Culture War Politics

The flag burning ammendment is the latest in a string of GOP efforts to whip their base into a frenzy as the November Congressional elections approach. Let's go through the list, shall we?

The whole thing started back in May with the immigration bill. This is a strong area for Republicans, and xenophobic nationalists love nothing more than to hear about how illegal aliens are stealing our country.

Then, at the beginning of June, they began to fan the flames with the vote on a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. This was a measure designed to fail, but it put to Republicans back in the spotlight on their "moral values" platform.

Next, we saw the arrest of seven "terror suspects" in Miami. Theoretically, they were planning an attack on the Sears Tower, but no one in Chicago ever even heard about it. Turns out these guys were a bunch of cultist wackos working from a run-down warehouse. I love the smell of scare tactics in the morning....

They wasted no time berating the New York Times for publishing a story on yet another government surveillance program (one that might even be legal for a change), but we can hardly thank the Republicans for instigating that one. No, their next maneuver was the flag burning amendment I mentioned earlier.

What next? Well, I'll tell you what next. Stem cells! As more and more research come out showing that stem cells can do everything from fighting cancer to curing paralysis, the Republicans are quickly backpedaling. Will we see a lift on the supply limitations of federally-funded research? Almost certainly not, but laughable threat of a Presidential veto aside, the Republicans will make it look like they care by throwing money at the problem. Expect to hear a lot of debate about this new method of harvesting the cells without creating a viable human embryo.

Oh how I love an election year! Can't wait to see what the GOP wants us to talk about next.