To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “there they go again.”

It’s particularly appropriate to quote the Republican Party’s political god, because the “they” in this case is the “social conservatives” Reagan brought in to the Republican tent. “Social conservatives” is balanced journalese for what some of us think of as “wing-nut Bible bangers.”

Okay, maybe that’s a little unfair. Not all the right wing-nuts are snake-handlers; some of them have their own brand of irrationality (more on that later). But we’re all continuing to pay for Reagan’s courting of people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Reagan and Falwell may have both shuffled off this mortal coil, but the rest of us are continuing to deal with the shocks they brought on us.

South Dakota, for example, recently passed the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion law. It requires not only a three-day waiting period, but also requires a woman considering an abortion to undergo counseling at a “pregnancy help center.” Benign as that name is, virtually all such facilities are run by anti-abortion religious organizations. Pro-choice folks are saying the law will force women to be literally preached at, while the anti-abortion folks say the “counseling,” which usually consists of the words “don’t do it,” will be conducted by medical professionals. That would be comforting, as long as you forget that being a fundamentalist who thinks the world is 6,000 years old doesn’t keep you out of medical school.

Let’s be honest, here, folks. What South Dakota’s law does is to give people with religious objections to abortion one more chance to harass women at what, for most, is the worst moment of their lives. It gives them a chance to do something they do all too often: Make other people suffer for their principles.

It’s part of yet another nationwide push not to overturn Roe v. Wade, which everybody pretty much recognizes as a mug’s game, but to throw every possible obstacle in front of a woman who wants to walk into an abortion clinic. It’s a devilishly clever tactic, because it’s the death of a thousand cuts. No one piece of legislation will accomplish the anti-abortion agenda, but take them all together and they’re an invitation to invest in companies that make coat hangers.

The 2010 elections that saw at least something of a Republican resurgence emboldened the wing-nuts, because they actually were able to elect or re-elect some of their favorite sons and daughters to public office, like Michele Bachmann. Since Bachmann is marginally attractive, and makes Sarah Palin look like Alexander Hamilton – and since Palin has roughly the same chance of being nominated as a presidential candidate as she does of dancing up a moonbeam – we can expect to see way too much of the Minnesota congresswoman from now until November 2012. Unless somebody uncovers a videotape of her seducing the pool boy, because of rather her shameless publicity hoggery she’ll at least look like a potential king-maker, if not vice presidential candidate, until the election.

Still, assuming he wants to keep the job, President Obama must be chuckling. The GOP presidential field currently includes idiots like Bachmann and Rick Santorum, publicity whores like Palin, egomaniacal bags of fertilizer like Newt Gingrich and empty suits like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty. It also includes a guy named Herman Cain, a former corporate heavyweight and radio talk-show host (the latter something that should be considered prima facie evidence of dorkery and automatically bar someone from running for president). Cain, by the way, apparently has pledged to appoint a Muslim-free cabinet. That’s good news for all of us who worry about cabinet meetings being interrupted because the Secretary of Education has to get out the prayer rug.

And there are issues that the wing-nuts won’t let go of, like the whole birther thing. The Republican leadership could very well have disposed of that problem had they initially grown a pair and told the birthers to get lost. But they didn’t, for whatever reason, and these folks continue to drag out the “issue” like a dog worrying a bone. It would be like the Democrats courting the 9/11 “Truthers” just to get their votes, although the Truthers have a marginally better (but still pretty much nonexistent) case.

What’s really depressing about the whole business so far is that it’s so … dreary. We’re still recovering, badly, from the worst body blow this country has suffered since October of 1929, we’ve spent more years killing off our soldiers than in any other war, but a significant portion of the Loyal Opposition is still hammering away at unintentionally pregnant women and people who follow a different God.

I don’t think this is going to happen, but it’s really a golden opportunity for progressives in this country to finally do something. Yeah, our guy in the White House seems to lack a little intestinal fortitude, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pick up a cudgel or two ourselves. We just need to get, well, angry. We just finally need to decide we’re mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore. What better time than when the best the Republicans can come up with to run for the presidency are a couple of mediocre governors and a collection of chuckleheads and bigots? If progressives can’t make their case to the American people now, they’ll never be able to.

Yeah, it sucks, and it’s going to take some effort. But unless you want to see this country continue to be stuck in the 1980s – if not the Dark Ages – you’d better strap on the armor. It’s going to be a boring ride, but it’s an important one.