What motivates Republicans to say they’re for the “little guy” when the only policies they'll pursue are to cut taxes for the rich, gut unions, destroy public schools & ship jobs overseas?
There was a time, 40 or 50 years ago, when this article would have sounded like the hyperventilated ravings of a college Marxist revolutionary wanna-be. It is chilling to realize that today, it is a cold, hard rational statement of the plainly observable facts. Of course, even back then it would have been the nascent truth, but there was still some rationality and human concern in the Republican party then, and there was bi-partisan legislation being passed that benefitted the people. Today it's brazen, undeniable, without even a serious attempt to veil it. Only those who refuse to see can be blind to it.
Republicans' guding premises are: 1) Every man for himself. Let me in the lifeboat first. 2) What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine also. Pure unadorned greed.
Reminds me of my ex. Her whole family was 'me first' grifters. Yet karma got the last laugh. Most of them are gone due to lung cancer. Believe in karma.
What motivates such duplicity? Clearly, the contempt in which they hold their base, due to the gullibility of that base, which, in turn, is magnificently enabled by the superb grift of the political economic ideology.
Makes me think of the commercial with the punchline, "Give it to Mikey. He'll eat anything."
We the People have behaved as We-the-Sheep and allowed our elected legislators and governors to create the 1% of the most ultra-rich people in human history; in the US as well as, by proxy. in the entire global market.
We need to look for MORE SOLUTIONS IN THE CENTER, and return to the quiet, sturdy American Can-Do experience the nation had between the end of WWII and the beginning of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Obama deceptions. Re-building a core democracy in America to return our ability to fund and maintain a foundation of civil and competent communities should be our focus - not peripheral Democratic Urban pet theories of lunatic Republican diversions.
Consider, please:
1. Rebuilding our US K-12 education system; one without students being promoted from one class to another just because they aged one year, but one with mastery and competence in all core subjects at a Global level of Mastery. One with a high school graduation leading to structured apprenticeships in the trades https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/01/27/apprenticeships-are-an-overlooked-solution-for-creating-more-access-to-quality-jobs/, or Associate Technical degrees, or Bachelor Degrees and Graduate Degrees fully paid for and funded by the public. Our currently life-indebted class of students and professionals need to focus, organize and contribute time and funds to get the US back to global standards with high mastery standards and expectations in all areas - AND NO STUDENT DEBTS https://studentloanhero.com/featured/student-loans-different-countries-international/
2. Funding for teachers and education professionals need to be restructured to draw in professionals with Masters and Doctorates paid comparable wages to all other professional professions. Our children and their parents need assurance that their K-12, graduate and post-graduate journey will be staffed with inspiring teachers with high expectations https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2016/06/20/teacher-pay-around-the-world/
3. Along with high pay and high expectations, in order to respect and meet the needs of all parents, we need to overcome the acceptance of low-performing schools, and consider allowing parents to send their children to area schools of their choice. However, these semi-private schools need to be public funded and willing to meet the same enrollment standards as all other schools; they need to accept responsibility for Special Needs Children as well as ESOL children and children from poverty areas and from diverse backgrounds. Bottom line for parents ought to be enough choice for each set of parents to be assured of a safe and competent place for all our children https://nces.ed.gov/blogs/nces/post/why-do-parents-choose-schools-for-their-children and https://www.edcan.ca/articles/parents-school-choice-implications/
4. A one-size-fits everyone Federal Education paradigm has not worked well, at all, and, to many parents and observers look like a train heading for the cliffs; voters ought to consider returning all education rules, regulations and funding to state levels while retaining a Federal umbrella to ensure all states deliver world-class opportunities. https://www.epi.org/publication/public-education-funding-in-the-us-needs-an-overhaul/
Parents and community members ought to look at comparable wages and benefits for their children's schools, and at the level of adult volunteers willing to sit with small groups of children who struggle with either Reading, Writing or Math. In most of our US public schools Anno 2023 new teachers in America do not make enough to pay for safe housing and childcare for their own children, and para-professionals make less than waitresses. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teachers-affordable-housing-san-francisco_n_5c3f2d0be4b0e0baf54319fa
To be fair, in balance, it would be refreshing to see all our journalists challenge us with compelling ire and grief, but to avoid name-calling and accompany their stories with doable, pragmatic suggestions for all of us to focus on https://braverangels.org/. The Braverangels organization has started an effective US political forum to encourage polite, respectful and effective between voters of different political ideologies. Annual membership is $12 and the organization has national, state and local training and meetings.
