While there are many comments around the internet that compare the D’s and the R’s viewpoints on a multitude of issues, it is worth noting what the long term outcome of complete R control (something they most certainly will attempt to purchase) will be on OUR America. I’m going to explore the consequences of voting Republican, or equally bad, not voting at all.
The US is in the process of moving from a world superpower, to a secondary power; still powerful but not in control of the world economy like we have been. This has been decades in the making, and will be difficult for many Americans to accept. The implications are numerous: we’ll likely lose the advantages we’ve enjoyed because of the dollar being the world reserve currency; we’ll lose the ability to demand more than our share of the world’s energy resources; we won’t be able to afford a military presence around the world at anywhere close to the scale we’ve had since WWII. There are too many “losses” to even list.
The burning question, is how we will choose as a nation to decline, and our two political parties offer two very different perspectives. The Tea Party platform (same thing as the Republican platform from my perspective) is simple. Shrink the power of the national government by not funding it. This is exactly what happens in the third world: the elites run the Government and collect the resources of the nation for themselves.
Third world countries have Governments that do little beyond maintaining an army. They only offer aid to the average citizen in times of extreme hardship (in other words when the world is watching), and even then it’s done haphazardly (Katrina). They get bent out of shape at any provocation, striking out with their military at whoever is convenient, regardless of the consequences (Iraq, Afghanistan). When they do send out their military, it is made of a majority of young lower class citizens who believe they must be soldiers in order to succeed in life, and indeed, it is the only way they can afford a college education.
Third world nations don’t use their Government to advance agriculture, they prefer to import their food from far away if their peasants can’t grow enough. Meanwhile the peasants will have to fend for themselves.
Third world nations are run by officials who don’t fear climate change or peak oil because they know they have enough stolen, inherited, or earned resources that they can buy whatever they need personally at whatever the cost regardless of what happens to the world around them.
Third world nations care little about broad public education. Third world leaders want a poor and obedient electorate that don't vote in their interests, and education hinders people from being ignorant. Third world nations would rather spend their money on almost anything rather than education--unless it is education for the elites, and they can buy their own.
They use religion as a means to create divisions between people in society, and they choose a religious perspective that props up their immoral views of the world. They create a Jesus that would have condoned violence rather than the biblical one who condemned it. They believe in a Jesus who looked out for the haughty rather than the biblical one who lifted up the downtrodden. They stifle their consciences, by looking for ways in which they are superior, or more deserving of wealth and resources than their fellow citizens (“I’m white” or “I’m a legal citizen” or “I’m a man” or “I’m a Christian” or “I’m straight” or “I’m not lazy”).
The third world mentality is one of entitlement and scarcity not of egalitarian abundance. This manifests itself in the idea that the upper class is entitled to ALL of their wealth, even if the middle and lower classes do the work that enables the upper class to achieve. The third world mentality discounts the laborer by creating an attitude that the laborer is dumber than the owner, and therefore is simply less deserving of everything. The third world Government consequently doesn’t concern itself with what state of affairs the laborer is in (they may even refuse unemployment benefits). They believe that the wealthy and powerful need beyond their fair share, since there isn’t enough to go around (scarcity).
Third world nations spend their money on kickbacks to the elites, or building an army rather than building an infrastructure. Third world nations have crumbling roads, school systems, and dilapidated cities that only get repaired when the locals are fed up enough to do the work themselves. Little money gets spent on the common good, after all, that would be big Government.
This is the GOP’s vision of America. This is what GOP policies have been moving us toward the last 30+ years. This is the train we’re on, and it’s moving quickly. It will take years and years of Dem rule to get the train stopped. Obama is only the beginning, and it’ll take many Obamas to reverse our nation’s move to third world status.
Like it or not, the difference between the third world and the first world, is the size of their Governments. You cannot have a first world standard of living (beyond the aristocracy) and have a tiny national Government. The free market may work miracles, but it’s unable to keep a nation run by an anti-Government Government from sliding to third world status. Get out and vote, your life depends on it—no OUR lives depend on it--literally.