.

Let me add, that I do not make such a claim lightly.

I am aware that it rubs up against the very grain of the eight intuitive principles that I, myself, drafted and have posted on this blog in the past. It rubs up against the primary directive that I see in all mystical traditions -- that we are all one. It risks falling into the trap of duality and devisiveness. And, my only antidote to these concerns is to accept that, at a deeper level, odd as it seems to me -- we are all Republicans!

 So, while I advocate a complete cleansing of the Republican party, I guess this

implies something even more profound -- a deeper inner cleansing of ourselves and of the American psyche.

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