Mr. Hartman's Citations:
It’s not about having a better-educated electorate or populace.
They’ve spent decades trying to destroy our public education system that was, in the 1960s, the envy of the world. When they did away with free and low-cost college education during the Reagan years they kicked off almost $2 trillion worth of student debt which is preventing people from starting families, opening small businesses, or even buying their first house. But it sure is profitable for Republican-donor bankers!
Awesome! So informative and all encompassing our American ills. The problem is that you are speaking to the choir here. How do we get Dems to send frequent TV commercial messages about all of this. Social media too but advertising on all news and Fauxnews channels would be best ! Bloomberg, Steyer , Clooney , Oprah .. where are you all billionaires !?
Going back to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 where white indentured slaves and black chatel slaves joined together to fight back against the white elites, the strategy has been to keep the workers divided. Blacks are demonized as are unions and gullible white workers go along for the ride. Without stupid white Americans the Republicans would not stay in power.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better off than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Lyndon Johnson
Thanks Thom for all you do and how you write so us not as well informed as you are can understand. I do feel I am well informed (if I could remember it all) because I've been listening to you since March or April 2004. However, I cannot share this post with my conservative friends as it is too one sided.
Clinton, Obama, and Biden have drank the neoliberalism of Reagan and did many things to further it but they also thrown as many crumbs. Biden is now doing a better job but still unbeliveable some of the things he doesn't get right but then he and all of them had so much obstruction from the republican party. But we have to be balanced which I have a hard time doing as well. I don't believe there is a center or moderate anymore. Thank you Thom.
I love and respect the sentiment you express, but the reality of the situation is that these are not just people who disagree with my viewpoint. These are people who are actively and willfully working to dismantle whatever is good and for the benefit of the American people. They are plundering our nation and the world to create an autocracy of the super-rich and an expendable serfdom for the rest of us. They are not just people that have a different view. They are enemies of all that is good and caring in society, and being "balanced" in our approach to them is to play into their hands. I don't think some people realize the enormity of the peril our nation and the world are facing. There are some among the ignorant masses who support this Republican agenda, just as some in a neighborhood may support a mob boss because he/she brings "order" to the streets. This is not a situation where "Can't we all just get along?' or, "Let's try to understand each other" will cut it. We have to be forceful and uncompromising in presenting this truth. And part of the truth, as you astutely point out, is that Clinton and Obama were also in on the game, and Biden, for all he's accomplished so far, must be vigilantly scrutinized and called to account at every step, because he's been a player. too. There isn't a bi-partisan solution to our nation's peril when one of the parties is seeking to destroy all the progress and human advancement, achieved in blood and sacrifice, of the past 100 years.
My thoughts too. What we can share with our polarized family, friends and colleagues is nontriggerring, inclusive language. Which starts with exercising one of our 7 powers self control, which I learned from psychologist social worker writer speaker teacher Becky Bailey in her book, Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline: 7 Skills for Turning Conflict into Cooperation. Where each power coorelates which one of the skills. Which correlate with a value we can teach our children. The best insight I have about her ways of seeing our relationship with ourself, as it relates to our relationship with others is that you can replace her original intended “child” with your relationship with a relative or colleague or neighbor, it still applies. And I think healthy self care and self control is key to restoring ourselves and our relations with others in our community, and so on, up to with citizens in a district, city, region, nation, and even between nations. Becasue when you get down to it, we’re all earthlings on our little blue dot of a spaceship whirling through vast inhospitable space. We’re all we’ve got to save us from ourselves. Given the timeline of our climate and biodiversity emergency, we must let go of the old stories of us v. them. Meet folks where they’re at, with healing inclusive patient language that remembers what we have in common more than focusing on being special (that came directly from Bailey). Her method for teachers really works because my son’s elementary school teacher studied Bailey and swears by it, and my son has benefited from the peaceful classroom she and they hold together.
As long as the GQPTPer’s base remains as willfully ignorant and as credulous as it is (because it’s so willfully ignorant), the GQPTP will always have a very large portion of the voters. Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, greed, and outright lying to their adherents is what fuels the GQPTP. If the GQPTP were to ever tell the truth to its base, it would probably foretell the Second Coming.
