The Dangers of Being the Party of No: What the GOP can Learn from Star Wars

In the fictional universe of Star Wars, the battle between good and evil takes quite the prominent role. The portrayal of this battle is pretty clearly exhibited, what with the naming of the two sides of the force being “light” and “dark”. Those who use the dark side of the force, generally speaking, draw upon their raw emotions, such as pride, hate, anger, and passion, to gain and use power over others. In contrast, the wielders of the light side rely upon more positive aspects of humanity, such as reason, compassion, honesty, and mercy. Though this entire concept of “the force” was created by George Lucas, its ideas can be used for kinds of things. One arena in which the principles of Star Wars can and should be applied is politics, specifically American politics.

It has become increasingly clearer over the past several months, ever since it became obvious that Barack Obama had a great chance at becoming the next president, that the opposition party has begun using more and more often the type of tactics and strategies that you could associate with the dark side of the force, if it existed. There are so many examples of this that it would be a bit impossible to show them all, but here are some:

• casting Barack Obama as a “terrorist”

• frequent assertions that the President is a socialist, a Marxist, or an Arab sleeper agent
  

• claiming that health care reform would create “death panels”, or “kill Grandma”, or even be “Armageddon”

• calling the President the “anti-Christ”

• equating gay marriage to legalizing incest

• proclaiming the President hates America and is purposefully trying to ruin it

• indulging in wild, unfounded, completely untrue conspiracy theories despite overwhelming evidence against such claims

The list could go on (and on, and on, and on) but the general idea gets through. The GOP, and the conservative right-wing that affiliates with the Republican Party, is using fear as a tactic to gain political influence and power at the expense of their opponents. By doing so, they are abandoning reason, logic, and clear, empirical evidence solely to advance their own agenda at the expense of the good of the people for whom they are supposed to be working.

Could this man really be the Anti-Christ?

Republicans and conservatives who are going along with these tactics, not to mention embracing them (looking at you, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin) should take some advice from Jedi Master Yoda, whose words of wisdom ring true, even in this galaxy:

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

The truth of what Yoda said can already be seen. The GOP has played on people's most basic, deeply-held, instinctual fear of things that are not like them (Barack Obama is un-American; Barack Obama is a foreigner; Barack Obama is a socialist; Barack Obama is a black man; etc). This, in turn, has helped create such an entity as the so-called Tea Party, whose members are, as we are constantly reminded, very angry.

The Tea Party, who has noble intentions, no doubt, also seems to have attracted a bit of a fringe group, who aren't ashamed to resort to racist overtones or threats. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. The GOP's use of fear to cow citizens into falsely believing lies and slander may produce the desired effect of gaining votes in future elections, but it could also possibly have a negative aspect of alienating those who are turned off by the constant rhetoric and insane ramblings. As it is, the amount of people hailing allegiance to the Republican Party lags quite a bit behind that of the Democrats. With this type of strategy, giving up reason for madness, the GOP becomes more and more a fringe party with radical beliefs and supporters, which will eventually lead to its downfall as a major player on the American political scene.

The GOP could learn a lot from Yoda

Anakin Skywalker was once a great Jedi knight, upholding the virtues of the light side of the force as he righted wrongs and performed the morally correct action throughout the galaxy. However, his pride and passion got in the way of this, ultimately leading him down the path to the dark side, and with it, led directly to his own destruction. The Republican Party stands at a precipice: they can renounce the tactics of fear and hate, and return to a stature of prominence and honor, or continue with the route they've chosen to go down since Barack Obama entered the scene, which will sooner or later result in the opposite of what they are attempting to achieve. Though they may be loud, they do not have right on their side, and their refusal to use logic, facts, or reason can only lead to bad things. Fear, hate, and anger may work in the short term, but the use of such tactics can only take one so far.

What is the Tea Party?

The so-called "Tea Party" movement has sprung up and risen in the past couple of months. Many people are wondering just who the Tea Party is, and what they want. Here are some videos that give a rough idea:









It should be noted that these videos aren't a definitively representative example of how every member of the Tea Party is like, but it's a good start. You'll notice that almost everyone in the videos is white, middle-aged, and many seem to be shockingly ignorant of the details of the things about which they are speaking. They do not "come from all walks of life" as one woman put it in the videos. If you're a member of the Tea Party, it means you're also probably male, rural, upper-middle class, and conservative. The Tea Party is small, with only 10-18% of Americans saying they are a member.

