How do I reject thee? Let me count the ways.

The problems I find with Republicans these days are not that they are conservative by nature or experience or even conviction. It is evident that all people will never be in agreement on any philosophical issue or practical matter. Regardless of where the center may be located, there will always be a centrist, a liberal, and a conservative reaction. That’s what makes the world such a wonderful place.  At each point along every continuum we are entitled to our senses of humanity and culture, our planet’s resources, international relationships, whatever. Progress is the outcome of the confluence of differing perspectives.

Problems emerge when one side consistently, dogmatically, rejects the other’s viewpoints. While there are those unwilling to compromise in both parties, there is little doubt that the Republicans are far more, and increasingly, ideological and unwilling to negotiate.

Reluctant. Averse. Implacable. Unyielding. Inflexible.

Republicans reject people who may appear different.  Differences are feared, rejected, demonized. Lifestyles and values of gays and people of contrasting races are, too often, not tolerated. (I am no fan of tolerance. Why should tolerating others an acceptable standard?)

Republicans choose aggression as a means of achieving desired outcomes.  History shows Democrats have taken us into war–no denying it. But neocons are hammers to whom everything looks like a nail. The gun control issue vividly illustrates this. The Second Amendment argument continues to be misinterpreted by the Court, twisted by the weapons industry, and rationalized as a necessity by hobbyists and commercial interests alike.

Republicans manage to tolerate colleagues who have twisted views of rape. They excuse them on the basis of inappropriate language (Romney: I would not have used those words) rather than unconscionable and unacceptable theories. Jesse Helms lives today in too many of their minds and hearts.

Republicans turn to religion to justify facts when by its very nature religion, any and all, are accepted on the basis of faith.  Recall the rage they expressed when our president dared to suggest that, in times of crisis and fear, people may turn to guns and religion. He struck a nerve.

Republicans reject science.  Humans are 2,000 years old.  The earth is not warming, the glaciers are not melting, the seas are not rising. Condoms? How long ago was it that an encyclical On Human Life rejected the use of contraception, asserting it works against the intimate relationship and moral order of husband and wife by directly opposing God’s will? 1968, if I recall. Senator Inhofe, former chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, does not believe that human activities contribute to climate change, preferring to politicize and misuse science to political advantage.

Republicans McCarthy people: Atwater, Rove, Swiftboaters, Adelson, the Kochs. The latest hateful nut-job to join the mob is Ted Cruz, a tea party incarnation who uses McCarthyism to elevate his own stature while insulting people of demonstrated merit, bravery, and patriotism. Chuck Hagel’s nomination as defense secretary has been publicly celebrated by the Iranian government. He claims that forty percent of guns are sold without background checks traces to information gathered before background checks were even required. What else to expect from a former domestic policy adviser for the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign? He doesn’t make statements he may have to back up.  Rather, using the Atwater-Rove methodology, I’m not accusing him. I’m just raising the question. 

Not far behind Cruz is McCain’s water boy, Sancho Panza Graham. This is one scared guy. He’s noticed what happens to Republicans who don’t swing far enough to the right. Ask Saxby Chambliss who, unwilling to play that game, retires. But, Graham? No. He will just get loonier and meaner in order to preserve his job. The hell with the rest of the country. For shame, Squiggy!

Republicans are unwilling to call out a party member whose behavior is obscene. Name one member of that party who has taken Joe Wilson to task for calling our president a liar at his SOTU address?

Republicans take cover beneath the banner of crazy talk, hateful labeling, neanderthal reasoning repeated ad nausea by Beck, Limbaugh, Savage, and their brethren psychos.

Republicans like to claim maverick status, then hide under a rock when it better serves their politics. We had a maverick candidate for president who championed comprehensive immigration until he realized it jeopardized his re-election. The same guy who admitted at the very start of the recession that he did not really understand economics. The very same who took Sarah Palin as a running mate. The same guy who has attacked Hagel because he had the temerity to disagree about the surge. Hagel had made the point that sending one hundred thousand additional Americans into Afghanistan would not fix things.

Of course President Obama has had a difficult time dealing with Republicans. He knows that no one person or party or administration owns a monopoly on reason and solution.  Any attempt at practicality and problem-solving is rejected out of hand by Republicans. That’s the main reason we find ourselves days from a potentially damaging sequester that would undermine the economic progress of the past four years.

Too many frighties among them. Too many neocons. Too many loonies.  And too many Republicans unwilling to call out their brethren when they know they are wrong, misbehaving, and undermining our country’s progress.  Start at Boehner. Go past Cantor. Keep going until you get to Cruz.

Listening to Republicans’ attempts at justifying the sequestration would be laughable if so much damage would not lie in its wake.  Rodgers is a hateful woman. Cantor is an embarrassment. And Boehner is their lackey.  He should step down from his position.  But, me thinks, matters might only get worse.

Republicans get really angry when a fellow Republican shakes hands with our president or acknowledges anything for which he rightly deserves credit. In fact they are angry about a lot of things. Most things. They have no place to displace their anger except back at the American people.

They’re losers because they are losers.

We’re losers because they are losers.