Without lies and wedge issues, the GQPTP offers absolutely ZERO to the country as a whole; only to its “ruling class” does it try to do anything positive. But, in this case, “positive” is a relative term.
I've used this acronym for the crooked, conspiracy following, idiots, formally known as the GOP, ever since "Trumpet" (I've named Trump this because he's always blowing his own horn) managed to instill his versions of pathological lying, criminal activity, acute narcissism, sexual predator-ing, racism, conspiracy believing, and multiple phobias (xenophobia, homophobia, etc.), to the spineless, knuckle-dragging, credulous, mindless minions that he welcomed to crawl out from under the cess-pools they've inhabited for the past couple of centuries.
Now, be nice! (LOL) Thank you for explaining. It is certainly an apt description of the great bulk of the GOP - although I believe there are still a few that at least don't subscribe to Q-Anon. I pray that's true, and they're not just hiding it behind their other forked-tongue proclamations.
Pride, Greed, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth.... That's what it's all about, Charlie Brown.
With regard to religion, as Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." All these religious fanatics are playing one game, 'Best defense is an offense.' I could just take the DSM 5 and throw it at them; they have every disorder in the book! Homophobic? You have sexual orientation issues to sort out yourself. Anti-abortion? You are misogynistic because mommy didn't protect you from whatever abuser raped you as a child. The list goes on and on.... I recommend www.centreplace.ca/lectures for several really great dives own religions and how they were manipulated early on. This theologian, John Hamer, who does the lectures is brilliant and really gets to the heart of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddy, Mormans, etc.
As Ginger opined: Our problems are rooted in the nature of man, the Seven Deadly Sins that have plagued mankind since we learned to throw rocks at each other and discovered Fire was overall "Pretty Cool"!
The answer is : Mammon Worship (you know the 'other god' besides the many faced god known as death). The only metric is power and the wealth power obtains. Oaths of office or fidelity mean nothing, only avenues for Greed and Averous. Consensus is irrelevant, laws to be manipulated, obstacles to be overcome or avoided. The only "Good Politician, Judge or Law enforcement is one who stays 'Bought'. The many exist to service the few.
As Molly Ivan's Stated: "The Republicans do not want to govern, they want to rule"..
and my paraphrase of Machiavelli; 'ruling is easy if you hate the population; anything short of adoration earns the iron fist of the State'. Witness North Korea.
Look again, and you'll see that's part of the Report photo today. It says a thousand words about the ideology the right sells. If you're poor it's your fault, if you are sick it's your fault, if you're unable to afford a formal education it's your fault.
We do deserve everything that any first world nation is providing. If they can figure-out how, we can use the mistakes they made to do it even better. That's our message.
If this new Republican Party loves the working people (not just white working men) then they need to redirect America's money into their pockets. That's not socialism; it's smart economic policy. That's our message.
Their right-wing brain wants accountability. Remind them the ultra wealthy are not being held to the standard of working people. How many times did Buffet say exactly that? That's our message.
Teach the voters. It is not about messing-up; it's about the message that we deserve the basics. Thanks Thom.
To answer your question, Thom, (if it wasn't rhetorical because it seems you probably already know the answer) my guess is it probably all makes perfect sense to some. When one honestly believes in top-down, free market capitalism then anything is possible, including they wouldn't want strong government, taxes, unions or regulations protecting social and ecological health because all those things just slow down business (in their narrowly focused mind, at least). This way of seeing the world could be framed in one or more of the four denial from Middle Ages European dualism turned colonialism turned global capitalism (now late-stage capitalism because we're running out of our one planet so its impossible to continue much longer). https://decolonialfutures.net/4denials/ And when one sees things in public schools not going so well or that they don't agree with (from low scores to BIPOC and LGBTQ stories) they probably prefer that their taxes go to alternative charter or private schools. And this next one is probably a stretch but I will try, shipping jobs overseas means cheap nature and labor and thus lower priced products for consumers here, and thus good for the economy. Our western culture suffers these denials across all political identities. I.e., Clinton signed NAFTA in '93. Biden signed IRA last summer which funds fossil fuel energy despite dire warnings by climate scientists more than clean energy transitions. The "little guy" language seems to be part of the rhetoric strategy of the elite to keep everyone deceived, divided or at least dramatically engaged and distracted. A little like the nature of your question and what false narratives it seems to reinforce, as demonstrated by all the republican bashing and venting here. Understandable, except they do the same to us in their spaces. I think that republican or democrat, we all want fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy food to eat, financial well-being and good health for ourselves and families. Well, for most folks. Some psychopath exceptions of course. And both sides suffer from the same denials described in the link above. In many ways we are all the same when it comes to basic human needs. The key is not being drawn in to violent conflict by triggering language, which takes a lot of self control, to be the grown up in the room. But the good news is there are more of us reality loving folk than there are the delusional few financial elites who have actual control. If we can overcome our republic and democrat identities that have been triggered for maximum polarization then we might be able to team up and apply enough pressure on our leaders to take appropriate action needed to get off the unhealthy and risky road that they are taking us down. If anyone here would like to hear more about what this looks like, then please let me know?
