Almost every day someone asks me, "How could you let someone like Donald Trump get elected president? Was it as shocking for you as it was for me?" Honestly, no. Donald Trump is simply the product of years of lies promulgated by leaders of the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and for as much as I hate to say it, my Republican friends, you've been had!
Liberals like myself are fairly notorious for innocuous language, so I think it's about time to take off the kid gloves and get real! While neither party is perfect (far from it) and both are controlled by big money, let's get something straight, the Republican Party is not the party of morality, God, the middle class, family values, or personal responsibility! In fact, if anything, it's become the antithesis of them!
People change, and with that, parties change too, and the modern-day GOP is nothing like the Republican Party in the days of Lincoln, Eisenhower, or even Reagan. Let's look at the modern-day GOP and analyze their claims of what/whom they represent.
Congressional Republicans and pastors like to state that the GOP is the party of God, the party of Christ, the party of Christianity, but if they'd ever actually read the Bible, they wouldn't utter such nonsense! Jesus spoke about loving one another regardless of innate traits, of loving our neighbors, of not worshipping money, of providing to the poorest among us. What does the current Republican Party preach? Let's make the lives of those "different" from "us" more difficult; let's provide for the rich at the expense of the poor; and let's fear thy neighbor, even go so far as build a wall to prevent them from getting close. The GOP is the antithesis of Christ.
Building off that, the Republican Party likes to spout that they're the party of morality, because they oppose abortion and homosexuality. Yet they're perfectly fine with: War; the death penalty; a lack of gun laws; a scarcity of environmental protections; defunding family planning facilities; stripping money away from educating this nation's youth, particularly with regard to sex; etc. Studies consistently show comprehensive sex education and easy contraception access at family planning facilities like Planned Parenthood decrease unwanted pregnancies, and with that abortions. So while these far-right GOPers like to believe they're being moral by simply stating all abortions should be illegal, what they're actually doing is increasing the number of abortions in this country and decreasing the quality of life for those whom are born. The party of morality? No, the GOP is the antithesis of morality.
The modern-day Republican Party also likes to float the idea that they fight for the middle, working class. Really? Ever since they implemented trickle-down economics, the middle class has been shrinking and the gap between the upper- and the middle and lower classes has been growing. It's not a coincidence that such a gap during the Great Recession was at its widest since the Great Depression. The middle class was at its strongest when taxes were raised on the wealthiest among us, but you're never going to hear that from Congressional Republicans or conservative talking heads in 2017. No, according to them, the only way to strengthen the middle class is through tax cuts for everybody, which equates to great quantities of dollars being saved at the very top, less dollars being spent on our education, roads, and security, and leaving the bottom 98% of us more vulnerable as a result. Not only that, but as the price of products inevitably continues to rise, the GOP consistently speaks out against a minimum wage increase. Let's think about this for a moment. If life's essentials progressively cost more, yet we're stuck with the same salary, we're going to be more prone to running into financial problems. That's above and beyond even common sense; it's basic math. So, to put it bluntly, the Republican Party is the antithesis of the middle class.
With regard to family values, I could retread through a lot of the points I've already made. To condense matters, the modern-day GOP appears to only care for the values of rich, straight, white, Christian families. Everyone else? Not so much. So, once again, the GOP is the antithesis of family values.
Neither party likes to own up to their own mistakes, yet, like with many of these other self-inscribed labels, the Republican Party takes more heat regarding the issue because they like to brand themselves as the party of personal responsibility. The Great Recession which started under George W. Bush? That was Obama's fault. Rising healthcare costs which started before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act? Those are the fault of Obamacare. Even Hurricane Katrina, which happened on Dubya's watch? That was Barack Obama's doing too. Anything good that happens, it happened because of Reagan. Anything bad that happens, it happened because of Obama or someone named Clinton. The party of personal responsibility? Not hardly. The GOP is the antithesis of personal responsibility.
