What should be most talked about with Bridge-gate is not what it means to Christie's presidential chances. What should be most talked about is the almost sociopathic disconcern all of these republicans have for the public. And by the public I mean everyone. They did not care about the commuters, the residents, the school kids, the police, the fire department, and emergency services, none of them.
They. Did. Not. Care. And what’s more, they enjoyed it.
Bridge-gates treatment of the public is everything Republicans and Conservatives are. They do not care. No school lunches, government shutdowns, layoffs, no unemployment insurance, no medical insurance, no retirement, illegal foreclosures, and on and on. These things are of no concern to them, and watching and listening to the discussion they will even go so far as to say these are good things; they enjoy them. Even though these things will hurt millions of people, republicans and democrats, minorities and whites, etc., they do not care. Inflicting pain on others in pursuit of their ideological goals gives them no pause whatsoever.
This is who the Republican Party is. This is how they rule.
What makes Bridge-gate in any way out of the normal is its exposure of eagerness with which republicans employed large scale suffering onto tens of thousands of people, put them at risk for their safety, and cost the people, the businesses and the community untold amounts of dollars just to inflict personal, petty revenge on someone with whom there are political differences. This is what needs to be understood. This is the cancer that has metastasized throughout the Republican Party.
“I want Obama to fail.” “Our goal is to make Obama a one term president.”
Republican hatred and contempt for democrats has been rising since Clinton was elected president, and is now so widespread that its public expression is treated as no big deal by those covering politics even when the statements and behavior are bordering on the delusional. But what is being overlooked in this story is the collateral damage the Republicans and the Republican Party are willing to inflict on this country in their pursuit of damaging their enemy, the president.
As with Fort Lee, when they believe they have a way to hurt the President they are completely unconcerned about who it hurts. Many of us recall that Newt Gingrich caused a government shutdown because he was miffed about his seating arrangement on a trip aboard Air Force One. Whether it out of loathing, vanity, revenge, or a desire to be feared, these petty people who willingly use their power to inflict harm on the public to settle their scores are beneath contempt and wholly unsuitable for public service. Unfortunately, Washington and our statehouses are full of them, and the Republican Party is doing to America what Christie has done to Fort Lee.
This is what the filibusters are for. That is what the government shutdown was for. That is what states opting out of exchanges and the Medicaid expansion is for. This is what “voter fraud” laws are for. And, as always, this is what republicans concerns with deficits are really about. Leaving people uninsured, cutting Social Security, cutting veterans benefits, cutting unemployment insurance, not raising (or eliminating) the minimum wage, cutting workplace protections and environmental regulations, cutting public education, and school lunch programs, cutting rent and energy subsidies, and many, many Republican objectives would cause pain and hardship on the majority of our citizens. Republicans are uniformly on record and saying that such pain is necessary and a good thing. In reality these are, after all, things Democrats have supported, and inflicting damage on these programs feels as good to these Republicans as kicking Obama in the balls.
In their zeal to punish Democrats Republicans will use every power at their disposal to do so. In negotiating with Republicans the biggest mistake Democrats keep making is believing that the Republicans wouldn’t pursue actions that would result in severe harm to our people or economy. If we will understand what happened in Fort Lee then we will begin to understand and address the fact that the Republican Party’s vindictiveness toward Democrats and any that oppose them knows no bounds. Hurting people, putting them at risk, damaging the economy is not given a second thought so long as it serves the schoolyard bully desires of those making the decision, be it Christie and his cronies, or Republicans in Congress, statehouses and local offices. They absolutely will do it, and they will enjoy it, blame Democrats, and cry that they are the victims. They are willing to shoot the hostage, and worse, many of them want to it just because, in their minds, they perceive it as their way of getting back at the President and Democrats.
Fort Lee is a definitive illustration of the Republican Party’s mindset, it is what they are made of. The means to achieve their objectives are not measured in the terms of any costs to the public or our nation, but only on whether they think it will get them what they want. For example:
They want tax cuts for the rich, at any costs.
They want lower taxes on the largest corporations, at any costs.
They want to prevent Democratic constituencies from voting, at any costs.
They want to please Christian fundamentalists, at any costs.
They want to please energy companies, Wall Street, Insurance companies,
Pharmaceutical companies, at any costs.
What should be obvious is that they do not pursue policies or programs to strengthen the lives of the majority of our citizens; rather they have exclusively fought for policies that benefit the richest and the religious right. Their well-funded, highly coordinated efforts through Washington, the states and the courts have inflicted significant harm on the vast majority of this country, which remains of no concern to the Republican Party. In that regard they are sociopathic. And like Christie, the Republican Party is not ever going to admit the harm it has done or mistakes it has made. It is not going to change.