stupid is as stupid does

Every day I inch closer to making a suggestion that detests me.

I inch closer to suggesting that Liberals come up with a new supply of glittering generalities to lob at Conservatives.

Every time I hear someone who should be smart enough to know better spout off about how Liberals hate America (That one makes me want to bitch slap Rush Limbaugh). Or suggests that Liberals would turn the country over to Osama bin Laden (Which makes me want to stuff Ann Coulter right up Tom DeLay’s ass). Or that Liberals don’t have ideas.

Liberals aren’t the ones who have pushed our national debt to the brink of bankruptcy and treated the Bill of Rights like toilet paper. Liberals didn’t send American armed forces into Iraq because there were better targets there than in Afghanistan.

Of course, Conservatives don’t want you to believe that Liberals have ideas – since it’s those ideas Conservatives are trying desperately to deconstruct before the American Electorate kicks them out of office on their overly padded wallets.

Ideas like creating a social safety net in this country. Social Security is a Liberal idea. It was enacted by a Democratic majority over a kicking and screaming Republican minority.

Medicare is a Liberal idea.

And remember that it was a Democratic Administration that put forward a workable plan to create universal health care. Republicans torpedoed that plan with lies and distortions and character assassination (sound familiar). Today the majority of Americans would love to see a program just like the one Hillary Clinton spearheaded during her husband’s first term in office.

The 40-hour work week was a Liberal idea. Child labor laws were Liberal ideas. Collective bargaining was a Liberal idea. Anti-trust legislation was a Liberal idea.

But hey, Karl Rove’s sock puppet would love to roll back those ideas. His corporate string-pullers don’t like a work force demanding a living wage. They want a workforce willing to undercut itself because it’s desperate for a job – any job. A work force like the ones in Third World countries. They want Free Trade Agreements that allow companies to use a Chinese workforce willing to work for pennies on the dollar just like Wal-Mart does.

Liberal ideas are to bring our troops home from this ridiculous debacle in Iraq instead of planning to use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran to ignite World War III.

Liberal ideas are to reinforce the levies in New Orleans, begin a concentrated effort to reduce the number of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and protect both our environment and natural resources.

Liberal ideas are to allow each and every voter to cast their ballot safe in the knowledge that their vote will be counted. That they will be allowed their day in court when they need one and not have that court stacked to favor corporations against any and all comers, no matter how valid the complaint.

Liberal ideas are to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. It’s about upholding both our Freedom of Religion as well as the separation of church and state.

Liberal ideas are about expecting our leaders to be honest and truthful. Expecting them to put the men and women of the Armed Services in harm’s way only when absolutely necessary and not when Exxon and Chevron need a little corporate boost.

You don’t come up with ideas like these for a country you hate.

Loving your country is not about knee-jerk loyalty to anyone waving a flag and holding an office. It’s about expecting your country to live up to the ideals set forth by the founding fathers. It’s about a constant movement to make this country better for the generations coming behind us.

So the next time someone spouts off about Liberals hating America, tell them they should know better. Tell them they should be ashamed of themselves for saying something so stupid and uninformed.

It’s time we all knew better than to believe Limbaugh and Coulter and Savage and Hannity and the endless supply of blow-hard air-heads the Conservative Right lob at us.

More soon.