Democracy: rule by majority for the common good.
Oligarchy: rule by an elite few for their personal profit.
GOP is a minority attempting to rule. GOP has a majority in the US House of Representatives, one half of one branch of government. The GOP is a minority in the US Senate. The democratic process requires both houses to reach consensus thus forming a clear congressional majority.
As protection against “tyranny of the majority” the president, as the chief executive, must also concur and the US Supreme Court must not object. GOP lost the executive branch in 2008 and the US Supreme Court is split.
Congress is given the responsibility of passing or repealing legislation. Regulations of the health insurance industry know as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed by clear congressional majority, signed by the president in 2009, and affirmed by the US Supreme Court in 2011.
The unregulated health insurance industry has left millions in America to suffer and die in favor of obscene profits. The Affordable Care Act is for the common good. The $2+ trillion dollar a year heath insurance industry stands to lose up to half of their profits.
In service to their masters, the GOP minority in congress has attempted to repeal these regulations 41 times. In every attempt, neither a congressional majority nor executive support could be attained.
Failing in democratic fashion, the GOP in congress has abandoned democracy and now seeks to rule by minority – Oligarchy, Anti-Democracy. Their method is to refuse to allow funding for any government function under their control. The damage done to America, damage to the common good, is of no consequence to the GOP.
Support for the GOP’s actions is from the mega wealthy that seek to rule the country. The Affordable Care Act is for the common good, of no use in an Oligarchy.
The Koch brothers, Walmart family, and others seek only personal wealth over the common good. Their tool to rule is the GOP. No member of congress that supports the current shutdown of government can claim to believe in democracy or care about the people they are in congress to serve.
GOP, the tool of the 1% to rule.
Angus Croix 
“We have just carried an election on principles fairly stated to the people. Now we are told in advance, the government shall be broken up, unless we surrender to those we have beaten… ” –Abraham Lincoln, 1861
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”–Abraham Lincoln
I wish the GOP would be honest for once, and stop calling themselves the “Party of Lincoln”, since they oppose everything he stood for. They are really the Party of the Confederacy.
It is not a coincidence that the resurgence of right-wing extremism is occurring during the administration of our first non-white President. The Tea Party is a direct ideological descendant of the pro-slavery confederate secessionists, and uses similar inflammatory rhetoric and bullying tactics. They feel victimized by the unwillingness of the majority of Americans to be ruled by an extremist minority, which they claim justifies the kind of attempted extortion we are witnessing today–just as the confederates (who were genuinely alarmed that the principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution might eventually be extended to persons other than white males) used the threat of secession.
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America started out as a virtual carbon copy of the U.S. Constitution, with some very telling changes:
1. Reference to any function of government intended to “promote the general welfare” was deleted.
2. Public investment in economic infrastructure was prohibited (with the exception that infrastructure projects necessary to support the plantation oligarchy’s cotton exports, i.e. seaports, were allowed).
3. Race-based slavery was guaranteed in perpetuity. In fact, the constitution required that all people of color must be slaves. The existence of free black people was outlawed within the Confederacy.
There’s more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_Constitution#Changes_from_U.S._Constitution
The Confederacy was clearly designed to protect the privilege of the ruling slave-owning oligarchy and prevent the rise of general prosperity or a “middle class”. The bullying tactics of the Tea Party demonstrate a traditional anti-democratic attitude with a long and tremendously destructive tradition in American politics. One should never think the Tea Party came out of nowhere.
Although it is almost pointless to think about the Republican party anymore, since it is now under the domination of the extortionist anti-democratic Tea Party, please bear in mind that the GOP has demonstrated clearly that, philosophically, it is also the party of hereditary oligarchy as demonstrated by its consistent support of tax and social policies intended to transfer all wealth to the ruling class. The real difference is the return of overtly extortionist tactics.
Thanks for thinking. Lot of truth. Sounds like they hate Obama simply because he is black. Sounds entirely plausible, or is probable more accurate?
I think the oligarchs simply exploit the racism of the ignorant. Their motivation is purely financial. The confederate counter-revolution against the American Revolution fanned the flames of racism to gain support for a society that would never benefit most of the racists. The confederacy fits the definition of a counter-revolution because it was born of the fear that the principles of the U.S. Constitution might eventually be extended to non-whites, necessitating the preemptive repudiation of those principles.
racism, ignorant, exploited, financial motivation, fear of constitutional freedoms…. Yep, that’s the tea party.
Long time since I saw “The Mothers of Invention”. Nixon was President. Zappa love to quote tricky Dick: “There is no greater responsibility than being a mother”.
Thanks.