Before we can others as us, we must decolonize our minds (implicit biases). No one can do this hard inner work but you (us) 😘 https://decolonialfutures.net/4denials/
Video for “The Same” by of one of my fav’s Thome York’s new (pandemic) band, The Smile (as in, by those who smile at you while killing you, think global free market capitalist billionaires)
There was a time, 40 or 50 years ago, when this article would have sounded like the hyperventilated ravings of a college Marxist revolutionary wanna-be. It is chilling to realize that today, it is a cold, hard rational statement of the plainly observable facts. Of course, even back then it would have been the nascent truth, but there was still some rationality and human concern in the Republican party then, and there was bi-partisan legislation being passed that benefitted the people. Today it's brazen, undeniable, without even a serious attempt to veil it. Only those who refuse to see can be blind to it.
Republicans' guding premises are: 1) Every man for himself. Let me in the lifeboat first. 2) What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine also. Pure unadorned greed.
Reminds me of my ex. Her whole family was 'me first' grifters. Yet karma got the last laugh. Most of them are gone due to lung cancer. Believe in karma.
What motivates such duplicity? Clearly, the contempt in which they hold their base, due to the gullibility of that base, which, in turn, is magnificently enabled by the superb grift of the political economic ideology.
Makes me think of the commercial with the punchline, "Give it to Mikey. He'll eat anything."
For 40-50 years the US voter cohort has been whining, a lot, and then, year after year, kept on re-electing both Democratic and Republican legislators who have built an aristocracy of life-time legislators https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/reelection-ratescompletely beholden to an army of corporate funded lobbyists https://www.investopedia.com/investing/which-industry-spends-most-lobbying-antm-so/. The same voter cohort have stood by while these legislators allowed clusters of corporations to form giant monopolies in all areas of our lives, from investigative news to food production https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2019/04/11/america-has-a-monopoly-problem/?sh=4f2bc8e22972.
We the People have behaved as We-the-Sheep and allowed our elected legislators and governors to create the 1% of the most ultra-rich people in human history; in the US as well as, by proxy. in the entire global market.
The whining ought to stop https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-legacy-distorted-love/201203/differential-diagnosis-whining. The name calling ought to stop. And the bullies need to be stopped.
We need to look for MORE SOLUTIONS IN THE CENTER, and return to the quiet, sturdy American Can-Do experience the nation had between the end of WWII and the beginning of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Obama deceptions. Re-building a core democracy in America to return our ability to fund and maintain a foundation of civil and competent communities should be our focus - not peripheral Democratic Urban pet theories of lunatic Republican diversions.
