The Republican Party's agenda for the 2016 election is so regressive, one wonders when the Tea Party candidates will propose eliminating the 13th Amendment so they can bring back slavery.
It is a Confederate battle flag agenda on steroids that truly endorses a mix of ideology of Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and a special dash of Trump.
I realize that this is a brutal assessment but what also is clear is that the Christian extremist, fear-mongering objectives of the right wing are so steeped in racism, bigotry and misogamy that one wonders if these guys are doing meth with Satan. It is completely devoid of anything Jesus Christ said or did and completely lacks any sense of intelligence, fairness or compassion.
Don't think so? Please tell me what any one Republican candidate has said that reflects Jesus' commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself?"
Repeal Obamacare: End health care for the poor and middle classes – Die already!
It's pretty clear that any Republican candidate would eliminate the Affordable Care Act the first day in office and end health care for millions of Americans, especially the poor and the middle class, who are already strapped for cash to make co-payments for needed medications.
What would it be replaced with? In most cases, nothing. For some candidates, the ACA would be replaced with whatever they can scratch out on a napkin. Unless you're extremely rich, the GOP plan is simple - just die already!
End birthright citizenship: deport as many Hispanics as possible to ensure GOP dominance.
Now we're seeing a growing trend among conservative candidates to endorse Donald Trump's plan to eliminate the 14th Amendment that grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States. It plays upon the base's fears that illegal Mexican immigrants are taking away jobs from citizens and that it will greatly reduce crime. After all, they're sending in rapists; they're sending in murderers. Never mind that the jobs they do involves work and conditions that no American citizen would ever do or endure. And never mind that the crime is greatly relegated to the drug cartels.
The real conservative goal here is not to deport all illegal Mexican immigrants, but just enough of them and legal American citizens to tip the scales in their favor come election time. One wonders, how far they'll push birthright citizenship. Will some of us have to prove our ancestral lineage to avoid deportation to Europe?
Police brutality: Do nothing and/or encourage more of it.
Here's another one that's clearly evident. Have any of the GOP candidates spoken to the issues of police brutality or #BlackLivesMatter? Their response always is "Don't run from the cops," "All lives matter," and "They're a bunch of thugs."
In fact, the GOP agenda includes arming local police with as much military grade weapons as possible. Hell, even in my hometown, Waukesha - the GOP holy land in Wisconsin, the police department wants an armored vehicle complete with a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on top.
Discriminate against homosexuals as much as possible.
Remember that conservatives cling to the ideology that "homosexuality is an abomination to God," which differs from the Westboro Baptist Church motto of "God hates fags" how exactly?
Under a Republican president and Congress, the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision would be overturned through executive order or legislative action in quick order. They simply won't wait to pack the court with conservative justices. The GOP objective is to "shove the LBGT community back in the closet where they belong!"
End women’s health care: increase abortions and/or number of children in poverty.
Not only would Ted Cruz end funding for Planned Parenthood, he would prosecute them. I'm pretty sure that other Republican candidates will cling to this charming proposal. After all, providing contraceptives to those who can least afford it, which has brought the number of abortions to historical lows is clearly a criminal enterprise.
Jobs: Do nothing and eliminate the minimum wage.
Oh and by the way, eliminate collective bargaining and outlaw unions. I mean, Scott Walker basically said it. Being a union member is on par with being a terrorist. In an ideal Republican world, the minimum wage would be reduced to a penny and unpaid internships would be required in every field.
The Donald has been the only candidate to mention bringing factories back to the U.S. from China, which is disingenuous at best considering most of his products are made in China.
The other GOP candidates' jobs plans - [crickets].
Have you heard one? I haven't.
And why not?
Well, you see, bringing jobs back from China just isn't on the one-percenters' agenda and the one-percenters fund the GOP campaigns. If it was, they would have done so already or at least started. After all, moving America's entire manufacturing base to a communist, atheist country where they can pay workers 50 cents an hour; not have to worry about working conditions or pensions; and if a female worker gets pregnant, they can force her to get an abortion so she can get her ass back to work is what made them one-percenters.
War: Engage Iran and as many Middle East countries as possible in never-ending conflict; eliminate Palestinian state.
Never mind that fighting in the Middle East has been going on since Moses sent Hagar and Ishmael off into the desert. Never mind that the U.S. and England led a military coup in the 1950s to install the Shah of Iran, who tortured and murdered countless numbers of Iranians, robbed their treasury blind and had all of his meals flown in from Paris every day for a couple decades. When the Iranian people overthrew the Shah and wanted to bring him to justice, the U.S. granted him political asylum.
The GOP's agenda is to cave to the fear mongering from Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told us years ago that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. Oh well, at least these GOP candidates can pronounce "nuclear proliferation."
Whenever and wherever violence outbreaks in the Middle East, it's the Republican mindset that we have to stop it to protect Israel, because Israel couldn't survive without the U.S. even though they say they can.
After all, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were huge successes right? Why stop a good thing? Let's just stop listening to that stupid John Lennon song.
Never mind that the United States has been involved in some type of armed conflict for 222 years since its inception in 1776. Did you know that we were even involved in the "Banana Wars?" I didn't know that. I didn't know that bananas were so important. I suppose you gotta keep up the potassium to avoid leg cramps.
Climate change: Destroy the earth.
Nothing new here. If the GOP had its way, it would convince the party base that cigarettes don't cause cancer. A conservative won't get the correlation here, so don't waste your time trying to explain it to them.
Citizens United: Encourage money in politics and reward big donors.
Definitely gotta preserve the old adage that we have the best politicians that money can buy. For more insight, see Trump or Walker or for a snip-it, you can check out this story, "Bucks arena - a deal with the devil".
Arm teachers and encourage people to take guns to church and movies.
When it comes to curbing gun violence in America, the GOP's base feels that the answer is simple - arm more people with guns. Want to stop violence in schools? Make sure all the teachers have fully loaded, semi-automatic weapons. Better do your homework kids. Want to stop church and theater shootings? The answer is simple stupid. Take your .45 to church and the movies.
That falls perfectly in line with Jesus' teachings of "turn the other cheek" and "he who lives by the sword will die by the sword."
It's the most obscene and obtuse agenda I've ever witnessed and I've only touched on 10 points. It amazes me that anyone would endorse any single one of these ideas, yet they are immensely popular in the right wing.
I can't wait to make my first purchase of the GOP candidates bobble-head dolls.
Related links
AMERICA HAS BEEN AT WAR 93% OF THE TIME – 222 OUT OF 239 YEARS – SINCE 1776 The U.S. Has Only Been At Peace For 21 Years Total Since Its Birth
The Iran Nuclear Deal – A Simple Guide