GOP: Extinction Mode

Shaker dance

Does anyone remember the Shakers? You know, that cult of furniture makers that believed in, among other things, celibacy? That was a rather short-sighted tenet of faith, because the Shakers have dwindled from about about 5,000 in the middle of the nineteenth century to about a dozen today. It is amazing that they have lasted this long; either there are some really old Shakers, or there was some misbehaving in the pews over the years.

When one listens to the debates among the Republican candidates for the nomination for president, though, it reminds you of the Shakers, doesn't it? On almost any issue you want to name, these people advocate the extinction strategy.

Health care? Let the uninsured die! The crowd seemed the most enthusiastic about that; Ron Paul was at least willing to drop the sick off at churches and hope for the best.

Wild applause for Needles Perry and his record for putting 'em down, even the occasional innocent one.

Grandma doesn't need Social Security; get her a job in a sweat shop. As Lee Camp would say, they're warm; old people like warm places.

Immigration? Shoot 'em as they come across; buy some more Predator drones, or build a double wall (that's what the East Germans did; it is much easier to pick 'em off in between the two strands). The candidates seem entirely oblivious to the fact that Latinos are the fastest growing -- legal -- minority group in the country, and they don't especially like it when people try to figure out new and exciting ways to make their Latino brothers and sisters into targets, whether they are entering the country legally or not.

It does seem a little, well, bloodthirsty. It used to be that only laughable pot-bellied vigilante knuckle draggers in lawn chairs hoping to take target practice on Mexicans harbored ideas like this. But times change!

Let's not even start in on the gays.

On issue after issue, given a choice, the Republican candidates will crawl all over each other to claim the most economy, soul, and people-killing option available.

It's the Shaker strategy, all right.

Photo from the first link above.