The Republican Party is a threat to our future

Too many Americans still believe the story they were taught in school about our government: the “two-party system,” “free and fair elections,” and “consent of the governed.” If you still believe this fairy tale, you haven’t been paying attention to what has happened to the Republican party in recent decades. To use a common metaphor, the inmates are now running the asylum.

Assisting the rich and powerful

Now, the actual policies of the Republicans, whether it’s Paul Ryan or Donald Trump, to the extent that he’s coherent, Ted Cruz, you pick him, or the establishment, is basically enrich and empower the very rich and the very powerful and the corporate sector.

Noam Chomsky

Elected Republicans work very hard to help the rich and powerful. They stack the courts to help defend the wealthy while limiting the ability of the poor to vote. They make it harder for unions to organize while eliminating regulations and oversight for businesses.

In 2017, they passed a Federal tax cut that reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent. This law, which dramatically increased the deficit, overwhelmingly benefited corporations and the very wealthy over average Americans.

On the flip side, Republicans consistently oppose any increase in the minimum wage.

Ignoring the needs of the people

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than half a million Americans. One hundred fourteen million people lost their jobs. The long-term consequences for kids who have not been able to go to school will be immense.

In response to this crisis, President Joe Biden created the American Rescue Plan. It is projected that this plan, with its expanded Child Tax Credit, will reduce child poverty by 50%. This is wonderful news. This is an example of government acting to help the people it serves. The Republican support for this plan, in both the House and the Senate, was exactly zero.

It is important to remember that these same Republicans, who are now crying about excessive spending, supported the 2017 tax cut that has, and will, cost the country even more than Biden’s Rescue Plan, while helping people who didn’t need the help.

Aggravating existential dangers

The fact of the matter is that today’s Republican Party qualify as candidates for the most dangerous organization in human history. Literally.

Noam Chomsky

There are two major existential dangers to the human race. These are nuclear war and climate change. Republicans not only fail to protect us from these threats, they actively work to increase the danger.

Decades of militarism, even during times when we were not at war, have given us huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Military spending is more than half of the US discretionary budget, and yet the Republicans always push for more. When Trump walked away from the deal which was preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons, Congressional Republicans supported him.

The problem of climate change is even more dangerous in the long run. Because of our procrastination, fires, floods, drought, crop failure, and disappearing coastal regions will continue to increase for years even if we begin to take dramatic action tomorrow.

The primary reason we have done little to nothing (for decades!) to deal with the climate crisis is Republican intransigence. They continue to blindly deny both the scientific data and the scientific consensus about climate change. They vigorously oppose doing anything to minimize the damage – even as the problem steadily grows. With their uncritical devotion to the fossil fuel industry, they are actively working to prevent solutions and make the problem worse.

Stoking grievances

The Trump party isn’t interested in appealing to the nation as a whole, anyway. It’s interested only in appealing to Trump and the base that worships him. …
Lacking unity, leadership, strategy, clarity or a coherent message on anything other than Trump’s grievances, the Trump party is irrelevant to the large choices facing the nation.

Robert Reich

All of the above problems are serious. The Republican Party is money hungry, power hungry, corrupt, unrepresentative of the people, militaristic, and anti-scientific. Yet, even worse is their overt willingness to deny reality and promote lies for political advantage.

Rather than present policy ideas that will benefit the American people, the Republican electoral strategy has become: 1. Restrict the voting rights of people who will likely vote for Democrats, and 2. Stir up the base voters with lies, innuendo, and fake outrage.

They have been aided in this effort by decades of broadcasting by so-called “conservative media.” These media outlets have built up their audiences by stirring up fear and anger and by capitalizing on their listener’s perceived grievances. Donald Trump took this grievance-based politics based on lies to a new height and the Party slavishly followed him.

Courting violence

Now the party has reached a new stage of malevolence. Their gun totin’ militant wing has grown dramatically in size and influence. The April, 2020 armed incursion into the Michigan statehouse, and the January 6th, 2021 Insurrection at our National Capitol building are frightening examples of escalating, politically-motivated, violence.

Elected Republicans have had plenty of opportunities to repudiate and distance themselves from the groups responsible for these violent acts, but they refuse to do so. In fact, some Republican politicians are actively making alliances with these groups to further their own political ambitions.

And, of course, the craziest Republican sub-group of all, QAnon, has actually managed to get two of their own, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) elected to Congress.

Along with other nutty ideas, QAnon adherents looked forward to a cataclysmic event they called “The Storm” in which top Democrats would be arrested in a military coup and Donald Trump would have remained in office. Most of them believe this will still happen. These people have proven willing to participate in an armed overthrow of the government of the United States — and they haven’t given up.

The danger is not over

Like me, many Americans have felt a great sense of relief with Joe Biden in the White House. He has taken major steps to deal with the pandemic and with people’s suffering in a broken economy. He has appointed a diverse range of highly competent people. Yet, Democrats must resist the temptation to go back to the pre-Trump ways of doing business.

The Fascist Republican threat is far from over. The Republican party has shown no indication that they will repent, regroup, and change course. The old days of political debate and compromise are gone. One cannot intelligently debate policy with the deluded, or with those who deny science. One cannot find political compromise with liars.

While we have the Presidency and a narrow hold on Congress, Democrats must take strong measures to stop the Republicans from destroying the country and we must set in place protections for the future. We must guarantee voting rights, raise the minimum wage, make it easier to unionize, begin to unstack the courts, and take serious steps to limit carbon emissions. This may be our last chance to avoid disaster.

Sources
Chauncey Vega, “Let’s tell the truth about the Republican Party: It’s the real enemy of the people,” Salon, February 19, 2021.
Samuel Benson, “America is behind bars. Trust will set us free,” The Deseret News, February 23, 2021.
Tom Nichols, “The Republican Party Is Now in Its End Stages,” The Atlantic, February 25, 2021.
Chris Hayes, “The Republican Party is Radicalizing Against Democracy,” The Atlantic, February 8, 2021.
Robert Reich, “Trump has captured the Republican party – and that’s great news for Biden,” The Guardian, February 28, 2021.
John Horgan, “Noam Chomsky Calls Trump and Republican Allies “Criminally Insane”,” Scientific American, November 3, 2018.
Amy Goodman, “Noam Chomsky: Today’s Republican Party Is a Candidate for Most Dangerous Organization in Human History,” Truthout, May 17, 2016.
John Pavlovitz, “The Christians Who Would Not Help People,” Stuff That Needs to be Said, March 11, 2021.
Felix Richter, “COVID-19 has caused a huge amount of lost working hours,” World Economic Forum, February 4, 2021.
Jeff Madrick, “The American Rescue Plan Could Cut Child Poverty Nearly in Half,” The Century Foundation, March 9, 2021.
Tucker Reals, “Iran takes new, cautious step away from nuclear pact as Biden tries to open talks,” CBS News, February 23, 2021.
Seth Borenstein, “Think 2020’s disasters are wild? Experts see worse in future,” CTV (Canada), September 9, 2020.
David D. Kirkpatrick and Mike McIntire, “‘Its Own Domestic Army’: How the G.O.P. Allied Itself With Militants,” The New York Times, February 8, 2021.
Katherine Tully-McManus, “QAnon goes to Washington: two supporters win seats in Congress,” Roll Call, November 5, 2020.
Camila Domonoske, “The QAnon ‘Storm’ Never Struck. Some Supporters Are Wavering, Others Steadfast,” NPR, January 20, 2021.