Consider, please:
1. Rebuilding our US K-12 education system; one without students being promoted from one class to another just because they aged one year, but one with mastery and competence in all core subjects at a Global level of Mastery. One with a high school graduation leading to structured apprenticeships in the trades https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/01/27/apprenticeships-are-an-overlooked-solution-for-creating-more-access-to-quality-jobs/, or Associate Technical degrees, or Bachelor Degrees and Graduate Degrees fully paid for and funded by the public. Our currently life-indebted class of students and professionals need to focus, organize and contribute time and funds to get the US back to global standards with high mastery standards and expectations in all areas - AND NO STUDENT DEBTS https://studentloanhero.com/featured/student-loans-different-countries-international/
2. Funding for teachers and education professionals need to be restructured to draw in professionals with Masters and Doctorates paid comparable wages to all other professional professions. Our children and their parents need assurance that their K-12, graduate and post-graduate journey will be staffed with inspiring teachers with high expectations https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2016/06/20/teacher-pay-around-the-world/
3. Along with high pay and high expectations, in order to respect and meet the needs of all parents, we need to overcome the acceptance of low-performing schools, and consider allowing parents to send their children to area schools of their choice. However, these semi-private schools need to be public funded and willing to meet the same enrollment standards as all other schools; they need to accept responsibility for Special Needs Children as well as ESOL children and children from poverty areas and from diverse backgrounds. Bottom line for parents ought to be enough choice for each set of parents to be assured of a safe and competent place for all our children https://nces.ed.gov/blogs/nces/post/why-do-parents-choose-schools-for-their-children and https://www.edcan.ca/articles/parents-school-choice-implications/
4. A one-size-fits everyone Federal Education paradigm has not worked well, at all, and, to many parents and observers look like a train heading for the cliffs; voters ought to consider returning all education rules, regulations and funding to state levels while retaining a Federal umbrella to ensure all states deliver world-class opportunities. https://www.epi.org/publication/public-education-funding-in-the-us-needs-an-overhaul/
5. Parents ought to recognize that electing competent and passionate members of their own communities' local school boards is their guarantee of getting high expectations for all their children, and not leave it to ideologues or over-educated-emperors-with-no-clothes-on. https://xqsuperschool.org/rethinktogether/demystifying-school-boards-what-do-school-boards-do/
Whining is expected of small children, and spoiled people. America has fallen to levels far below those in EU countries, India, Japan and Korea in almost all areas of education. Locally, parents and other should begin by looking at local schools' mastery levels; are students 'promoted' by social standards https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/is-social-promotion-crippling-our-childrens-future-the-debate each year, grade level by grade level? Or are students not meeting state mastery standards first referred to summer remedial classes and then placed in a repeating class with small group focused instruction? https://readingpartners.org/blog/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-mandatory-retention-laws/
Parents and community members ought to look at comparable wages and benefits for their children's schools, and at the level of adult volunteers willing to sit with small groups of children who struggle with either Reading, Writing or Math. In most of our US public schools Anno 2023 new teachers in America do not make enough to pay for safe housing and childcare for their own children, and para-professionals make less than waitresses. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teachers-affordable-housing-san-francisco_n_5c3f2d0be4b0e0baf54319fa
To be fair, in balance, it would be refreshing to see all our journalists challenge us with compelling ire and grief, but to avoid name-calling and accompany their stories with doable, pragmatic suggestions for all of us to focus on https://braverangels.org/. The Braverangels organization has started an effective US political forum to encourage polite, respectful and effective between voters of different political ideologies. Annual membership is $12 and the organization has national, state and local training and meetings.
Mr. Hartman's Citations:
It’s not about having a better-educated electorate or populace.
They’ve spent decades trying to destroy our public education system that was, in the 1960s, the envy of the world. When they did away with free and low-cost college education during the Reagan years they kicked off almost $2 trillion worth of student debt which is preventing people from starting families, opening small businesses, or even buying their first house. But it sure is profitable for Republican-donor bankers!
Awesome! So informative and all encompassing our American ills. The problem is that you are speaking to the choir here. How do we get Dems to send frequent TV commercial messages about all of this. Social media too but advertising on all news and Fauxnews channels would be best ! Bloomberg, Steyer , Clooney , Oprah .. where are you all billionaires !?
Going back to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 where white indentured slaves and black chatel slaves joined together to fight back against the white elites, the strategy has been to keep the workers divided. Blacks are demonized as are unions and gullible white workers go along for the ride. Without stupid white Americans the Republicans would not stay in power.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better off than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Lyndon Johnson
Amazing quote, thanks.
Thanks Thom for all you do and how you write so us not as well informed as you are can understand. I do feel I am well informed (if I could remember it all) because I've been listening to you since March or April 2004. However, I cannot share this post with my conservative friends as it is too one sided.
Clinton, Obama, and Biden have drank the neoliberalism of Reagan and did many things to further it but they also thrown as many crumbs. Biden is now doing a better job but still unbeliveable some of the things he doesn't get right but then he and all of them had so much obstruction from the republican party. But we have to be balanced which I have a hard time doing as well. I don't believe there is a center or moderate anymore. Thank you Thom.
