Republicans have even managed to antagonize seniors by seeking to turn Medicare into vouchers whose value won’t keep up with rising healthcare costs, and cutting $800 billion out of Medicaid (which many seniors rely on for nursing home care). And, of course, they’ve come out against equal marriage rights for gay couples. Romney, Ryan, and the GOP don’t seem to know how to satisfy their middle-aged white male base without at the same time turning off everyone who’s not white, male, straight, or middle-aged. Unfortunately for Romney and Ryan, the people they’re turning off are the majority.
I long ago gave up trying to figure out how a Republican Presidential candidate could think they could win when they seem intent of alienating the majority of the electorate: women, students, seniors, Hispanics, African-Americans, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Republican campaign strategy appears to be something best described as addition by subtraction. The problem with that theory is that when all you’re left with are angry White males…well, you’re going to lose and lose big. It displays both a colossal misunderstanding of basics mathematics and an astonishing lack of empathy for Americans who are legitimately suffering. How can a party which believes that those who’ve been adversely impacted by the recession are getting what they deserve win a majority of votes in November? The answer, of course, is that there’s no way they can. Unfortunately for them, they’re too angry, self-righteous, and arrogant to recognize the truth.
Even worse is the negative tone Republicans candidates have assumed during this election cycle. The GOP has always had a “glass half-empty” view of the world, but the negativity they’re bringing this time around is truly astonishing. Combine that with the willful and shameless lies and propaganda they’re peddling, and it’s no wonder that their base is in serious need of anger management. Why think critically when all you need do is focus your rage on those who Fox News Channel and the GOP leadership identify as evil, anti-American Liberals.
We were promised by Republicans in 2010 that their focus would be on jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. What we’ve been served instead is a steady diet of anti-abortion bills and a single-minded dedication to making Barack Obama a one-term President. It’s been “obstruct, obfuscate, and dissemble” at every turn. The American Jobs Act? No way they were going to do anything that the President could take credit for. The Violence Against Women Act? Fuhgeddaboudit. Health care reform? Yeah, right; after 33 symbolic and completely meaningless repeal votes in the Republican-controlled House, they’ve accomplished nothing but to demonstrate their dogmatic ideological inflexibility. It’s not about doing the People’s work. It’s not about doing what’s best for America. It’s about beating back every effort to improve things for Americans in order that they might blame the President for his “lack of progress.” It’s perhaps the single most cynical, dishonest political strategy I’ve seen in my life- and I remember Richard Nixon. It’s no longer about public service; it’s about power and self-interest mixed with racism and an astonishing disdain for 47% of the American Sheeple.
Congratulations, America; while you couldn’t be bothered to pay attention, you voted for ideologues who shouldn’t be trusted to manage a Dairy Queen, much less chart the course of American government. Then again, what else could you reasonably expect from a country that no longer values education?
WE DESERVE BETTER.
