I am reminded of an incident when then President Sarkozy of France visited the USA during the Tea Party height of hysteria over Obamacare passing and saw protests and wondered aloud why they were equating universal healthcare with Nazism. He just could not comprehend that insane line of reasoning that linked the two concepts.

I think about this every time the Republican crazies hamstring the USA on the world stage and the damage they do to our reputation and standing.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

GOP channels ‘X-Files’ paranoia to defeat UN disabilities treaty

By Michael Yudell

Sometimes I wonder if a subset of Republicans in this country completely misunderstood the classic and creepy 1990s TV show The X-Files. You know, the one where a sinister shadow government works in cahoots with space aliens to facilitate the colonization of planet earth. That series made constant references to a government out of control, seeking to diminish our rights and sacrifice our nation’s sovereignty in preparation for the alien landing. Sound familiar? Save for the alien landing part (for now, at least), that rhetoric sounds an awful lot like the hogwash offered up by many on the far right and, sadly, by those who on Tuesday led the Republican effort in the Senate to vote down the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities.

All but eight Senate Republicans voted to defeat a treaty inspired by and modeled on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the landmark disabilities rights law passed in 1990. With cries of the treaty’s threat to American sovereignty, I’m curious whether these same Senators and other treaty opponents thought The X-Files was a documentary film rather than a dramatic exploration of our fear of the irrational and unfamiliar.

Continued —-> philly.com