Monstrous GOP, Part the 3,216th
I continue to be at a loss as to how any decent person, with even the slightest bit of concern for his or her fellow human beings, can choose to align with today’s GOP. Just in the last few months I’ve taken note of these stories (from among many, many more):
- Florida Rejects Medicaid Expansion, Leaves 1 Million Uninsured
- The Right’s Latest Scheme to Sabotage Obamacare
- House Republicans Hate Poor Too Much to End Farm Socialism
- ‘Welfare Policy on the Backs of Farmers’
- Hunger Games, U.S.A.
- Killing the Immigration Bill, Polarizing America
Something terrible has happened to the soul of the Republican Party. We’ve gone beyond bad economic doctrine. We’ve even gone beyond selfishness and special interests. At this point we’re talking about a state of mind that takes positive glee in inflicting further suffering on the already miserable.
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Somehow, one of our nation’s two great parties has become infected by an almost pathological meanspiritedness, a contempt for what CNBC’s Rick Santelli, in the famous rant that launched the Tea Party, called “losers.” If you’re an American, and you’re down on your luck, these people don’t want to help; they want to give you an extra kick. I don’t fully understand it, but it’s a terrible thing to behold.
None of the incidents listed above passes the smell test for me, but of course each is buttressed by some kind of sophistry, and I suppose a person could be persuaded here and there if they didn’t look too closely. But doesn’t the weight of the indecency add up to something off-putting after a while? People should be migrating away from this monstrous party in droves.