Republicans Abandon the Traditional American Conservative Values for which they Once Stood
Have the New Republicans Become a Party of Treasury Plundering, Pussy Grabbing & Self-Serving Seditionist Sycophants?
January 4, 2021 / US Politics / NYC Neighborhoods / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
My experience and interactions with Republicans during my childhood and up until sometime between the late 1980’s and mid 1990’s was generally positive. I was actually a card-carrying Republican for a few years, as was one of my grandfathers, and I share many of what once were Republican values. But the Republicans of today, particularly the Trump Republicans, appear to have abandoned nearly all the values for which they once stood. Let's take a quick look.
What Republicans Once Stood For & How They Lost Their Way
I. States’ Rights. Republicans once stood for values that I still believe in. They stood for states’ rights, which were originally embedded in the U.S. Constitution as a means of providing checks and balances in the system. And I believe in the wisdom of the checks and balances.
Republican Distortion of States’ Rights - Enabling Ongoing Legalized Racism. But states’ rights morphed into a racist rallying cry, in the wake of the Civil War, as the southern states were embittered by the loss of the Civil War. States’ rights were a means of obstructing the northern states from imposing the U.S. Constitutional value of treating all humans with respect on the former slave states. when the federal government imposed its will upon the southern states vis a vis ending slavery of African Americans
II. Smaller Government, Fiscal Conservatism & Less Taxes. An implication of the claim to states’ rights implied a smaller, less intrusive federal government. This mantra of smaller government also gained some of its impetus, again particularly in the south after the Civil War, as a means to limiting federal government oversight.
Smaller government also implied some measure of fiscal conservatism - or at the least - fiscal responsibility. Out of this came lower taxes, a move which was generally done by lowering government spending - until Ronald Reagan came along.
Republican Distortion of Smaller Government, Fiscal Conservatism & Less Taxes - Borrow & Spend. That’s when Republicans started lowering taxes by adding debt to the federal government balance sheet in order to further enrich the rich. I’m all for lower taxes, when it can be done responsibly, but I’m not for lower taxes when most of the proceeds go to some of the wealthiest people on the planet, while the children and the unborn are burdened with the nation’s debt.
Adding about $6 trillion to the nation's debt, while building nothing, is one of Republican president Donald J. Trump's greatest legacies.
- CLICK here to read the rest of our report on What Happened to Republican's Traditional Conservative American Values?
Republicans Abandon the Traditional American Conservative Values for which they Once Stood
Have the New Republicans Become a Party of Treasury Plundering, Pussy Grabbing & Self-Serving Seditionist Sycophants?
January 4, 2021 / US Politics / NYC Neighborhoods / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC. Continued.
III. Family Values. Republicans said they stood for family values, for which I reckon there may possibly be as many definitions as there are people, but I take that to mean supporting the nuclear family in the raising of children in an ethical, responsible, law abiding manner. Republicans claimed they were the party of personal responsibility. I’m all for that. Who isn’t?
Republican Distortion of Family Values - Eliminating a Women’s Right to Manage Her Own Body. But then Republicans used the mantra of family values, to infuse a tribal Christian culturalism to it, which manifested itself through a push to legally eliminate the right of women to early termination of an unwanted pregnancy. All the major religions generally seem to share many of the same proper behavioral guidelines, but even many religious people agree that women should have a right to choose whether or not to bring a baby into the world if they’re impregnated - if the fertilized egg is removed within a set amount of time. According to a June 7, 2019 report, only 13% of all Americans want to overturn Roe vs Wade, but that translates into 31% of all Republicans, which is a sizeable and oftentimes passionate force.
Republicans twice nominated an apparent pussy grabber, racist and one of the world's greatest con men to be their candidate for president.
IV. Deregulation & Freedom. Republicans generally favor government deregulation which they ascribe to preserving their freedom. Deregulation only makes sense if the regulations have lost their reason to be, or are so constraining as to be untenable. In both cases I’m for deregulation.
Republican Distortion of Deregulation & Freedom - The World Changed & the Republicans Didn't. This may not be so much a change in how Republicans have distorted what they once stood for, as much as that the context in which we live has changed. We no longer live in a seemingly boundless frontier, but rather on what feels like a shrinking planet, so the limitless space once accorded us to do whatever - no longer exists. We can’t keep shooting the buffalo, because there aren’t tens of millions of them. We can’t allow anyone to pollute our air or drinking water, because it affects everyone’s health. We can’t keep fishing or fracking or pumping oil, because the planet has become finite and we’re close to being in an intolerable zone - possibly even nearing planetary eco-system collapse.
