Soapbox

Target Corporation (affectionately known to many of us as "Tar-zhay") has a reputation for being very community oriented, with lots of charity programs, green programs, etc. This always made me feel better about all the money I spend there.

But Target has recently been caught with their pants down, so to speak. It has come to public attention that Target Corp has donated a large sum of money  to the Republican candidate for the governor's race in Minnesota, Tom Emmer.

The fact that Emmer is a Republican is hardly the scandal. (Target  spreads their donations out pretty evenly between republican and Democratic candidates, they assure us.) What is raising eyebrows (and voices) is that Emmer is a bit … reactionary in some areas. He has voted to slash funding for AIDS treatment, supports bringing laws like Arizona's "Driving While Brown!" immigration statue to Minnesota,  and came out recently in favor of cutting the states already reduced minimum wage for food workers because apparently, the woman who brings you coffee at Waffle House is getting filthy rich off your tips! But what really has people up in arms is that Tom Emmer has vowed to "protect marriage" in Minnesota by banning gay marriage, civil unions and anything approximating the rights of marriage for gay couples.

Naturally the GLBT community is wondering if they shouldn't shop somewhere else.

Target Corp was quick to say that they don't agree with Emmer's gay marriage position, but that with no candidate does one agree with all their policies. Their commitment to gay rights remains "unwavering", they insist.
Which raises the following two questions in my mind:

1) What is it about this Emmer character that they do agree with? Is it the "no money for AIDS" thing? Are they all excited about his anti-immigrant stand? Maybe it's that crackdown on rich waiters? If they find him worthy of such a substantial contribution, they must be very supportive of some portion of his policy position, yes?
I'm guessing it's his snake-oil tax policy, as in "lower taxes cure everything". If this is the case, then for them, it's all about getting their business taxes reduced.

Which brings me to my second question for the Target CEO.

2) What exactly about your new, lower tax state will you somehow pass on to your GLBT employees to make up for their loss of civil and basic human rights when Governor Emmer tries to whip up support for a law that will not only stop gay marriage but ensure that same-sex couples won't get inheritance rights, death-bed visitations, custody of the children they have helped raise, etc?

How will your "unwavering commitment" to their rights somehow protect them from THAT?

  You say "Hey, we still like gay people- and look how much money we give to food pantries!" and think that makes it OK  to donate OUR money (as in we the shoppers who gave 'em that money by shopping there)  to enable this crazy man to take away human rights. That is like assuring me that "it's nothing personal" while handing a crow bar to a guy who plans to hit me with it.

Actions matter. Doing good is lovely, but it doesn't erase the evil you do. Would giving money to battered women's shelters make it OK to support a candidate who wants to remove penalties for hitting your spouse? Well, sponsoring a float in the Pride parade doesn't make it OK to bankroll a man who wants to treat GLBT people as less than human.

Dear mostly Sirs-

     I would like to call upon you, as faithful citizens of the United States, to "refudiate" your entire platform and everything you stand for, and start again, from scratch.
      Seriously, guys, have you listened to yourself lately?

      You have become the party of not just "no" but of "Hell no!" and have even admitted that your plan is to simply oppose everything without offering alternatives. That way, no one will be able to attack you for how bad your own plans are. In other words, you plan to burn down the neighborhood so that you can complain about how inefficient the fireman are.

      You are the snake-oil party, because no matter what the economic situation: recession, depression, expansion, unemployment, stagnation- you insist that tax cuts for the rich will cure everything! And if they haven't helped so far, well, that's because you haven't cut taxes enough! And it'll get rid of your swollen feet and cure stubborn warts, too!  How did the Grand Old Party of "fiscal responsibility" come to this?
      You are now actually the welfare party, because you insist on continually funneling welfare to the rich: failed wall street executives, bankers, companies that move their factories and assets overseas- and pay for it by squeezing the poor.