I love and respect the sentiment you express, but the reality of the situation is that these are not just people who disagree with my viewpoint. These are people who are actively and willfully working to dismantle whatever is good and for the benefit of the American people. They are plundering our nation and the world to create an autocracy of the super-rich and an expendable serfdom for the rest of us. They are not just people that have a different view. They are enemies of all that is good and caring in society, and being "balanced" in our approach to them is to play into their hands. I don't think some people realize the enormity of the peril our nation and the world are facing. There are some among the ignorant masses who support this Republican agenda, just as some in a neighborhood may support a mob boss because he/she brings "order" to the streets. This is not a situation where "Can't we all just get along?' or, "Let's try to understand each other" will cut it. We have to be forceful and uncompromising in presenting this truth. And part of the truth, as you astutely point out, is that Clinton and Obama were also in on the game, and Biden, for all he's accomplished so far, must be vigilantly scrutinized and called to account at every step, because he's been a player. too. There isn't a bi-partisan solution to our nation's peril when one of the parties is seeking to destroy all the progress and human advancement, achieved in blood and sacrifice, of the past 100 years.
My thoughts too. What we can share with our polarized family, friends and colleagues is nontriggerring, inclusive language. Which starts with exercising one of our 7 powers self control, which I learned from psychologist social worker writer speaker teacher Becky Bailey in her book, Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline: 7 Skills for Turning Conflict into Cooperation. Where each power coorelates which one of the skills. Which correlate with a value we can teach our children. The best insight I have about her ways of seeing our relationship with ourself, as it relates to our relationship with others is that you can replace her original intended “child” with your relationship with a relative or colleague or neighbor, it still applies. And I think healthy self care and self control is key to restoring ourselves and our relations with others in our community, and so on, up to with citizens in a district, city, region, nation, and even between nations. Becasue when you get down to it, we’re all earthlings on our little blue dot of a spaceship whirling through vast inhospitable space. We’re all we’ve got to save us from ourselves. Given the timeline of our climate and biodiversity emergency, we must let go of the old stories of us v. them. Meet folks where they’re at, with healing inclusive patient language that remembers what we have in common more than focusing on being special (that came directly from Bailey). Her method for teachers really works because my son’s elementary school teacher studied Bailey and swears by it, and my son has benefited from the peaceful classroom she and they hold together.
As long as the GQPTPer’s base remains as willfully ignorant and as credulous as it is (because it’s so willfully ignorant), the GQPTP will always have a very large portion of the voters. Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, greed, and outright lying to their adherents is what fuels the GQPTP. If the GQPTP were to ever tell the truth to its base, it would probably foretell the Second Coming.
Without lies and wedge issues, the GQPTP offers absolutely ZERO to the country as a whole; only to its “ruling class” does it try to do anything positive. But, in this case, “positive” is a relative term.
It’s been the Chump Party for decades, but now it rhymes.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is "GQPTP?" I assume it's a reference to Republicans and a play on GOP, but whaaat...?
GQPTP = Grand QAnon Party/Tea Party
I've used this acronym for the crooked, conspiracy following, idiots, formally known as the GOP, ever since "Trumpet" (I've named Trump this because he's always blowing his own horn) managed to instill his versions of pathological lying, criminal activity, acute narcissism, sexual predator-ing, racism, conspiracy believing, and multiple phobias (xenophobia, homophobia, etc.), to the spineless, knuckle-dragging, credulous, mindless minions that he welcomed to crawl out from under the cess-pools they've inhabited for the past couple of centuries.
Now, be nice! (LOL) Thank you for explaining. It is certainly an apt description of the great bulk of the GOP - although I believe there are still a few that at least don't subscribe to Q-Anon. I pray that's true, and they're not just hiding it behind their other forked-tongue proclamations.
Pride, Greed, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth.... That's what it's all about, Charlie Brown.
With regard to religion, as Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." All these religious fanatics are playing one game, 'Best defense is an offense.' I could just take the DSM 5 and throw it at them; they have every disorder in the book! Homophobic? You have sexual orientation issues to sort out yourself. Anti-abortion? You are misogynistic because mommy didn't protect you from whatever abuser raped you as a child. The list goes on and on.... I recommend www.centreplace.ca/lectures for several really great dives own religions and how they were manipulated early on. This theologian, John Hamer, who does the lectures is brilliant and really gets to the heart of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddy, Mormans, etc.
