Violence is Peace

I totally understand and empathize with many Republican beliefs.  Distrust of federal government, protecting your liberties, strong call for defense, and plenty of others are pretty solid ideals.  But at this point, the Republican party isn't really advocating for those things.  I really don't think they represent the average Republican anymore.  The Democratic party has also gotten pretty far from the issues they claim to represent.  They're just businessmen who take up the banner of progressivism to gain power, and to be in the position of receiving corporate patronage.  The successful politicians are those who run the most expensive campaigns, who make their name recognizable to more people.  It's not about issues anymore, it's about political strategy.

But one of the scary things the R party has done is to take advantage of the reasonable values of conservatives and create a culture of xenophobia and paranoia.  It's also taking advantage of people, especially people who have been chronically lied to and economically abused for generations.  And it's created a culture where many in our country want to stand up against people who haven't actually done anything wrong.  To an Orwellian degree, we've been conditioned to think that violence is a way of seeking peace, that spreading fear is a way of defending against terrorism.  And the very people that represent everything a Republican genuinely hates--centralized authority, terrorism, killing innocent Americans--are the ones controlling the Republican party.  They've turned people against their own beliefs, in the name of those beliefs, and are turning their support into a radical insurgency.  Innocent people are dying as a result.

Every once in a while, we need to step back and look at ourselves--are we really fighting for what we believe in?  Or are the thought leaders of our time taking advantage of our beliefs dishonestly?  Are we giving them the benefit of the doubt because we need somebody to trust, or do they genuinely fight for the ideals they claim to uphold?