I'm sorry, my Republican friends (and enemies), but you've been had, and this didn't just happen overnight. The mainstream media may not always be correct. Fact-checkers may have to correct a minor error they made once in a while. But such individuals are not out to destroy the Republican Party or spread a liberal ideology; they're out to get ratings. What's mathematically more likely? That the mainstream media outlets who report the same story in a similar fashion are all distorting the truth, or that one cable news outlet (Fox News), who's reporting the story in a starkly different manner, is the one distorting the truth? If cops asked witnesses of a crime about what they saw, 9 provided almost the exact same story, while one seemed to see a completely different event, who would they be more inclined to believe? You have the right to believe whatever you so choose, but just because you want to believe something is true doesn't make it so, and when just about every (reputable) outlet reports a story which runs contrary to your opinion, I'm sorry, but instead of creating your own reality, you have to face that fact and adjust accordingly.
The Democratic Party is far from perfect, but progressives believe in the following:
- Allowing people to believe in whatever religion they so desire, and to freely practice that religion (outside of work)
- Equal rights and opportunities regardless of one's age, gender, race, creed, or orientation
- An increase in pay so middle- and lower-class families can pay for all of life's essentials with greater ease
- An increase in taxes for the wealthiest among us to help strengthen the middle- and lower-classes, and with that, decrease the odds of another recession
- Embracing science, and with that, protecting the environment
- Keeping guns out of the hands of felons, terrorists, and individuals with anger/violence issues
- Increasing funding for education, including that regarding sex, to better prepare our kids for the future and decrease the chances of unwanted pregnancies and abortions
The Democratic Party is aptly name, for it fights for democracy. The Republican Party, on the other hand, isn't properly named, as they fight for oligarchy. They fight to improve the lives of the top 1-2% at the expense of the rest of us. No matter how many times you were told growing up that liberals and/or Democrats were evil, the next time you go to the voting booth, think about your family, your friends, your neighbors, your children and grandchildren, about our future. It does nothing to halt inevitable change to try and revert us back to the past. It simply provides the potential of damaging our future. When it comes to morality and family values, the GOP is nothing but talk; their actions run contrary to that talk; and if you truly believe in the words in which they consistently speak, you'll start voting against them. The GOP has transformed from the Grand Old Party to the Greedy Old Party, and it's about damn time we start making them pay on election day!
Liberals like myself are fairly notorious for innocuous language, so I think it's about time to take off the kid gloves and get real! While neither party is perfect (far from it) and both are controlled by big money, let's get something straight, the Republican Party is not the party of morality, God, the middle class, family values, or personal responsibility! In fact, if anything, it's become the antithesis of them!
People change, and with that, parties change too, and the modern-day GOP is nothing like the Republican Party in the days of Lincoln, Eisenhower, or even Reagan. Let's look at the modern-day GOP and analyze their claims of what/whom they represent.
Congressional Republicans and pastors like to state that the GOP is the party of God, the party of Christ, the party of Christianity, but if they'd ever actually read the Bible, they wouldn't utter such nonsense! Jesus spoke about loving one another regardless of innate traits, of loving our neighbors, of not worshipping money, of providing to the poorest among us. What does the current Republican Party preach? Let's make the lives of those "different" from "us" more difficult; let's provide for the rich at the expense of the poor; and let's fear thy neighbor, even go so far as build a wall to prevent them from getting close. The GOP is the antithesis of Christ.
Building off that, the Republican Party likes to spout that they're the party of morality, because they oppose abortion and homosexuality. Yet they're perfectly fine with: War; the death penalty; a lack of gun laws; a scarcity of environmental protections; defunding family planning facilities; stripping money away from educating this nation's youth, particularly with regard to sex; etc. Studies consistently show comprehensive sex education and easy contraception access at family planning facilities like Planned Parenthood decrease unwanted pregnancies, and with that abortions. So while these far-right GOPers like to believe they're being moral by simply stating all abortions should be illegal, what they're actually doing is increasing the number of abortions in this country and decreasing the quality of life for those whom are born. The party of morality? No, the GOP is the antithesis of morality.
