by JACK LINDEN
There is more than one way to withdraw from something and the Republican Party seems to be rapidly doing just that intellectually – from the rest of the United States. They still want the economic help of the all of the people, but do not want to be a part of a changing America.
The clearest indication of Republican secession? The action of 67 members of the House of Representatives who voted no on funding the flood insurance program. The refunding was necessary to continue paying insurance claims from the hurricane that struck the East Coast and more specifically New York and New Jersey. The rationale, according to the 67, was that there was no reduction in other funding to help pay for the cost. The hypocrisy of that argument is that 37 of thse representatives had requested some kind of aid for their own states or locales.
Was this vote based on “anti-Yankee” sentiment or have the members withdrawn from the humaneness that has been a part of the American heritage? No matter. Their action shows clearly that they are out of the mainstream of American thought.
Another example of the Republican Party not changing with America is the Party platform created at their 2012 Convention. The platform states emphatically that the Republicans are opposed to same-gender marriage. Human life begins at conception and therefore, the party is totally opposed to abortion, even in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother. Again, this is contrary to what most Americans believe.
There are also the strong statements in the platform on defense spending. While the U.S. spends more on defense than the next 10 countries combined, the Republican platform calls for more. While they are willing to cut funding for such humanitarian efforts as unemployment, Medicaid and mental health, they want to increase the spending for warfare. Americans in general agree that we need a strong defense, but there is also general agreement that the defense budget has become too burdensome for our economy.
Most Americans question why the U.S. must protect countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Yet, Republicans seem to think that only with more ships and planes, new weapons and ground forces stationed in far away countries can America be safe. Anyone who questions this premise is considered weak on defense and to some, even anti-American.
Perhaps the best indication that the Republican Party and its members are seceding from America is that there is no room for minorities, major roles for women or even disagreement. In the last Presidential Republican Primary, the further to the right ideologically a candidate moved, the closer he was able to succeed in the primary.
If the Republican Party continues to be dominated by the far-right, it will withdraw from America and join past political parties which didn’t with the times. The Republican Party looks too much to the past and not to the future. They are trying to live in an America that never was – except in some figment of a few people’s imagination.
