If the Republican party's extreme regressionist agenda were converted into an equation, here's what that equation might look like:
America - (Social Security - Medicare - Civil Rights - Women's Rights - Gay Rights - Worker's Rights - Religious Freedom - The Postal Service - Unemployment Insurance - Welfare - Heathcare Reform - Public Education - Public Television - Financial Regulation - Environmental Protection - Free Speech - Democracy) = X
So, what is X?
The GOP Vision: X-America.
Well, X would have to be a society without all of those things.
To be clear, what we're talking about here is a society which does not have a safety net for the elderly, does not provide medical attention for any of those in need, without equal rights for minorities of race, gender, sexuality, or creed. A nation without separation of Church and State. A nation lacking fair wages and safe working conditions, lacking a safety program for economic downturns, or a means for preventing economic crashes. A nation which makes no effort to help it's citizens cope with, or escape from poverty.
What kind of nation would this be?
It would be the sort of place with no care for the needy, or you and me, run by people who care only for the greedy. It would be a place with poisoned air, poisoned water, and poisoned soil. A place where even the airwaves are poisoned, and "free" speech is a luxury only a few can afford. And of those who could, most would have their interest vested in drowning out the voices of any who would speak against this mess.
In this sad place, children would go uneducated, and grow up ignorant. But their ignorance would not be bliss. They would lead lives of thankless toil, and retire not to golden years, but to black and desperate years. They would endure years suffering the pains and infirmities of old age, without the benefit of the the medical care that should be available in the modern age. Unable to work anymore, they'd be reduced to the depths of poverty, and have no hope of ever working their way out of it.
It would be a place with no democracy, where if you can't pay your way to having your say, you'll have no say at all. And having no say of your own, you'll do what they say. You'll live where they say, eat whatever GMO they say, worship whatever God they say, love only the kind of people they say, and be a second class citizen because they say.
I mean, this dysfunctional, dystopian dump wouldn't even have mail!
Remember, this is a subtraction problem, and I think we're starting to see the problem with this kind of subtraction. Because if we take away our protections for our elderly, and our young, for our workers, and those who can't work or can't find work, take away the rights of the minorities among us, and the majority of our rights... And, by the way, with all this amending of rights don't think any Amendment on the Bill of Rights is safe. For with the first Amendment fallen, the second and those that follow can't be far behind. Take away the right to speak our minds and think and believe according to our conscience, our traditions, or our reason, take away the air that's safe to breath, the water that's safe to drink, the food that's safe to eat, and our access to health care, take away our freedom to love who we like in the only life we have to live... Then I have to ask, is that any way to live?
And that brings us back to our equation. It's clear by now that all this subtraction doesn't lead to a solution, but instead to a bigger problem. But we still have the question, if what we have now is America, what will we have left when we've taken all this away? It turns out the answer really is X.
X-America.
And that sort of math just doesn't add up. But that's the way today's radically regressive Republican party figures it. As of now, we've already seen some of this begin to add up, and if we let them keep on subtracting, all that will be left over will be the sum of all our fears.