What is the Opposite Direction from Republicanism? (First Post)

Imagine the federal government being entirely run by a coalition of the current Republican candidates for president. Romney, who sways with the wind. Gingrich, who would kick people off of food stamps. Santorum, who, if he had his way, would put an armed priest in every bedroom. Paul, who, like the rest of them, would reduce women to being carriers of protected fetuses.

This blog, along with my publications, is about going in the opposite direction from that coalition. But what is that opposite direction? A vision of the opposite direction has been missing for decades. My book, How We Are Our Enemy—And How to Stop: Our Unfinished Task of Fulfilling the Values of Democracy (2011), provides such a vision. This blog will supplement that vision and explore ongoing issues pertaining to our social, political and cultural milieu. That milieu extends from our own homes to the world.

The democratic value to be pursued is that of human equality. You will not hear Republican candidates talk about it. Former president George W. Bush equated democracy with “freedom” and ignored equality. “Freedom” is code for a government that keeps its hands off of big business. “Freedom” is what the U.S. supposedly gave Iraq by removing its oppressive government, without giving much thought to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died in the process. They were not all killed directly, but perhaps as many as a million died from the lack of infrastructure, infrastructure that was destroyed by U.S. bombs and the chaos that followed and continues. (More on this later.)

Yes, we must go in the opposite direction if democracy is to survive. But we must develop, through sharing of ideas, a clear understanding of what the opposite direction is.