Mammon Worshipers
As Ginger opined: Our problems are rooted in the nature of man, the Seven Deadly Sins that have plagued mankind since we learned to throw rocks at each other and discovered Fire was overall "Pretty Cool"!
The answer is : Mammon Worship (you know the 'other god' besides the many faced god known as death). The only metric is power and the wealth power obtains. Oaths of office or fidelity mean nothing, only avenues for Greed and Averous. Consensus is irrelevant, laws to be manipulated, obstacles to be overcome or avoided. The only "Good Politician, Judge or Law enforcement is one who stays 'Bought'. The many exist to service the few.
As Molly Ivan's Stated: "The Republicans do not want to govern, they want to rule"..
and my paraphrase of Machiavelli; 'ruling is easy if you hate the population; anything short of adoration earns the iron fist of the State'. Witness North Korea.
"You deserve to wake up HAPPY. DON'T MESS UP!"
Look again, and you'll see that's part of the Report photo today. It says a thousand words about the ideology the right sells. If you're poor it's your fault, if you are sick it's your fault, if you're unable to afford a formal education it's your fault.
We do deserve everything that any first world nation is providing. If they can figure-out how, we can use the mistakes they made to do it even better. That's our message.
If this new Republican Party loves the working people (not just white working men) then they need to redirect America's money into their pockets. That's not socialism; it's smart economic policy. That's our message.
Their right-wing brain wants accountability. Remind them the ultra wealthy are not being held to the standard of working people. How many times did Buffet say exactly that? That's our message.
Teach the voters. It is not about messing-up; it's about the message that we deserve the basics. Thanks Thom.
Powerful distillation, Thom.
This is a great two page pocket guide for any Dem or progressive candidate in the next election.
can only hope, Michael Moore has a great program going for those candidates, too — b.rad
To answer your question, Thom, (if it wasn't rhetorical because it seems you probably already know the answer) my guess is it probably all makes perfect sense to some. When one honestly believes in top-down, free market capitalism then anything is possible, including they wouldn't want strong government, taxes, unions or regulations protecting social and ecological health because all those things just slow down business (in their narrowly focused mind, at least). This way of seeing the world could be framed in one or more of the four denial from Middle Ages European dualism turned colonialism turned global capitalism (now late-stage capitalism because we're running out of our one planet so its impossible to continue much longer). https://decolonialfutures.net/4denials/ And when one sees things in public schools not going so well or that they don't agree with (from low scores to BIPOC and LGBTQ stories) they probably prefer that their taxes go to alternative charter or private schools. And this next one is probably a stretch but I will try, shipping jobs overseas means cheap nature and labor and thus lower priced products for consumers here, and thus good for the economy. Our western culture suffers these denials across all political identities. I.e., Clinton signed NAFTA in '93. Biden signed IRA last summer which funds fossil fuel energy despite dire warnings by climate scientists more than clean energy transitions. The "little guy" language seems to be part of the rhetoric strategy of the elite to keep everyone deceived, divided or at least dramatically engaged and distracted. A little like the nature of your question and what false narratives it seems to reinforce, as demonstrated by all the republican bashing and venting here. Understandable, except they do the same to us in their spaces. I think that republican or democrat, we all want fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy food to eat, financial well-being and good health for ourselves and families. Well, for most folks. Some psychopath exceptions of course. And both sides suffer from the same denials described in the link above. In many ways we are all the same when it comes to basic human needs. The key is not being drawn in to violent conflict by triggering language, which takes a lot of self control, to be the grown up in the room. But the good news is there are more of us reality loving folk than there are the delusional few financial elites who have actual control. If we can overcome our republic and democrat identities that have been triggered for maximum polarization then we might be able to team up and apply enough pressure on our leaders to take appropriate action needed to get off the unhealthy and risky road that they are taking us down. If anyone here would like to hear more about what this looks like, then please let me know?
Before we can others as us, we must decolonize our minds (implicit biases). No one can do this hard inner work but you (us) 😘 https://decolonialfutures.net/4denials/
(see others)
https://youtu.be/4rDaqGv4AIE
Video for “The Same” by of one of my fav’s Thome York’s new (pandemic) band, The Smile (as in, by those who smile at you while killing you, think global free market capitalist billionaires)