Trump deregulation efforts - not through congress but rather executive order - seemed to enable the fossil fuel and other industries to connive to destroy numerous species, clean air and clean water.
Why All 10 Living Former U.S. Defense Secretaries Sign OpEd Telling American People & U.S. Military - The Election is Over
V. Law & Order. Republicans believed that law and order must be maintained for society to function properly / productively. I agree with that.
Republican Distortion of Law & Order - Use of Phony Claims of Patriotism to Destroy Our Democracy & Rule of Law to Appease [Dictator Wannabee] Trump Whims. This is on full display this year, particularly in the next couple of days.
Republicans laying claim to abiding by the laws, have no business trying to overturn the ‘Will of the People’ - as Trump and many Republican Senators and Congressmen alike - appear to be doing since the election. Their collective disrespect for the vote counts, followed by numerous vote recounts, literally dozens upon dozens of court rulings across the nation in both state and federal courts, and the Electoral College vote count is - to understate things - appalling.
Ten - count them - ALL TEN OF THE LIVING FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARIES felt compelled to pen and sign an Op Ed telling president Trump and the sycophantic Republicans who support him - that THE ELECTION IS OVER.
VI. Pay attention to the names of the Senators and Congressmen who sign on to this democracy destroying stunt, because they don’t represent you. They are politicians clutching to their own power, livelihood and social status - at the entire nation’s expense. Why? Because these Senators and Congressmen cower before Donald Trump, fearing he may tweet against them in the next election. They are certainly not patriots [why do they always seem to claim to be the exact opposite of what they are?], because no proof has been found of widespread voter fraud.
See our past few months of coverage [October - December 2020] to learn just how corrupt many of the people in the higher echelons of the Republican party are. And we dedicated an entire section to the numerous shenanigans of Donald J. Trump. Also see 1.5.21 report on Texas Senator Ted Cruz seeming to use this event as a fundraising scam to fill his campaign coffers with ignorant Trump supporters' cash.
VII. Trump Voter Fraud False Claims History: The 2016 Election Voter Fraud Commission Headed by Pence & Kobach Ended in 2018 with Nothing. It’s worth reminding people that Vice President Mike Pence and then Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, lead a commission investigating voter fraud that Trump claimed had added millions of votes against him in 2016. In 2018, the Commission was quietly closed, after they found a few isolated instances of fraud [four?], which would have had no impact on the electoral outcome in any state.
It seems this time the voter fraud claims of 'stop the steal' - is more to enable the steal of donations from the dumbest of Trump supporters - by convincing them to donate their hard earned dollars to help the billionaire pay off his debts. The master deceiver / con man appears to be motivating many of the rubes in his audience to donate to him, under the illusion that they are saving the nation, by 'stopping the [illusory] steal'. They don't call the Donald the greatest con man in the world for nothing. See November 2020 report.
List of the Republican Senators & Congressmen, Who Seem to have Reneged on Their Oath of Office, by Prioritizing Their Own Political Careers [fear of Trump attack tweets] over Allegiance to the U.S. Constitution & American People
Republican Senators & Congressmen Seem to Betray our Democracy, in order to Escape the Wrath of Trump's Dictator-like Attack [Loyalty Pledge] Tweets. To hold our representatives accountable, we voters need to know their names, so we know who we’re voting either for or against.
So to date here’s a list of the senators reportedly supporting this action and I’ve also included the list of congressmen who signed onto the Paxton Texas lawsuit aimed at delegitimizing the swing states Electoral College delegates [see earlier report in late Nov / early Dec 2020 for Paxton’s alleged desire for a Trump pardon of Paxton's alleged crimes].
Twelve senators have reportedly signed on to Trump’s coup attempt. The effort was designed to challenge the votes from many of the swing states, under the ruse of wanting an investigation into an election, where no widespread voter fraud was found [like in 2016]. This was done in a nearly last ditch effort, after numerous vote recounts and dozens of lawsuits failed to yield any different electoral outcome.
According to a January 3, 2021 report on MSN, the U.S. Senators involved include,
“... Ted Cruz (TX), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Mike Braun (IN), Steve Daines (MT), Ron Johnson (WI), John Kennedy (LA), James Lankford (OK), and senators-elect Bill Hagerty (TN), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Roger Marshall (KS), and Tommy Tuberville (AL)...”
