Republicans are bad for our democracy. Beginning with their intensive gerrymanding of districts - meaning they draw voting districts in their states to ensure that a Republican wins (otherwise known as cheating), up to and including their worship of Trump.
I've been a bleeding heart, tree-hugging, left-leaning Democrat since before I was able to vote. But the modern Republicans are an entirely different animal than they were in the 1980s. This became very apparent to me as I continue to be fascinated by the Showtime series The Circus, a political series that took a deep dive into our system beginning with the Primaries in January 2016 all the way through most of Biden's first term in November 2023. The hosts news reporters and campaign advisors for both major parties so it's a well-rounded group that asks very pointed questions.
Mark McKinnon, who was a Republican campaign strategist for both Bush presidents, was talking with a man who had served with and knew Mitch McConnell for over 30 years. This was when Amy Coney Barrett was being pushed through as the nominee for the Supreme Court after Ruth Bader Ginsberg had passed. Early voting had already stated but instead of waiting until after the election - because McConnell had successfully withheld Obama's nominee from being heard in almost a year because there was an election - the entire "process" was flipped to get that last conservative seat on the court.
In the interview, Mr. Black talked of power. His philosophy was if you have power then you take it and use it, noting that Democrats would have done the same if it was them. Every response to McKinnon's questions was answered with "power" and no mention of using that power to help everyday Americans. Acting for the constituents that put them in the power was never even a consideration. Even McKinnon was slightly shocked by the answers.
The "both parties are the same" noisemakers need to set themselves straight. When Republicans are in power they do everything they can to concentrate it and reward the rich who support them because Citizens United decreed that money is speech - even when that money comes from foreigners. What used to be the party of fiscal responsibility and family values now allows children to be killed in school and follows a lying, adulterous, con man who pretends to care about regular Americans but secretly despises them and just wants their money.
Here is a list of what Republicans have accomplished while in power:
Under Regan
- Transferred middle-class wealth to the rich with tax cuts
- Tried to break all the unions
- Rewarded corporations for not investing in their business
- Made stock shareholders more important the employees
- Gutted environmental protections
- Destroyed many social safety net programs
- Doubled the size of the deficit to $200 billion
Under Bush, Sr
- Raised taxes on the middle class after promising not to
Under Bush, Jr
- Spied on Americans after 9-11
- Went after Iraq instead of the terrorists who took down the World Trade Center
- Lied about weapons of mass destruction
- Kept us at war for too many years
- Allowed Vice-President Dick Chaney to make millions off government contracts for military services
- Allowed Wall Street to gamble with other people's money which resulted in the greatest economic melt-down since the Great Depression
- Promised to bail out Wall Street but allowed Main Street to lose homes and retirement savings
- Deficit was $1.4 trillion when he left office, after spending Clinton's surplus (no deficit when he left office) and Obama cut it down to $440 billion during his terms
Under Traitor Trump
- Another tax break for the rich who now pay less taxes than teachers or nurses
- Closed the government for the longest period, causing civil servants to lose their paychecks
- Mishandled the COVID pandemic where over 1 million Americans died because of the bad advice coming from the White House
- Abandoned Syria in the middle of their civil war by pulling US troops
- Had a meeting with Vladamir Putin at a world conference but would not allow anyone to record it or take notes
- Showed representatives from Russia Classified documents
- Dishonored our military several times
- Stacked the Suprmem Court with conservative judges, resulting in the reversal of Roe v Wade
- Withheld aid from Ukraine until they promised to give him "dirt" on Biden
- Refused to peacefully transfer power when he lost the election and caused a riot at the Capital that resulted in 5 dead and hundreds injured. Refused to call off his mob for over 4 hours while he watched it unfold
- Left office with a nearly $3 trillion deficit which Biden has cut in half
On top of all of this, Republicans have created a guideline for their rule if they win this election. Called Project 2025, it dismantles our current civil service employees and replaces them with Republican loyalists, gives the President more power over the other two branches, allows him to imprison political opponents, gets rid of the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, guts all safety net programs for the poor, drastically reduces government regulation so companies can do "whatever the hell they want" to our dying planet, and ensures that there will not be any more elections.
Please stop voting for Republicans.