...or, for that matter, to even vaguely comprehend the essential nature of the opposition.

Everybody got it? Dissent, fine; undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining everything and they don't care, couldn't care less.
  - Bill O'Reilly, June 20, 2005

Those were the days, huh?

"Dissent"... whatever that is... is fine. "Undermining", on the other hand, well, that's treason, and the FBI should put anyone doing it "in chains". 

I'm not sure exactly what either 'dissent' or 'undermining' are in any particular objective context (they seem to be almost entirely subjective terms) but I'm willing to bet that Bill O'Reilly does not think that blocking President Obama's stimulus bill counts as 'undermining'.  Certainly, he would never say that those who are deliberately standing in the way of a legislative package crafted in the hopes of starting to dig America out of the biggest economic hole we've seen since the Great Depression are committing 'treason' and should be put 'in chains' by the FBI.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you get a few shots of bourbon into Bill O'Reilly and tell him he's off the record, he would most likely cheerfully admit that as far as he's concerned, it's not possible for Republicans to commit treason... certainly not by opposing a Democratic President or a Democratic Congress.  Treason is something that can only be committed by spineless Democrats, progressives, and/or liberals, when they try to in some way substantially impede the agenda of Republicans and/or conservatives.

With the above you can start to see part of what we're dealing with -- the constant redefining of terms, the eternally shifting parameters, the way an entirely subjective, vehemently toxic worldview constantly modifies itself so that what was said a week ago, or even yesterday, doesn't necessarily have any bearing on what is being said today. 

But you have to see the other part of what we're dealing with, too, and it's tough, because we liberals and progressives try to be a tolerant lot.  We try to be high minded and unbiased and see the best in everyone.  We tend to say things like "Well, despite all of our differences we are still Americans and still united in the common things we all believe in".  That, and "There are good Republicans, good, decent conservatives, good people on the right whom we can work with, because they are principled men and women who only want what is best for America, in their own way".

Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe.  In this case, however, wanting to believe in the innate decency, honor, and strong principles of conservatives and Republicans is less like faith in our common good intentions and more like willingly blinding ourselves to the actual truth of the matter... and the truth of the matter is, if there are any good, decent conservatives or Republicans with staunch principles who only want what is best for America, well, there aren't very damn many of them. 

None, apparently, in the House of Representatives.  Three, maybe, in the Senate.

We ask ourselves where all the real conservatives have gone, what happened to all the old school Republicans... you know, the genuine patriots, the sincere Jeffersonians, the ones who honestly believe in liberty and justice for all and a real, competitive open market and small government and like that.  Maybe we had Republicans like that once, I don't know.  What I do know is, we sure don't have any like that any more.

The contemporary conservative movement, which entirely encompasses the Republican Party, is about one thing and one thing only -- preserving and increasing the privilege, wealth, and power of the privileged, wealthy, and powerful.  The rest of the Republican/conservative rhetoric -- "government small enough to drown in a bathtub", "family values", and, most especially, "America First" -- is bullshit.  They shovel it by the bucketful in election years to get out the vote.  It means nothing to the people who are actually in charge of the movement; fortunately, the average right wing voter they consistently manage to sway with their varying screeds and polemics is generally too stupid to catch on.  

The truth underneath the standard conservative snowjob is as follows:  we are rich, and we are powerful, and we are privileged, and the law does not apply to us, and we will not tolerate anyone trying to change this in any particular.  The only legitimate purpose of government is to maintain and increase our wealth, our power, and our privileges.  The law does not, shall not, and must not constrain the wealthy and the powerful.  The law is our tool and our weapon, it exists to keep the proles in line.  This is how it is, how it has always been, and how it will always be. 

Like Spinal Tap, they don't literally say it.  Unlike Spinal Tap, they DO literally mean it. 

They are enthusiastic supporters of wars that will benefit their stock market portfolios, as long as they aren't going to have to fight those wars themselves.  They never met a tax break they didn't like, unless it was a tax break for the poor working schmucks who actually produce the wealth they all live off like disease carrying ticks.   They are overjoyed to approve a $700 billion stimulus package as long as it's going to their cronies and campaign donors in high finance, but adamantly opposed to spending any money at all on unemployment, public education, or social services. 

And it is important... it is absolutely crucial... to understand that they will never cooperate with any President or Congress that is genuinely trying to increase other people's opportunities, to lessen other people's burdens, to save anything or revive anything that does not benefit them, the wealthy, the privileged, the powerful.  They understand, deep in the vast spiritual voids that they use for souls, that wealth and resources are finite, and every time you do anything to increase the amount of wealth and/or resources that other people might be allowed to have access to, you decrease the amount that they themselves get to hoard.  And that is not, in the words of one of their most honored prophets, The Way Things Ought To Be. 

Republicans do not have the same emotional objection to the entire globe falling into a massive economic depression as normal, thinking humans do.  Why should they?  They're all rich as hell, and a depression is a great time to be rich as hell... prices are low, and nearly anyone will do anything for a couple of bucks and a warm place to sleep.  For the Dick Cheneys of the world, that's not a crisis, and it's certainly not a catastrophe.  That, again, is The Way Things Ought To Be.

It's wonderful to be open minded and tolerant, to show maturity to one's opposition, to reach across the aisle, to try to work together with everyone to come up with a mutually acceptable solution. It's great to be a grown up; there's always a fabulous view from the moral high ground. 

But let's not kid ourselves.  Republicans are not the Loyal Opposition and they have never put America First.   They want to shovel as many taxpayer dollars into their offshore accounts and pay out as little in taxes back as they possibly can.    That is pretty much the be all, end all of their entire social and political ethos. 

We cannot work with them.  We cannot cooperate with them.  We cannot compromise with them.  We cannot be conciliatory.  They are not the opposition, they are the enemy.  This is, indeed, a class war.  If we are to succeed in taking power back from the powerful, in redistributing the hoarded wealth of the wealthy back to those who actually produce it, in removing all unearned privilege and truly creating a level playing field for all, we have to stop trying to regard these people as patriots, as citizens, as our fellow Americans. 

A good place to start, I think, would be for the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate to say to the Republican minority "You know what?  You want to filibuster everything we try to move?  That's great.  Do it.  Actually DO IT, though... we'll bring the legislation up for a vote, and then you guys get up on your hind legs and talk.  Yak it up.  Go for it.  No food, no water, no leaning on anything.  If you're going to filibuster, get up and filibuster, baby.  And after you all collapse and they drag you out on gurneys, we'll still be here, and we'll hold our vote."

Filibustering is supposed to be difficult, it's supposed to be uncomfortable, and hard, and physically demanding.  It is not supposed to be something that the minority threatens to make the majority immediately cave. 

We have to stop playing nice with these people.  They don't play nice with us when they're in charge.   Let's stop being kind, and start getting serious here.

This ain't a tea party, folks, and those people across the aisle ain't anybody's maiden aunts.  It's time to bring the hammer down.