I love the Republican Party.

Originally posted by Death By Food - Here: http://404forums.net/showthread.php/...publican-Party.

I don't understand what new people are being attracted to the Republican party, regardless of living in a historically red or blue state. They aren't attracting women, because republicans vote against women's rights. They can't attract minorities, because republicans vote to suppress minorities. They can't attract the middle-aged low and middle class because now Republicans are trying to kill medicare/medicaid and finish off social security, which these voters, these American citizens, have been paying into for thirty-odd years, in the name of the budget or debt or something other bullshit reason to fuck the rest of us. They can't attract public-sector union workers, which includes police and firefighters, and is an almost purely blue-collar demographic at this point because private-sector unions were previously gutted, so that takes out another chunk of low-to-middle class income voters.

Republicans can attract the wealthy, the easily-deceived (the undereducated and elderly), religious extremists (why, again, is it that they are allowed to bring religion into politics?), white supremacists, racists (looking at you, birthers), con-artists, basically, people we do not want creating policies, and what, angry people who don't know better? People the Republicans already fucked over who now want to see other people fucked over by the Republicans? These are the signs of an empire in decline.

My favorite is teachers. Fucking teachers, getting paid thirty-thousand dollars a year but getting retirement as part of a package deal they negotiated. So what if they deal with thirty kids in the classroom every day and try to educate them on a shoe-string budget? I don't have a pension anymore, I don't get retirement, but I've been tightening my belt and saving up, so why do they still get to have a union and a security net? Fuck them. They're the dumbest college graduates anyway; who the hell would want to teach our children anything? Not smart people, no, smart people work good jobs, they don't care about kids. Let's privatize education, let some of these smart business-people run our new private schools. And you know what, fuck, we're feeling generous, maybe we'll think about throwing some poor kids a couple vouchers so they can compete amongst each other for a couple spots in our awesome new schools.

Energy- we've passed peak oil, we need to invest in new energy sources, but god forbid anything threaten big oil (who doesn't pass taxes already, by the way, thanks to their many lobbyists and politicians). This is something that is going to take a concentrated, bi-partisan effort, unless we can knock enough republicans out of office and replace shitty democrats with better ones.

I think our democracy is a giant mess that makes no sense and there's a reason we can't successfully establish our brand of democracy anywhere. War, yes, that's a thing we need to keep doing, in the name of freedom! Think about how much oil it takes to stage a war, and our fuel transports are regularly destroyed, so what do we do, bring our citizens home from these unwinnable wars? No! We send more oil and money to the wars. Were any of these people in charge around when the Soviets were regularly going into the Middle East? It wasn't that long ago, remember where that got them? Soldiers have gyms in open tents in deserts that have A/C units running. What a joke, what's the point of this again?

I think an efficient government, on both the state and federal level, is essential, and if we want to avoid real hard times. The reason we have a federal government is to reign in the fifty states and numerous other entities into a cohesive unit- this requires rules and regulations to keep the machine running properly. I like state government- people have more of an individual say, are closer to their representatives, and not all laws should be handed down by the federal government. The federal government should be a slightly hands-off parent, allowing its children to live for themselves, but at the same time be able to step in and stop dumb shit from happening. Michigan has given Governor Rick Snyder the ability to appoint a people of his choosing "emergency managers" of any locality he decides is in a financial emergency. These emergency managers have the ability to suspend or dismiss elected officials. That's a case where Mama G steps in and hits Michigan with a slipper.

I admit a couple things surprise me, like the number of relatively young people, let's say under forty, who still firmly grip to this 80's Reagan government-driven, free-market, everyone-fend-for-themselves-and-fuck-you approach to life. It's completely detrimental to society. Also, the number of people demanding further tax cuts, rather than at the very least, letting the Bush tax cuts expire. I've also seen a rise in the number of conservative-voting towns here, it doesn't help that Martha Coakley handed Scott Brown Kennedy's seat in the senate, but when you look at the towns that vote red, it's the wealthiest and the poorest. This is not surprising, although it is sad.

So I'm not saying everything the current government does is great. To go back to a favorite subject, they have yet to address the mess that is education in this country. It has been screwed up by standardized testing, and privatization (charter schools) and quick-fix miracle worker education reformers are not the answers- it's going to take a while, but no one wants to hear that, they want Timmy and Sally to get the best education RIGHT NOW, and I can't blame them, but we do have to look forward. Education is the basis of society, along with fellowship and the understanding that we're all striving to make everything better for everyone. If everyone is educated, if everyone is able to make a decent living, that is when we all prosper as a society, that is when we are able to make our biggest leaps forward. Right now the wealthiest are trying to maintain their levels of wealth by fucking the rest of us, because it's the easiest way for them to sustain their wealth at this point. Invest in legitimate prospects to generate future wealth? Fix society? Fuck that, I can have more of its money right now. How are they taking your money? By not paying taxes. Yes, wealthy people should pay more in taxes, and corporations should actually pay taxes, because that's how you run shit properly, and they can afford to pay more. Don't want to pay so much in taxes? Give some of your wealth away, what are you doing with it? There are a myriad of good causes out there that need all the help they can get.