AlleyCat
2018-05-28 02:12:50 UTC
Why Do Republicans Hate America?
Why do Republicans hate America? No, really. Its not a rhetorical
question. Since consolidating its power in January 2017, the GOP
has systematically set out to dismantle the economic strength of
this nation, coddle predators, shield traitors, attack those who
are working, and strip protections from the most vulnerable. Are
these the actions of a party that loves the nation it has sworn to
serve?
Consider the GOPs attempts over the last year to blow up the U.S.
economy and make life harder for its constituents. The
Republicans first try at demolishing the economy as if it were
nothing but an old abandoned building was their reckless attempt
to destroy the Affordable Care Act, which housed and protected
millions of American citizens. The GOPs congressional leaders
held no hearings, refused to even listen to expert testimony and
were utterly unconcerned about the impact that dismantling a key
component of the nations health care system would have on one-
sixth of the American economy.
When the button jammed on that detonator, Republicans tried
another, more powerful type of explosive, and this one threatens
to be much more successful. In December, they passed a tax bill
that adds an estimated $1.5 trillion to the deficit with no
significant investment in infrastructure, education or health care
to show for it. And now, as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made
clear, when the GOP-fueled deficit balloons, theyre coming after
the retirement and medical social programs that he has demeaned
and mislabeled as entitlements. Medicare, Social Security and
Medicaid, however, are hard-earned benefits funded, in large part,
out of our paychecks. They provide much needed support to the
elderly, the infirmed and those with disabilities.
For Americas senior population alone, the Republicans assault on
the safety net is going to be destabilizing and, in many cases,
lethal. Currently, 9 out of 10 Americans over 65 receive Social
Security. Forty-nine million are on Medicare, estimated to
increase to 64 million by 2020. Nearly one-third will require
nursing home care, which costs three times the annual income of
those over 65. Imagine what an aging America will look like just a
few years into the future with no Social Security, no Medicare and
no Medicaid.
Not satisfied with their own multi-pronged attack on the social
fabric and safety net of the nation they claim to love, the
Republicans have also let a foreign government attack the United
States. Instead of repelling the invaders, strengthening our
defenses and ferreting out the collaborators, the GOP has acted
more like a fifth column shielding the saboteurs. In the fall of
2016, when confronted with the reports from 17 agencies in the
intelligence community about Russian interference in the 2016
election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
threatened then-President Barack Obama with partisan nuclear
destruction and left the nation vulnerable to Russian leader
Vladimir Putins machinations. In March 2017, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-
Calif.) sabotaged his own committees investigation into Russian
interference, and for that unconscionable act, Ryan rewarded him
by threatening to allow contempt of Congress proceedings against
the Department of Justice unless Nunes could review the FBI files
on the case. In January 2018, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sent a letter to the DOJ demanding an
investigation of former U.K. intelligence officer Christopher
Steele, who was so alarmed by what he was uncovering that he
alerted the FBI that the Russians had cultivated a Trojan Horse in
the form of Donald Trump. This was a national security issue,
Steele said. For having more concern about the United States than
the Americans involved had shown, the Republicans tried to sic the
FBI on him.
Consider the myriad other ways that the Republicans have
demonstrated their destructive contempt for America. They removed
protections for students against predatory lenders and financially
hobbled the capacity of the next generation of leaders to actually
engage in anything but mere survival. In August 2017, they sheared
off millions of acres from public parks and seem ready to sell
them to the highest bidder.
They have rushed through nominees for lifetime appointments on the
federal bench who are demonstrably unqualified and would warp and
mangle what has been the rule of law in this nation for decades.
They have lied to the American people about so-called rampant
voter fraud so that they could deny millions of citizens the
constitutional right to vote. And they have tried to undercut the
development and use of renewable energy, require power plants to
use only coal or nuclear fuel, and opened up once-banned offshore
drilling, which has now sent coastal states into a panic about the
ever-looming threat to their very lives this decision has posed.
The Republicans have also lit a short fuse under Americas soft
power ? our ideas, aspirations and strivings ? that makes the
nation a world leader and not just any other one in the
constellation. It only took a year under the GOPs stranglehold
for the global respect in which the U.S. was held to plummet from
No. 1 to No. 6 in a global reputation survey. Within that short
space of time, the Republicans have abdicated Americas
international leadership on climate change; targeted, harassed,
banned and deported immigrants of color with reckless abandon; and
removed human rights and democracy as a goals of U.S. foreign
policy.
