modern conservatism is un-American...

growers in california had a once in a generation crop of pears this year...the kind of crop that can make a career, pay for the kids to go to college, maybe even pay off the mortgage, all while putting some honest, hard working people seeking a better life for themselves and their families to work. small business pear growers were exstatic...and then they realized there weren't people to pick those pears. they watched as over $10 million dollars worth of their livelihood rotted in the orchards because there weren't enough migrant workers to pick those crops...even at a couple hundred bucks a week (notice Americans did not come out of the shadows to do this work even for a living wage). so this is how the conservative movement planned to help small business owners in America...force them to sit and watch their once-in-a-lifetime crop rot because they were xenophobic and really did not want hard-working brown-skinned folks to come across the border and pick fruit. keep out immigrants and crush small business owners...yea, that sounds American to me.

come election day, remember that it was conservative republicans that fought against renewing the voting rights act, that most American of laws that expanded the right to vote and attempted to make sure that access to the ballot box was equal. now that they failed in doing whatever necessary to allow themselves further opportunities to steal votes and split the minority vote as tom delay loves so much to do they are now seeking a new method to keep the poor away from the ballot box...mandatory identification cards. that's right...if you can't afford to take a day off of work or if you can't afford to drop the money on a driver's license even though you don't own a car and don't drive...then too bad, you can't vote. the poll tax of the 21st century. apparently conservatives believe that paying money for the right to vote is American...never mind the progress we've made away from that over the last few centuries plus.

remember how we would be welcomed as liberators in iraq? remember how it would take a month and they would form a friendly democracy that would have no problem with allowing American companies to exploit the oil reserves at the expense of the people? remember how that was going to be a domino setting off democracy in waves across the middle east (well, at least "democracy" that agrees with president bush...afterall, when democratically elected leaders don't agree with him, then they are dictators)? (speaking of the domino theory, it didn't come to pass the last time around...and we learned that only after sending 50,000 American soldiers to their death. do we really believe it will happen in the reverse this time? or do these folks need to see another 50,000 American soldiers in body bags and another million plus on the other side dead before they figure that out?) yea...well, that never happened. turns out the war in iraq has been a major setback in the "war" on terror. anti-American sentiment is at an all time high and fundamentalist terror organizations are recruiting more easily. look how good conservatives are at security. guess they are just keeping in tune with their history...you know, like 300 marines dead in beruit before reagan cuts and runs...or 3000 dead on september 11th under this president's watch.

when conservatives speak of tax cuts what they really mean are education cuts, healthcare cuts, security cuts, small business cuts, corporate wellfare and the like. so much for the ideals of our forefathers involving an informed and educated citizenry and workforce that is healthy and lives with basic human dignity. guess equality and the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness aren't quite American anymore.

perhaps it is just me, but i was under the impression that America fought only when it had to and then did so as noble as possible. i was under the impression that America's forces went above and beyond the demands of the Geneva Conventions because it was morally right. and now, thanks to modern conservatives it is a sigh of relieve that the United States will actually abide by notions of basic human rights. so much for that moral high ground they are always talking about.

interesting how the first states in this country were aptly named "commonwealth." commonwealth, as in the common wealth, as in sharing and fairness and recognition that wealth necessarily derives from all. but now conservatives want to tell you that you didn't earn anything...nevermind that you worked your ass off for the last twenty years but have seen your wages go nowhere while your cost of living skyrockets and their financial backers make more and more and more. so your hard work apparently is not worth as much as pushing a few buttons to make capital move from one computer screen to another...not even enough to at least guarantee that if you work for a living you will earn a living. they want us to think it is un-American that all Americans should live with basic dignity and be able to pursue basic happiness. but they are wrong...there are few things more American than the idea that you will be compensated for what your efforts are worth...seeing as how the rest of the wealth would not be possible without those on the lowest rungs...the only logical American conclusion is that those on the lowest rungs should at least be able to live with education, healthcare, security, and dignity.