According to a December 11, 2020 Washington Post report, the following Congressmen were involved in supporting the Paxton December lawsuit contesting the election results in key swing states. These congressmen likely make up the bulk of those contesting certification of the votes of the Electoral College [in alphabetical order].
Mo Brooks (AL), Alex Mooney (WV), Scott Perry (PA), Robert B. Aderholt (AL), Rick W. Allen (GA), Jack Bergman (MI), Andy Biggs (AZ), Ted Budd (NC), Jeff Duncan (SC), Bob Gibbs (OH), Louie Gohmert (TX), Lance Gooden (TX), Andy Harris (MD), Steve King (IA), Markwayne Mullin (OK), Ralph Norman (SC), David Rouzer (NC), John Rutherford (FL), Adrian Smith (NE), Randy Weber (TX), Ron Wright (TX), Brian Babin (TX), Jody B. Hice (GA), W. Gregory Steube (FL), Steve Scalise (LA), Ralph Abraham (LA), Jim Baird (IN), Jim Banks (IN), Gus M. Bilirakis (FL), Dan Bishop (NC), Mike Bost (IL), Kevin Brady (TX), Ken Buck (CO), Tim Burchett (TN), Michael C. Burgess (TX), Bradley Byrne (AL), Ken Calvert (CA), Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (GA), Ben Cline (VA), Michael Cloud (TX), K. Michael Conaway (TX), Eric A. “Rick” Crawford (AK), Dan Crenshaw (TX), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL), Neal Dunn (FL), Tom Emmer (MN), Ron Estes (KS), Drew Ferguson (GA), Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann (TN), Bill Flores (TX), Jeff Fortenberry (NE), Virginia Foxx (NC), Russ Fulcher (ID), Matt Gaetz (FL), Greg Gianforte (MT), Sam Graves (MO), Mark Green (TN), Michael Guest (MI), Vicky Hartzler (MO), Kevin Hern (OK), Clay Higgins (LA), Trey Hollingsworth (IN), Richard Hudson (NC), Bill Huizenga (MI), Bill Johnson (OH), Mike Johnson (LA), Jim Jordan (OH), John Joyce (PA), Frederick B. Keller (PA), Mike Kelly (PA), Trent Kelly (MS), David Kustoff (TN), Darin LaHood (IL), Doug LaMalfa (CA), Doug Lamborn (CO), Robert E. Latta (OH), Debbie Lesko (AZ), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO), Kenny Marchant (TX), Roger Marshall (KS), Tom McClintock (CA), Dan Meuser (PA), Carol Miller (WV), John Moolenaar (MI), Greg Murphy (NC), Dan Newhouse (WA), Gary Palmer (AL), Guy Reschenthaler (PA), Tom Rice (SC), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA), John Rose (TN), Austin Scott (GA), Michael Simpson (ID), Jason T. Smith (MO), Ross Spano (FL), Elise Stefanik (NY), Glenn Thompson (PA), Tom Tiffany (WI), William Timmons (SC), Ann Wagner (MO), Tim Walberg (MI), Michael Waltz (FL), Daniel Webster (FL), Brad Wenstrup (OH), Bruce Westerman (AK), Roger Williams (TX), Joe Wilson (SC), Rob Wittman (VA), Ted Yoho (FL) and Lee Zeldin (NY).
Republican leaders who declined to support a resolution acknowledging Biden’s win [includes] Kevin McCarthy (CA), Jodey C. Arrington (TX), Doug Collins (GA), Scott DesJarlais (TN), H. Morgan Griffith (VA), Jim Hagedorn (MN), Billy Long (MO), Barry Loudermilk (GA), Steven M. Palazzo (MS), Greg Pence (IN), Bill Posey (FL), Mike Rogers (AL), Pete Stauber (MN), Jefferson Van Drew (NJ), Mark Walker (NC) and Jackie Walorski (IN).
Republicans who support the appointment of a special counsel include Brian Babin (TX), Paul A. Gosar (AZ), Glenn Grothman (WI), Jody Hice (GA), Thomas Massie (KY), Greg Steube (FL).
As you can see above, there was a time when Republicans stood for something of value. And now, as you can also see above, they seem to stand for very little ... except themselves.
I am at least as disappointed, as I am angry.