Some Republicans, of course, have stood up every now and then to
defuse these time bombs, to try to put country over party. Ohio
Gov. John Kasich (R) has been steadfast in his opposition to Trump
and has challenged the White Houses ill-advised policies on
immigration. Kasich, however, is also the governor of a state that
has mastered the art of voter suppression from literacy tests, to
artificially created long lines at the polls in counties with
sizable minority populations, to voter roll purges that have
removed twice as many African-American as white voters. Sens. John
McCain (R-Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-
Maine) helped torpedo the initial attempt to destroy the ACA. But
all three voted for a tax bill that transfers inordinate wealth to
the 1 percent, raises the burdens on the middle and working
classes and saddles the nation with a deficit that dims the
future. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has warned of impending doom,
but his rhetoric of resistance has little correlation to his
actions. Instead of holding the line, he has voted to destroy the
ACA, twist the tax code to benefit the uber-wealthy and scuttle
the nations environmental protections.
The Republicans wear their patriotism and love of country like a
badge of honor, but they have demonstrated neither. Instead, they
have been contemptuous and complicit. They seem determined to
recreate the civil rights and deregulated financial sector
wilderness of the 1920s; a world where millions of American
citizens could not vote, where women were separate and unequal and
where Wall Street gambled so recklessly that the global economy
imploded and ushered in more than a decade of double-digit
unemployment and the Great Depression. That desire to strip us
bare once again has revealed a deep, unrelenting disdain for this
nation ? for its people, its hopes, its ideas, its lands and its
institutions. Their lies about love of country put them in power.
Their hatred ? if we recognize it for what it is ? will put them
out.
Carol Anderson is a historian and a professor of African-American
Studies at Emory University. She is the author of White Rage: The
Unspoken Truth Of Our Racial Divide and the forthcoming One
Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our
Democracy.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-anderson-republicans-
america_us_5a58d5efe4b04df054f860a1
Why do Republicans hate America? No, really. Its not a rhetorical
question. Since consolidating its power in January 2017, the GOP
has systematically set out to dismantle the economic strength of
this nation, coddle predators, shield traitors, attack those who
are working, and strip protections from the most vulnerable. Are
these the actions of a party that loves the nation it has sworn to
serve?
Consider the GOPs attempts over the last year to blow up the U.S.
economy and make life harder for its constituents. The
Republicans first try at demolishing the economy as if it were
nothing but an old abandoned building was their reckless attempt
to destroy the Affordable Care Act, which housed and protected
millions of American citizens. The GOPs congressional leaders
held no hearings, refused to even listen to expert testimony and
were utterly unconcerned about the impact that dismantling a key
component of the nations health care system would have on one-
sixth of the American economy.
When the button jammed on that detonator, Republicans tried
another, more powerful type of explosive, and this one threatens
to be much more successful. In December, they passed a tax bill
that adds an estimated $1.5 trillion to the deficit with no
significant investment in infrastructure, education or health care
to show for it. And now, as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made
clear, when the GOP-fueled deficit balloons, theyre coming after
the retirement and medical social programs that he has demeaned
and mislabeled as entitlements. Medicare, Social Security and
Medicaid, however, are hard-earned benefits funded, in large part,
out of our paychecks. They provide much needed support to the
elderly, the infirmed and those with disabilities.
For Americas senior population alone, the Republicans assault on
the safety net is going to be destabilizing and, in many cases,
lethal. Currently, 9 out of 10 Americans over 65 receive Social
Security. Forty-nine million are on Medicare, estimated to
increase to 64 million by 2020. Nearly one-third will require
nursing home care, which costs three times the annual income of
those over 65. Imagine what an aging America will look like just a
few years into the future with no Social Security, no Medicare and
no Medicaid.
