There are many adversities facing the nation that
have arisen over the decade that Republicans have dominated
government.
Republicans have presided over spending deficits
that are nearly double those of the last Democrat-controlled
federal government. These government deficits have been funded by
loans from other regimes--mainly China--which makes our country an
economic slave to other governments. This is no small fact when
Chinese corporations make bids to buy an American oil company and
consumer appliance manufacturer.
The foreign purchase of American bonds allows
the Federal Bank to print more money which devalues the existing
supply. Consequently prices rise and the value of labor is
diminished because set wages have less value.
The trade deficit has skyrocketed while Republicans have adopted
free-trade philosophies. Free trade has done little more than
allow manufacturers to seek the lowest cost labor market and
encourage economic growth through consumerism and credit rather
than production and thrift. Consequently American working wages
are shrinking, savings are disappearing, private and public debt
is mounting and social stability is eroding.
Opened door immigration policies, through neglect
of the enforcement of existing immigration laws, have continued
unabated under Republican government. Illegal immigrants can find
employment at higher wages than citizens and still reduce labor
costs for employers. This is because they do not incur costs for
benefits or FICA taxes. Consequently, rather than illegals being
punished, they can find work more easily with higher pay than
those who have been born in this country.
Republicans have expanded the scope and
intrusiveness of the federal government into every aspect of
American life. Republicans supported a federal ID program that has
begun to be implemented through state departments of motor
vehicles using drivers’ licenses. Local schools are hostage to
federal education programs (a centerpiece of President Bush’s 2000
campaign), cities are overwhelmed with costs of unfunded federal
mandates, and courts have continued their usurpation of
legislative power on all levels and Republicans have not lifted a
finger to stop it. By the way, seven of the nine Supreme Court
Justices were appointed by Republicans.
Please note that none of the above criticisms
even mentions the War on Terror (often designated here as the War
Against International Terror or W.A.I.T.), any criticism of such
is considered by media supporters of the Republican regime to be
paramount to treason or, worse, motivated by a liberal mind.
Although the purpose of this commentary is not to criticize
America’s military occupation of Iraq, Republicans used Iraq’s
perceived role in global terrorism to rally voters in both the
2002 and 2004 elections.
Insanity has often been defined as doing the
same thing and expecting different results. If such is the case,
then conservatives who vote Republican, out of hope that the party
will slay the federal leviathan, are perhaps the maddest of
Americans. The GOP has controlled Congress for 10 years. The
president has been Republican for five years. Republican nominees
to the Supreme Court have been in the majority since the 1970’s.
In spite of this political growth and domination of a political
organization that promises to pull the reigns on the power of
government, centralization of wealth and power launches forward at
a pace that despots in development would envy.
The failure of Republicans to reverse the
usurpation of power by the federal government is a victory of a
political system that is filled with people serving their own
ambitions and interests. This should not surprise many who have
supported GOP candidates with the hope that they would restore a
moral culture to public policy and governing institutions. Those
voters, especially those who claim to be Christian, generally
accept the notion that human nature is frightfully self-serving
and the record of the Republican party, when compared to the
campaign promises of restricting government power, if not proving
that faith outright, at least proves Republican leaders to be
duplicitous.
American politicians have proven to be arrogant,
vane and venal. Their only purpose for condescending to we common
folk in their various "town hall meetings" is to cement their
popularity which they hope will secure reelections. Republican
officials, however, won their office with promises of slaying the
growing federal dragon so as to rescue us from tyranny. They have,
rather, become keepers of the dragon and suggest that it will
protect us from unknown dangers from undetectable sources.
This strategy of building support upon shadows
standing on penumbra is not worthy of support. Republicans have
violated their contract and thinking that they are going to change
when they are the beneficiaries of their abuses is naiveté. Such
simplicity in thought by the general public is not going to secure
the greatness of a nation in troubled times.
