Arch Conservative Woman @MonaCharenEPPC Booed @CPAC

Rape is is legally defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) as, “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” That definition is used by the FBI to collect information from state and local law enforcement agencies about reported rapes and applies to males and females. Rape is a crime of VIOLENCE perpetrated upon the genitals. It is NOT one of sexual gratification by the perpetrator.

Recently, Mona Charen, a well-respected Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and writer for National Review (a well-known publication founded by late arch-conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. 1925-2008), was booed by the audience which she addressed at the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC, as it’s known, is an annual conference of political conservatives which is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU), which itself is a political organization promoting conservative causes.

About her experience there, she opined in the New York Times, Sunday February 25, 2o18 that, “But on Saturday, after speaking to this year’s gathering, I had to be escorted from the premises by several guards who seemed genuinely concerned for my safety.

“What happened to me at CPAC is the perfect illustration of the collective experience of a whole swath of conservatives since Donald Trump became the Republican nominee. We built and organized this party — but now we’re made to feel like interlopers.”

It has been many years since I first remarked that the GOP is a band of radicals. And it is even more evident now, than before. Those who are the “Johnny-come-latelys” of the GOP are the result of the GOP’s misguided notion that they should welcome all comers in their “Big Tent” policy initiated by Ronald Reagan in 1967, and later Newt Gingrich during his failed “Contact With America” during the Reagan Administration. That document consisted of 8 promises to be implemented on the first day of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives as follows:

1.) Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress;
2.) Select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
3.) Cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
4.) Limit the terms of all committee chairs;
5.) ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
6.) Require committee meetings to be open to the public;
7.) Require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
8.) Guarantee an honest accounting of the Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

The Republicans promise “to bring to the floor the following bills, each to be given a full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote, and each to be immediately available for public inspection” was little more than hot air, and failed for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was unconstitutionality, presidential veto, and outright rejection by Congress themselves.

The following acts comprised the GOP’s promise:

1.) Fiscal Responsibility Act – ruled unconstitutional in Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417, 118 S.Ct. 2091, 141 L.Ed.2d 393 (1998).
2.) Taking Back Our Streets Act – failed to pass in the Senate
3.) Personal Responsibility Act – presidential veto
4.) American Dream Restoration Act – failed to pass in the Senate
5.) National Security Restoration Act – failed to pass in the Senate
6.) Common Sense Legal Reform Act – passed House & Senate, presidential veto overridden
7.) Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act – mixed results
8.) Citizen Legislature Act – rejected by the House of Representatives

Nevertheless… the point being, is that when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, his adoption of Regan’s GOP “Big Tent” philosophy was the initiation of the problem under which America is now suffering. Centrism and moderation are now dinosaur-era words with the GOP which extinction efforts began with Reagan.

Today, “the party of Lincoln” is the party of Trump, Steve Bannon, Roy Moore, White Supremacists, misogynists, xenophobes, gun nuts, religious bigots, and other hate mongers who are hell-bent upon destruction of America, rather than repair. With their “starve the monster” approach to governing, the GOP has become the Party of Governmental Deconstructionists. Bordering on anarchy, their hatred of government and governance is not merely distasteful, it is venomously vitriolic and frankly, not merely unconstitutional, it is anti-constitutional.

That the GOP now embraces the “Austrian School of Economics” which promulgates – among others – the ideology that individualism is superior to collectivism, also known as the greater good of society, in essence, encourages one to do your own thing without regard for others, is a case in point to illustrate the matter. That is the exact opposite of society and government. It is anarchy. And interestingly enough, anarchy is a radical left-wing political ideology.

In her Op-Ed, Mona wrote that, “Like the Republican Party, CPAC has become heavily Trumpified. Last year, they invited alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos (and withdrew the invitation only after lewd tapes surfaced). This year, in addition to the president and vice president, CPAC invited Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of National Front leader Marine Le Pen.”

She also cited “demagogues like Sheriff David Clarke Jr. While he oversaw the Milwaukee County jail, one pregnant prisoner was repeatedly raped, and several prisoners died in the space of just six months. One was a mentally ill man who was denied water for seven days. No matter. The sheriff was cheered by the CPAC crowd.”

Part of the reason why we as a civil society treat prisoners and convicted wrong-doers with basic human dignity rather than to literally throw them to the lions, is to demonstrate to them, and to others, that we, as collective society, are better than that, that we’re not mere brute beasts, that we have morality, and that our involvement in, and maintenance of civil society matters, because through our involvement, we make the rules, and punish the rule-breakers.

That’s why the Geneva Conventions was established. That’s why the United Nations was founded. That’s why courts exist. That’s why there are no more gladiatorial events.

But the real hatred at the CPAC event in which she participated was evidenced when she wrote that “it felt far more urgent to point out the hypocrisy of our side. How can conservative women hope to have any credibility on the subject of sexual harassment or relations between the sexes when they excuse the behavior of President Trump? And how can we participate in any conversation about sexual ethics when the Republican president and the Republican Party backed a man credibly accused of child molestation for the United States Senate?”

Mona Charen was absolutely correct when she wrote that “There is nothing more freeing than telling the truth. And it must be done, again and again, by those of us who refuse to be absorbed into this brainless, sinister, clownish thing called Trumpism, by those of us who refuse to overlook the fools, frauds and fascists attempting to glide along in his slipstream into respectability.

“I spoke to a hostile audience for the sake of every person who has watched this spectacle of mendacity in disbelief and misery for the past two years. Just hearing the words you know are true can serve as ballast, steadying your mind when so much seems unreal.” Common decency, and basic human rights are not evil liberal ideas. They are civil laws based upon the recognition of inherent dignity in every human  being.

So when Ms. Charen wrote that “Politicians, activists and intellectuals have succumbed with numbing regularity, betraying every principle they once claimed to uphold,” she was not merely towing some abstract or alienating party line, she was encouraging civil society and the upholding of laws.

She noted also that “there remains a vigorous remnant of dissenters. I hear from them. There were even some at CPAC,” and that “a substantial number of people applauded.” If anything, that is encouraging to acknowledge.

She concluded by observing that “as I was hustled out of the building by security, various supporters gave me the thumbs up sign. Just before I reached the exit, a woman approached me and called my name. “That was so brave!” she told me. She was one of my fellow panelists. I hope she’s encouraged. I am.”

If the GOP continues upon it’s present primrose path of destruction, they can be assured that they will continue to lose to the moderates who vote for others, including Democrats.

And as things now appear to be heading, there will very likely be a clean sweep of the House and Senate in the mid-term November 2018 General Election, and in a number of other political races throughout our nation, including Governor’s offices, other executive level elected offices will similarly reflect the people’s disgust at the current state of affairs with the “once-great” Republican party.

Rest In Peace.