Not satisfied with their own multi-pronged attack on the social
fabric and safety net of the nation they claim to love, the
Republicans have also let a foreign government attack the United
States. Instead of repelling the invaders, strengthening our
defenses and ferreting out the collaborators, the GOP has acted
more like a fifth column shielding the saboteurs. In the fall of
2016, when confronted with the reports from 17 agencies in the
intelligence community about Russian interference in the 2016
election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
threatened then-President Barack Obama with partisan nuclear
destruction and left the nation vulnerable to Russian leader
Vladimir Putins machinations. In March 2017, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-
Calif.) sabotaged his own committees investigation into Russian
interference, and for that unconscionable act, Ryan rewarded him
by threatening to allow contempt of Congress proceedings against
the Department of Justice unless Nunes could review the FBI files
on the case. In January 2018, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sent a letter to the DOJ demanding an
investigation of former U.K. intelligence officer Christopher
Steele, who was so alarmed by what he was uncovering that he
alerted the FBI that the Russians had cultivated a Trojan Horse in
the form of Donald Trump. This was a national security issue,
Steele said. For having more concern about the United States than
the Americans involved had shown, the Republicans tried to sic the
FBI on him.
Consider the myriad other ways that the Republicans have
demonstrated their destructive contempt for America. They removed
protections for students against predatory lenders and financially
hobbled the capacity of the next generation of leaders to actually
engage in anything but mere survival. In August 2017, they sheared
off millions of acres from public parks and seem ready to sell
them to the highest bidder.
They have rushed through nominees for lifetime appointments on the
federal bench who are demonstrably unqualified and would warp and
mangle what has been the rule of law in this nation for decades.
They have lied to the American people about so-called rampant
voter fraud so that they could deny millions of citizens the
constitutional right to vote. And they have tried to undercut the
development and use of renewable energy, require power plants to
use only coal or nuclear fuel, and opened up once-banned offshore
drilling, which has now sent coastal states into a panic about the
ever-looming threat to their very lives this decision has posed.
The Republicans have also lit a short fuse under Americas soft
power ? our ideas, aspirations and strivings ? that makes the
nation a world leader and not just any other one in the
constellation. It only took a year under the GOPs stranglehold
for the global respect in which the U.S. was held to plummet from
No. 1 to No. 6 in a global reputation survey. Within that short
space of time, the Republicans have abdicated Americas
international leadership on climate change; targeted, harassed,
banned and deported immigrants of color with reckless abandon; and
removed human rights and democracy as a goals of U.S. foreign
policy.
Some Republicans, of course, have stood up every now and then to
defuse these time bombs, to try to put country over party. Ohio
Gov. John Kasich (R) has been steadfast in his opposition to Trump
and has challenged the White Houses ill-advised policies on
immigration. Kasich, however, is also the governor of a state that
has mastered the art of voter suppression from literacy tests, to
artificially created long lines at the polls in counties with
sizable minority populations, to voter roll purges that have
removed twice as many African-American as white voters. Sens. John
McCain (R-Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-
Maine) helped torpedo the initial attempt to destroy the ACA. But
all three voted for a tax bill that transfers inordinate wealth to
the 1 percent, raises the burdens on the middle and working
classes and saddles the nation with a deficit that dims the
future. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has warned of impending doom,
but his rhetoric of resistance has little correlation to his
actions. Instead of holding the line, he has voted to destroy the
ACA, twist the tax code to benefit the uber-wealthy and scuttle
the nations environmental protections.
The Republicans wear their patriotism and love of country like a
badge of honor, but they have demonstrated neither. Instead, they
have been contemptuous and complicit. They seem determined to
recreate the civil rights and deregulated financial sector
wilderness of the 1920s; a world where millions of American
citizens could not vote, where women were separate and unequal and
where Wall Street gambled so recklessly that the global economy
imploded and ushered in more than a decade of double-digit
unemployment and the Great Depression. That desire to strip us
bare once again has revealed a deep, unrelenting disdain for this
nation ? for its people, its hopes, its ideas, its lands and its
institutions. Their lies about love of country put them in power.
Their hatred ? if we recognize it for what it is ? will put them
out.
Carol Anderson is a historian and a professor of African-American
Studies at Emory University. She is the author of White Rage: The
Unspoken Truth Of Our Racial Divide and the forthcoming One
Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our
Democracy.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-anderson-republicans-
america_us_5a58d5efe4b04df054f860a1