     You are now the poster children FOR government interference in our private lives in the form of sodomy laws, gay marriage bans, abortion bans even for rape victims, "driving while brown" immigration laws and forcing our kids to be indoctrinated into one religion- yours- with your so-called "intelligent design" theory. Please accept these commemorative buckles for your hats and shoes, because the Puritans would be so proud of you!
      The only thing you want government to stay out of is business. You scream for less government regulation and oversight even as poorly maintained mines collapse and oil rigs blow, as tainted food and uninspected imports threaten the nations' health, as businesses rape the middle class and run for their offshore tax havens with what was supposed to be grandpa's retirement money. Yet you see no irony there.

      That's because you have more faces than a dodecahedron. You call yourself pro-life but keep trying to start more wars. You want to ban abortion but aren't willing to pay for childhood health care. You stand there whining about "fiscal responsibility" while you eagerly hand out trillions for an unnecessary war. You insist that you are the party of homeland security but your foreign policy creates more enemies every day.

      These days you are the party of people who set themselves on fire when they don't get their own way, of mis-spelled protest signs and red-faced people screaming  false talking points at public forums. You are reduced to pouts and rants and militant talk of secession and restricting civil right, disguised in Paul Revere costumes. It seems that Revolutionary War get-ups have become your white hood of the 21st century.
      Your lack of empathy and charity knows no bounds. When one of your standard-bearers makes fun of sick people and says that poor kids who are hungry should stop whining and go dumpster-diving, you rush to defend him against all criticism.
     You are now the tin-foil hat  weirdos who stand with your eyes squeezed shut, screaming "Well I haven't seen any birth certificate!!"
      You are the party of "blame the victim". Be the issue du jour immigrants, Muslims, the unemployed or the underpriveleged, you are ALL about attacking the scapegoat and nothing about finding a solution.
     Instead of the elephant, your party emblem should be a pitchfork and torch.

      You have become the party that stands for homelessness ignored, pollution cheered, food pantry shelves barren, for foreign civilians murdered by our mercenaries without consequence, for offering struggling veterans little more assistance than a stupid magnet on your car.
      You are now the gang in favor of the return of the poor house and the orphanage, insisting that unemployment makes people lazy and kids are better off in a group home than with gay adoptive parents.
       Things that were once considered merely "compassionate" you are so quick to label "socialism" that the word has lost its punch and you've had to up the ante to "Communism" and "Nazism". As in, "health care for poor citizens is something Hitler was in favor of". Come on!
      Thomas Jefferson is too much of a wild-eyed radical for you, and his philosophy and ideals are being replaced in your textbooks with such intellectual heavyweights as Newt Gingrich and Sara Palin. Really? Do you really think history will record her as anything more than an embarrassing cultural footnote?

      Honestly, you are the most politically limber bunch I"ve ever seen, able to twist yourself with pretzel logic into the most contorted, convoluted positions, to the point where the people who are against the stimulus can bitch about not getting enough stimulus without batting an eye. Doesn't it hurt your back to stick your head up your ass like that?

      While I am sure some of you actually believe the horrible things that you now stand for and have convinced themselves that America would be a better place… for them… if they were in charge, I cannot believe that most of you feel this way.
      I know that many of you, deep inside, believe in simple tolerance if not acceptance, believe that true homeland security requires economic stability and want all people to have a chance life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.. no matter where they pray, or don't. You've just allowed yourself to lose sight of what that means.
     You want SO much to be in charge that you've started to believe your own rhetoric as if it was carved on Moses' stone tablets. That is dangerous for any party, and it is dangerous for the nation as a whole.
     You're scared of what's going on in this uncertain world, and angry. We understand. After all, we survived the Bush years. (Well, most of us did. Sort of) But you need more than anger.

     Do yourself a favor. Do the nation a favor. Erase Glen Beck's insane chalkboard, and start over with your platform. Maybe consider things like freedom of speech for everyone, religious tolerance and an understanding that a nation that does not care for its weakest members can never be truly strong.
      We really need to have you back at the table. We know we don't have all the answers, but guys, lately, all you're bringing  us is hate. If that's the best you've got to offer the discussion, then we're all in a heap of trouble.

Sincerely,
    Me