I'm frustrated. I keep watching the news and hearing what the Republican
candidates keep saying and it angers me. I can't blame them. They're
politicians. But, I can and do blame those who listen to what they say, believe
what they say and are still planning on voting for whichever one of them gets
the GOP nomination. Those people (which I realize is about half of registered
voters) give these candidates false credibility (false as far as I'm
concerned).
Since the era of Bush II, when I became politically involved and
enlightened, I've kept the belief that no one who makes less than $250,000 a
year should vote Republican. The older I get, the more I pay attention to the
political process, the more that belief rings true to me. And, I still have yet
to make a salary remotely close to the $250k figure. Why do I believe this way?
Because Republicans do not have the best interests of the middle class at
heart. Why do people still vote for them? It's called pandering. They only need
to appeal to those in the middle class because they need their votes. But, if
the voters saw through their rhetoric and lies, the Republican party would be a
dying breed.
In order to understand why hard-working middle class people could vote
Republican, let's take a look at what's important to those voters. For some,
it's the abortion issue. Good, God-fearing people can't even fathom voting for
someone who would be ok ending the life of an unborn baby. It would be a sin to
vote for someone like that, would it not? These voters are what I call
one-issue voters and to me, that's extremely narrow-minded. First of all,
abortion is legal. No Republican president is ever going to get Roe v Wade
repealed. But, they still use it to earn votes. Then, there's the gun issue.
For some reason, middle class Republican voters think that the Democrats want
to take away their guns. That's false. We just don't think you should be able
to have them on you at all times, especially in the inner city or bars, which
is where some Republicans want anyone to be able to carry them. Doesn't seem
smart. Call me crazy. And, I do believe that Reagan and Bush signed more assault
weapon restrictions than Obama or even Clinton have. How about social programs?
Some Republicans want to get rid of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
But, tell a Republican on Social Security that the government is going to lower
their SS benefits, and that Republican will be the first to tell you, "Get
your government hands off my Social Security!" The fact is that Social
Security is not going bankrupt. It's solvent for another 27 years and can make
80% of its payouts forever after that IF WE DID NOTHING AT ALL.
They claim to be against big government, but they want to be able to tell
you with whom you may have sex with, whether or not women can have access to free
contraception, and what you can and cannot smoke in the privacy of your own
home, and that plays to certain voters’ beliefs, world view and fears. But, I \also wonder how much of this stuff
Republican politicians believe themselves, or use it to gain votes?
Bottom line: Republicans only care about advancing the
interests of their big money donors (especially now more than ever) and don’t
really care about what matters to the constituents that voted them into
office. If you don’t believe me, look at
their recent actions. They wanted to
raise taxes on the middle class (once they realized that you can cut yourself
out of a deficit hole) before they even thought about raising taxes on the richest
1%. But, because our system is
democratic, Republicans need voters in order to have a shot at all at winning
an election office, and so they play the politics of fear, making up falsehoods
about Democratic candidates taking their hard earned money and giving it to a
single unemployed mother and that moves those voters to the ballots. If people would pay just a little more
attention, they would be wise to this and realize that voting for a Republican while
you’re on a five-figure salary just isn’t in your best interest.
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