Seriously? You want me to write a dissertation about why Republic policies are bad for ordinary people? My agreement with the quoted comment was really with the idea that people that are focusing on these contentious hot button social issues are casting their votes based on the wrong thing.
Now, aside from that, I do happen to agree with the rest of the quoted paragraph concerning republican political agenda, but I could have agreed with his initial sentence even if I didn't. Here are some specifics for why agree with each of the things 95NDAlumniNW said:
- I think that conservative policies have restricted personal liberties by eroding the many of the protections historically afforded by the 6th (and 14th) Amendment; and through many of the more draconian elements of the Patriot Act (i.e. warrantless wiretapping, etc.), among other things.
-I think that republican policies are hurting the middle class and increasing the chasm between rich and poor through tax policies that favor the wealthy; by favoring policies of deregulation and allowing banks and corporations to operate in a virtually lawless environment; by taking a decidedly pro-management stance on labor policy, while "management" continues to be paid more, labor continues to be paid less and jobs continue to disappear overseas; by failing to pass any sort of jobs-generating legislation while controlling the House and opposing their political opposition's every attempt to do so; and by taking a position in opposition to unemployment benefits that people desperately need, because they think it encourages laziness.
-I think that republicans disregard for the environment is so well documented it does not require an explanation here.
- And I think an argument could be made that republicans are "destroying what this country is all about" (although I probably would have chosen different wording for this idea than he did) by creating a culture of obstinate obstructionism in Washington that has left the federal government unable to do anything substantial to address our dismal current state of affairs; and by cultivating the current toxic state of the political discourse in this country. The right is certainly more politically savvy than the left, but part of that is trading in a brand of inflammatory rhetoric that is reckless and irresponsible.