While some people say that race is playing a major factor in these protests, it's hard to say that the whole party is that way. It is true, however, that many signs at Tea Party gatherings have been ignorant, racist, offensive, and inappropriate for what is essentially a demonstration against the federal government spending money.

It is also hard to miss the frequent accusations (unfounded) of socialism, communism, marxism, fascism, and whatever else the Tea Party members have come up with.
The Tea Party claims to be fighting "tyranny", despite the fact that President Obama was democratically elected, just like every other president in American history has been (including George W. Bush, no matter how much people like to argue about it). This is only one example of the insanity of the Tea Party, but at least they seem honest about how they feel.

A majority of members of the Tea Party have also experienced unemployment at some point in the recent past, or are currently unemployed. It will be interesting to see how many people stick with the movement after they get back on their feet, which will probably happen sooner than later because of that darn communist, pinko, fascist, socialist Obama's horrible stimulus package that is ruining the country.

It wouldn't be surprising if they continue with their hypocritical antics and maintain that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats, the "liberal" media and others are still the enemy, even after the main reason they're protesting no longer exists.

The Revisionist Desire in Dixie

Understanding history is vital to understanding oneself. In the United States, American history is drawn upon on a daily basis. A good example is how people reference the Founding Fathers, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution to defend or support their political views, as evidenced by the prominence of related signs at Tea Party rallies. However, it sets a dangerous precedence when one misunderstands, either willingly or not, one's own history to use for their own ends. Recently, it seems more and more conservatives, especially from the South, are drawing upon or referencing our common history in the wrong manner, often distorting facts or seeming to appear just plain ignorant of what they are talking about.


A lot of members of the so-called "Tea Party" movement proclaim that the country is "moving away from what it was founded on", referencing the Founding Fathers' "Christian" roots/beliefs and apparent love for small government. Never mind the fact that many of the Founding Fathers were not true Christians, the way we would interpret the meaning today. Nor the fact that, from the very beginning of American self-government, there existed a party system that included both Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Party who desired a strong central government and the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who were just about the exact opposite. It's interesting to note the similarities to today of how Hamilton's idea for a strong central, federal government (i.e. the Democrats) came from the North and both Jefferson and Madison, who hailed from Virginia, preferred small, non-influential government (i.e. the Republicans). So the very basis of what many of the teabaggers are saying are not exactly the truth, although it's most likely the "truth" from how they learned it.

This altered take on history by conservatives can be seen in two recent examples. The first is Virginia governor Bob McDonnell declaring "Confederate History Month". Saying that the the Confederate rebels (i.e. traitors) "fought for their homes and communities", McDonnell, who is Republican, left out one major aspect of the Confederacy's short-lived reign: the role of slavery. To ignore such an important aspect of not only Confederate history, but of American history, is downright unacceptable and offensive to the millions of slaves who lived under terrible conditions, as well as to the millions of their descendants. The President himself called out the governor on this travesty, who quickly issued an apology. However, in standard Republican fashion, the apology rings hollow, as McDonnell went on to explain the reasons for his omission, stating that "slavery wasn't a significant part" of the reason for why Virginia seceded and that there were many other reasons that ignited the Civil War. I wonder if he'd be saying the same thing to the African-American population of Virginia, were they in front of him. So the 30% of the population of Virginia in 1860 who were slaves is not considered significant? Really? While it's true that, yes, there were many reasons for why states seceded, the massive role that slavery played in the conflict cannot and should not be understated, or as it is this case, ignored.

I'll leave it to Jason Linkens to put the whole idea of a Confederate History Month in perspective:
Meanwhile, why not have a Union Appreciation Day, where people wear T-Shirts with Abraham Lincoln's visage that read, "Tell us how our taint tastes, treasonholes?" Next year, at Appomattox!

Thomas Jefferson

While Governor McDonnell is content to simply proclaim ideas, Texas is taking things much more seriously. In a 10-5 vote along party lines, the Texas Board of Education (none of whom are historians) ratified several changes to the make-up of history textbooks that will be in Texan schools for the next 10 years. Among these changes are the stressing of American capitalism, diminishing the idea of separation of church and state among the Founding Fathers, and, in the most insane move of all, completely removing Thomas Jefferson's name from a section on great political thinkers. The reasons for these, as always, involve some sort of "liberal bias" on the part of, well, everybody else. One is left to imagine whether future Texas high school graduates will wonder who the dude on the nickel is.