If today, October 17, 2013, is any indication nothing has been learned by the extremists who brought our government to a close and nearly brought us over the cliff regarding paying our debts. Hopefully the Speaker of the House will prevent any further actions that will jeopardize the integrity of the dollar.

But for the moment let us dig further into the future plans of the reactionaries who are currently running the Republican Party.

The modern-day Know-Nothings castigate government and bemoan the fact that our country has rules and laws that regulate greed and other bad behavior.

They talk about the primacy of individual liberty while praising the decision of Citizens United that declared that corporations have the same rights as we citizens have. They don’t see the contradiction in that.

Let us pause for a moment and reflect on what reactionaries might consider intrusive government behavior. If one hears their complaints and changed things back to a time when consumers had no protections, children’s toys would be more unsafe, products would not have warning labels, cars would not have seat belts, food would not be inspected, we would still be driving gas guzzlers cars and be totally dependent on Mideast oil, the air would be smog filled, the water undrinkable, mortgages would have hidden clauses that would rip off the public, and student loans would have higher interest rates. Gee, let’s just return to the day of rotten food and drugs that are unsafe. Yes, what a great idea these apologists for corporate wrong doing, would prefer. Thanks, but no thanks, our government protects us from greed and avarice, and just plain illegal behavior.

What government haters complain about regarding what some would call pork laden bills, represent jobs in a representative’s district. What is pork for some is opportunity for others.

When reactionaries complain about our courts, they only complain about the decisions they disagree with. But throughout history so-called conservatives supported the institution of slavery, they backed separate but equal schools and fought like hell to keep Jim Crow laws. They were the ones who wanted segregation now and forever, they were the ones against the enfranchisement of women. They have always been on the wrong side of history.

In the name of less government, today’s reactionaries would privatize Social Security, and get rid of Medicare.

Frankly, I would like to know what change they would support outside of getting rid of rules and regulations that we have and lowering taxes.

Their view of a civil society is eerily similar to the ideas of Social Darwinism, where the belief was if you were poor you deserved to be poor. Ayn Rand philosophy is perhaps a more modern version of the outdated and rejected views of Social Darwinism. We see her self centered and selfish views extolled to the harm of the interests of the community. Her anti-Christian views are encouraged and extolled. Tough love has replaced charity to all.

A true conservative is a person who wants to preserve what is good.

Now we hear the rumblings of disgruntled white people who feel that their power is diminishing. Whites will represent less and less of the vote total. We hear and read how they want to enact part of Article V of the Constitution, whereby, “on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.”

In Federalist# 49, attributed to either Hamilton or Madison, he spoke of his concerns regarding having frequent constitutional conventions. “The danger of disturbing the public tranquility by interesting too strongly the public passions, is a still more serious objection against a frequent reference of constitutional questions to the decision of the whole society.”

One can see the wisdom of this admonition as factionalism has reared its ugly head in American politics to the extent that public passions are so raw that serious errors of judgement could be made if a convention were held in these tumulterous times.

Let us look at some of the proposed ideas for amendments.