Americans Believe That the Common Wealth Must Be Used for the Common Good

The official Republican platform states, “We believe in low taxes, limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong defense, states’ rights, and individual liberty.” None of these platform items has been followed by the Bush administration. Family values spouted forth by the Far Right(FR) are nothing more than wedge issues used to frame their mean-spirited Neo-conservative political policies. They are not traditional American family values. George Lakoff of the Rockridge Institute puts forth some interesting thoughts that stimulate thinking.

The right to life issue is designed to frame the argument for control of woman by the authoritarian father figures foisted on evangelical Republicans by the FR. Control of a woman’s own body would give her the awareness that women are the creators and bearers of life, the superior gender. The authoritarian father must have control over the women in his family so the decision to have or not have a child is simply an issue of power. The FR argues for the right to life at the same time insisting on the death penalty and the abolition of social programs to help the needy and the poor. Once a child is born, the FR believes he must sink or swim on his own. If he cannot care for himself, if he cannot prosper, he is somehow an inferior person and deserves to fail with no help from the government in spite of the omnipresent racism, bigotry, unequal opportunity, intellectual diversity, and sexism. Making abortion illegal is simply a way to control women and keep them subservient to the Strict Father Figure.

Same sex marriage is a threat to the Strict Father Figure because it is a union of equals, of givers and cooperators. Since the FR controls its flock with power, the union of equals is a threat to same-sex marriage, even though in many cases both parents are mutually nurturing and raise children who are also nurturing, the FR is paranoid of same-sex marriage and howls against it because it a threat to the control of the family by the Strict Father.

The FR uses the Christian God as a means of controlling people. The strict, authoritarian God of the Old Testament is the model for the family. The father is in control and he believes that his children are born evil and must be taught to be good through discipline and discipline is corporal, is physical punishment. Conservatives believe that discipline teaches morality, right from wrong, and punishment must be painful in order to change evil behavior. The use of punishment is a kind of abuse, of torture, physical, painful, and frequently traumatizing. Punishment that is severe often has sado-masochistic overtones. The child is punished until he becomes a moral being so he becomes obedience so he can prosper and pursue his self-interest. The FR believes that if each person pursues his self-interest, he will become prosperous; and therefore virtuous. If everyone pursues his self-interest, then everyone profits. Republican Congressmen Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Randy “Duke” Cunningham carried their self-interest beyond the moral and the legal and are now paying the price of that self-interest. The jury is waiting for President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The official Republican platform states, “We believe in low taxes, limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong defense, states’ rights, and individual liberty.” The official Republican platform states, “We believe in low taxes, limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong defense, states’ rights, and individual liberty.”

If a person does not prosper, he must be inferior and inferior people do not deserve to be helped. They must make it on their own, like the successful people, the good people, have. So believing puts undue pressure on individuals to succeed. Welfare is somehow demeaning and corrupting so the needy and the poor ought not to be helped because they are failures. People who try to help the needy are called “Do Gooders” and are scorned as is government who helps them. Help to the poor and the needy only makes them dependent and is immoral. All social programs are immoral because the make the poor and the needy dependent.

Neoconservatives that now control the Republican Party believe in a union of government and corporations. Mussolini called this corporatism; others call it fascism, which is what the neoconservatives espouse. The idea of the right to bear arms as a family value, supposedly to protect the family, is really just a technique to gain political backing for the NRA, a major contributor to the Republican Party, and a way to support the almost unregulated sales of firearms in America. The idea that weapons are used solely for protection and hunting is given the lie by brisk sales of assault weapons which are designed solely to kill … people.

The Neoconservatives decided they needed a political base of votes to further their political agenda so they targeted the evangelical Christians and mixed their political agenda with the religious agenda of the evangelicals. The Neocons helped create the idea that Jesus suffered so extraordinarily on the cross, that there are credits available from Jesus to true believers. The evangelical promise followers credits from Jesus to get into heaven if the follower simply becomes a devoted, committed evangelical. The followers need not achieve grace, or live a life of helping others, or even a virtuous life as long as they regularly follow the dogma of the evangelicals. If they are good evangelicals, in they follow the political agenda of the FR, they are guaranteed entrance into heaven ... if effect given a free pass into Heaven.

Although most have not, many within the Neoconservative movement have become bigoted by creating a hierarchy. Men are above women, whites are above non-whites, straights are above non-straights, Christians are above non-Christians, the West above the non-West, and Americans above non-Americans. This elitism helps to make the not among the chosen dislike, even hate us. The hate directed toward American has never been greater than it is now under our current Republican regime.

These values are not Traditional American Values(TAV). TAV teach the family is a loving, nurturing family that creates loving, nurturing children who themselves become nurturers of others. Responsibility and empathy are traditional values. Parents want to protect their children by giving them a safe, clean environment so they can develop into caring adults well educated and committed to the common good. Fairness and happiness creates people who care about others. Freedom is necessary for fulfillment. Cooperation and caring are essential for opportunity and prosperity. Community must create honest, trusting, open leadership. A leader must get people to like and trust him, to get them to know he is working for the common good so the welfare of the people can be served with their help and confidence.

Americans believe that the common wealth must be used for the common good of all people. Values that contribute to that end are real Traditional American Values.