The current ideology of the GOP and conservatism in the United States should be eradicated. In 2020, there should not be a party that prioritizes separating immigrant children from their family, claims the Black Lives Matter movement (potentially the largest civil rights movement ever) are “armies of rioters”, accuses almost every opponent of being a pedophile, and that is just straight up out of touch with reality.
It is truly horrifying that a party such as this earned the votes of over 73 million Americans. One thing that I will love to dive into at some point is why the average person would be OK voting for a party as vile as the current Republican party.
What I would like to discuss today is how none of this is new. This did not all come to fruition strictly because of Donald Trump. Ever since the Reagan presidency, the GOP has been redefining itself as the party of virtue signaling and winning at all costs – to the detriment of America.
But will the GOP be brought back to reality? Will conservatives focus not just solely on social issues such as abortion, LGBTQ+, affirmative action, etc., but on the systemic issues that plague the nation? Will they return to the party of the working people and instill a class consciousness? I, for one, do not particularly have faith that they will ever return to representing the working people of America.
If you are reading this and saying, “Yeah but Joey, outside of sounding like bad people, they still get results!”, then I would say “You’re crazy!”
Reaganism, the Koch brothers, along with the Murdochs have completely changed the GOP. With the inclusion of libertarian ideals of corporate deregulation, cutting taxes, and HORRIBLE trade deals, the middle class of America has been consistently eroding away while the millionaires and billionaires keep amassing more and more wealth.
Now this should all be pretty obvious. However, most people fail to realize exactly how bad it is. So why don’t we take a closer look, eh?
Recently the Daily Kos posted the article “Decades of Republican Mismanagement Have Left Red States Mired in the Past & at the Bottom”. Here they point out how the mostly Republican run states in the south are a burden on the country. In this brief analysis, we will focus on not the social issues, but straight down to economic and humanitarian policy. This will reinforce how much individualism has taken ahold of the GOP.
Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana all rely on the federal government for at least 40% of their revenue. Kentucky is absolutely putrid in this regard. For every $1 it sends to the federal government, it received $2.41 in return. Compare this to New York who only receives $.90 on every dollar.
Why is this? Well, these GOP bastions simply do not care about the impoverished. That said, I know plenty of conservatives that are truly compassionate and caring people. But there is a disconnect. The party as a whole (especially on the national level) simply does not care about the majority of the population – as if the response from the coronavirus wasn’t already enough of an indicator. They would rather pander and cater to their elite donors than provide policies to improve the material conditions of their constituents.
If the GOP truly did care about the overall well being (health, education, employment, etc.) of Americans, GOP states would be ranked in the bottom 10 healthcare systems, make up 8 of the 10 least educated states, and have 9 of the 10 worst labor force participation rates, while also having the highest percentage of people on disability.
As you can see, the GOP has done almost nothing to care for their constituents. The party that claims to be the moral superiority and the party of truth and justice just happens to be anything but. How could it be considered moral to allow generation after generation of poverty? How can it be just to allow these atrocities to go unpunished?
But make no mistake, the GOP can make a course correction. It is possible to actually take the moral high road and steer away from this neo-fascist ideology. Doing so would likely CRUSH the Democrats too – because they truly have not been much better.
Basically, whoever can figure out how to effectively improve the lives of the majority of America will become a political powerhouse – much like FDR did.
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