Never the GOP, Not Ever, No No Never. (How I Plan to Vote, v3)

 

 

This seems like as good a day as any to write about what I’m voting against. Actually, it is the best day to write about what I’m voting against since I am on the verge of screaming.

I was working on a long, eloquent essay, Volume 3 of my fancy series “How I Plan to Vote”, and it was going to be about why I won’t be voting for anyone in the GOP, ever, which would not be a surprise to anyone who knows me in real life or via social media, so I decided to not waste my time thinking, analyzing, word-smithing and waxing nostalgic about a party that used to have some moral standing and backbone, but is no longer worth the paper it’s printed on. Or the pot it pisses in.

So I’m just going to cut to the chase. Here are the four five six seven eight reasons that I could never justify voting for a Republican, any Republican. In no particular order. (And there are way more, I just decided to stop at eight)

One. Under the guise of solving immigration problems (alleged problems) at the border, the Trump administration, with tacit approval from the GOP, decided to separate families and put children in detention camps. This shows an extreme lack of humanity, first and foremost, an abundance of racism, but also a truly outstanding lack of creativity and problem-solving skills. But of course they really weren’t problem-solving, they were shutting out non-white people.

Two. To save the Supreme Court for their agenda (which may include trying to save Trump from indictment), they nominated a political operative, a partisan ideologue, a person who lies under oath, appears to have a rather severe drinking problem, who allegedly sexually assaults women, and who, based on his testimony last week, clearly does not have the temperament to sit on the Supreme Court (if the first 5 reasons don’t sway you).

The Senate Judiciary Committee could have chosen to run a fair, judicious, measured, transparent process. They did not.

The Committee could have chosen to listen to the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and the other women who have come forward. They did not. Instead, they saved their empathy and outrage and screwed up sense of justice for Kavanaugh himself, an over-the-top privileged white dude who was clearly not accustomed to being questioned or confronted. Poor boy.

Speaking of the Supreme Court, remember that Mitch McConnell started us down this very dangerous path when he refused to even schedule hearings for Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland. He and the rest of the GOP at that point showed us how little they care about our democracy and the rule of law. I regret that we were not in the streets then. We were still asleep, many of us.

Three. The GOP is the party who flat-out refuses to do anything, not one flipping thing, about gun violence in this country. They have chosen to let thousands of Americans die every year to gun violence, including school kids, so they can have their unrestricted and uncontrolled and dangerous interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.

Four. The GOP is the party who fought tooth and nail to repeal the ACA, which was working quite well, thank you very much, but happened to be a hallmark program of President Obama’s, which automatically made it a target. The latest repeal efforts failed in 2017, but the GOP continues to chip away at its provisions. And every one of those provisions that they are attempting to take away, such as protections for pre-existing conditions, has a person at the other end of it, a human being. A human being (many actually, as in thousands or millions) who may lose their coverage, go bankrupt, may have to choose between eating and paying for medicines, or who may actually die over the decisions of the GOP. But the GOP doesn’t care.

Five. The Trump administration is corrupt, and the GOP knows it. And instead of doing their job, which is to be a check and balance on Presidential powers (per the Constitution), they are silent. Every one of them. THIS IS A BIG ONE!

Six. The GOP decided that for this term the major legislation worth fighting for was a gazillion-dollar tax cut for mostly wealthy people and corporations. They told you and me that the tax cut would “trickle down” and help spur the economy, which does not work. And they’re proposing another huge tax cut, did you know that?

Have you noticed what that tax cut did to the deficit?

Have you seen the stats on wage stagnation compared to corporate profits?

Have you read the proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare to off-set the deficits that their very own tax cut created?

THIS ONE THING SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO SEAL IT!!! PEOPLE!!!

Seven. I touched on this in #2, but it bears repeating. The GOP has gotten to the point where it can overlook sexual assault when it suits their political goals, make fun of the #metoo movement, laugh at and bully women who have been sexually assaulted, overlook their President who is a serial assaulter and misogynist, and show a truly astonishing lack of sympathy or understanding of what “rape culture” is (which we are living in, by the way). They are continually looking for ways to de-fund Planned Parenthood, overturn Roe, chip away at basic programs designed to help women with reproductive healthcare. They are the party of the Handmaid’s Tale. They are very very afraid of what is going to happen when we elect more women like Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, and Mazie Hirono, so they are digging in and doubling down. You watch. It’s gonna get really ugly, real bigly ugly.

Eight, which is the catch-all, the miscellaneous, the “all of the above” category.  If you’re a woman; a person of color; an immigrant; a Muslim; a non-Christian of any kind; a child who needs healthcare, free lunch, or a public education; a Senior who needs Medicare; a poor working class person; a young adult saddled with student loan debt, need I go on?The GOP does not care about you. They will not help you. If you are rich, white and/or a corporation, and especially one with a dick, you’re good. I know, Corporations don’t have dicks, but they CAN be dick-ish, and we do treat them like people now.

I got through this whole piece with no effenheimers, no eff this, effing that, and only one reference to male anatomy, so I’m proud of myself. I call this a fact-based piece with possible over-use of hyperbole and hysteria (because I am a woman after all), but an appropriate use of ALL CAPS and exclamation points. Thank you for your time.

But don’t vote Republican. Just don’t. I mean it.

But do vote on November 6, just vote for Democrats. You won’t be sorry.

#VOTEBLUE

Coming Soon : v4 – Healthcare

©Rebecca Larson 2018