The modern-day Republican Party also likes to float the idea that they fight for the middle, working class. Really? Ever since they implemented trickle-down economics, the middle class has been shrinking and the gap between the upper- and the middle and lower classes has been growing. It's not a coincidence that such a gap during the Great Recession was at its widest since the Great Depression. The middle class was at its strongest when taxes were raised on the wealthiest among us, but you're never going to hear that from Congressional Republicans or conservative talking heads in 2017. No, according to them, the only way to strengthen the middle class is through tax cuts for everybody, which equates to great quantities of dollars being saved at the very top, less dollars being spent on our education, roads, and security, and leaving the bottom 98% of us more vulnerable as a result. Not only that, but as the price of products inevitably continues to rise, the GOP consistently speaks out against a minimum wage increase. Let's think about this for a moment. If life's essentials progressively cost more, yet we're stuck with the same salary, we're going to be more prone to running into financial problems. That's above and beyond even common sense; it's basic math. So, to put it bluntly, the Republican Party is the antithesis of the middle class.
With regard to family values, I could retread through a lot of the points I've already made. To condense matters, the modern-day GOP appears to only care for the values of rich, straight, white, Christian families. Everyone else? Not so much. So, once again, the GOP is the antithesis of family values.
Neither party likes to own up to their own mistakes, yet, like with many of these other self-inscribed labels, the Republican Party takes more heat regarding the issue because they like to brand themselves as the party of personal responsibility. The Great Recession which started under George W. Bush? That was Obama's fault. Rising healthcare costs which started before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act? Those are the fault of Obamacare. Even Hurricane Katrina, which happened on Dubya's watch? That was Barack Obama's doing too. Anything good that happens, it happened because of Reagan. Anything bad that happens, it happened because of Obama or someone named Clinton. The party of personal responsibility? Not hardly. The GOP is the antithesis of personal responsibility.
I'm sorry, my Republican friends (and enemies), but you've been had, and this didn't just happen overnight. The mainstream media may not always be correct. Fact-checkers may have to correct a minor error they made once in a while. But such individuals are not out to destroy the Republican Party or spread a liberal ideology; they're out to get ratings. What's mathematically more likely? That the mainstream media outlets who report the same story in a similar fashion are all distorting the truth, or that one cable news outlet (Fox News), who's reporting the story in a starkly different manner, is the one distorting the truth? If cops asked witnesses of a crime about what they saw, 9 provided almost the exact same story, while one seemed to see a completely different event, who would they be more inclined to believe? You have the right to believe whatever you so choose, but just because you want to believe something is true doesn't make it so, and when just about every (reputable) outlet reports a story which runs contrary to your opinion, I'm sorry, but instead of creating your own reality, you have to face that fact and adjust accordingly.
The Democratic Party is far from perfect, but progressives believe in the following:
- Allowing people to believe in whatever religion they so desire, and to freely practice that religion (outside of work)
- Equal rights and opportunities regardless of one's age, gender, race, creed, or orientation
- An increase in pay so middle- and lower-class families can pay for all of life's essentials with greater ease
- An increase in taxes for the wealthiest among us to help strengthen the middle- and lower-classes, and with that, decrease the odds of another recession
- Embracing science, and with that, protecting the environment
- Keeping guns out of the hands of felons, terrorists, and individuals with anger/violence issues
- Increasing funding for education, including that regarding sex, to better prepare our kids for the future and decrease the chances of unwanted pregnancies and abortions
The Democratic Party is aptly name, for it fights for democracy. The Republican Party, on the other hand, isn't properly named, as they fight for oligarchy. They fight to improve the lives of the top 1-2% at the expense of the rest of us. No matter how many times you were told growing up that liberals and/or Democrats were evil, the next time you go to the voting booth, think about your family, your friends, your neighbors, your children and grandchildren, about our future. It does nothing to halt inevitable change to try and revert us back to the past. It simply provides the potential of damaging our future. When it comes to morality and family values, the GOP is nothing but talk; their actions run contrary to that talk; and if you truly believe in the words in which they consistently speak, you'll start voting against them. The GOP has transformed from the Grand Old Party to the Greedy Old Party, and it's about damn time we start making them pay on election day!
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