By Bud Koenemund(Written: September 2015)
Once upon a time, I was a Reagan Republican. I was a
Conservative. I believed the Republican Party was truly trying to make the
United States a better country. Included in that was increasing the freedom,
and improving the lives and incomes, of every American.
But, I slowly came to realize this is not what they want.
In the last 10 years, I’ve realized the GOP isn’t interested in “the people” –
if they were, they’ve had any number of chances to show it. Instead, they’ve
made it clear they don’t care about the majority of American citizens; they
care only about the rich. They are only interested in securing more and larger
tax cuts and subsidies for the wealthy and corporations. These entities receive
tax breaks, tax cuts, loopholes, and exemptions worth millions – even billions
– and then complain about the pennies falling off their counting tables to the
poor – people seeking a living wage, adequate housing, affordable education.
Ronald Reagan promised trickle-down economics would help everyone.
They say a rising tide lifts all boats, but, clearly, this is not the case. The
rising tide – at least over my lifetime – has only flooded the pockets of the
rich. And, this seems to be fine with the Republican Party.
Too many of the rich, the ones who actually could afford
to pay higher taxes (or any taxes at all), use that money to hire
lawyers/lobbyists to find ways around paying. Now, I’m not talking about
raising taxes to some ridiculous level, nor wealth re-distribution. I think if
you start a business, work hard and run it well, you deserve to make money. I’m
talking about people with more money than they could spend in 10 lifetimes, who
complain the poor are poor because they’re lazy. I’m talking about people who
graduate college to a $200 million inheritance, and act like they built their
world from nothing. And, seem to think everyone who isn’t like them is stupid,
or lazy, or somehow less than they are.
Republicans are constantly fighting to pass legislation
giving banks more and more power – and, not surprisingly, more money. And,
still, the banks squeeze every dollar out those who can least afford it – the
little guy; people who work a 40+ hour week, and still can’t support a family.
I was once young, and I thought I knew everything. That’s
the way life is. You don’t know what you don’t know until much later.
Sometimes, years later. But, I ask you, Gentle Reader, please don’t blindly
believe the rhetoric spewed by The Republican Party; or Fox News; or Rush
Limbaugh; or your teachers, or even your parents. And, for damned sure, don’t
believe me, a stranger on the Internet.
Search for yourself. Look into how much the income of the
top one percent has increased over the last 20 years. Look at how much the
income of the bottom 50 percent has increased. Google how much money General
Electric earned last year. Then search for how much they paid in taxes. Search
for the amount we give US corporations in subsidies and/or tax breaks. Then
search for how much money and how many jobs some of those corporations move
overseas. Search for the percentage of Walmart workers receiving some form of
public assistance.
After that, consider what the leaders of the Party think
about women. Not what they say about women, but what they actually do. What do
their actions reveal? Do they think women should be allowed to make decisions
about their own health care? The answer is an obvious and overwhelming no. As
we speak – OK, as I type, and you read – Republicans are trying to defund
Planned Parenthood. In less than a week, Republicans want to shut down the
government over this funding. Even though the last shut down (also Republican
led) cost – by one estimate – $25 billion, 140,000 jobs, and caused a downgrade
in the credit rating of the United States. Their “do it my way or I’ll take my
ball and go home” attitude hurt the country. Oh, and last year, they cut
funding for women’s health services.
Increasingly, many Republicans try to pass legislation,
or deny equal rights, based on their religious beliefs, apparently forgetting
that while the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, it also affords
freedom from religion. They cannot seem to accept that The Bible is not the
Constitution. For an example, look at the decades long fight to “allow”
same-sex marriage? How many of the Republican Presidential candidates do not
support same-sex marriage based on their own religious objections? They
publicly support discrimination against an entire group (the LGBTQ community)
of American citizens.
When President Obama was elected, Republican leaders in
Congress decided they would obstruct everything he wanted to try. (Look it up,
there’s a memo they sent out notifying members of this.) They have opposed
every program intended to help those less fortunate than themselves – which, by
the way, represents an overwhelming percentage of American citizens. They did
this without presenting ideas of their own – though the President declared
himself willing to listen to all sides, regardless of political party.
They opposed – still oppose, and continue trying to kill
and/or defund – the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), which provides basic,
minimal health insurance to millions, while even the newest members of Congress
enjoy the best health insurance and care in the world.
The Republican Party evinces a marked lack of empathy, as
if they cannot understand that everyone in the United States is not just like
them. That others may go through things they’ll never have to experience. That
because they are guaranteed a pension – after just one term in Congress –
everyone else will also have a comfortable retirement.
I’m not – and don’t pretend to be – the smartest guy in
the world. I’m probably not even the smartest guy in the office I’m seated in.
But, I can try to understand what other people are going through. I can
sympathize, and hope I never have to deal with situations that can ruin a
person, or a family, socially, medically, and economically. And, at the same
time, I can vote for candidates and parties that try to do a little more to
help people – people who don’t have the word millionaire after their name.
It wasn’t one thing – one issue – that turned me from the Republican
Party, but a realization – an awakening – to the Party’s true motivation. Why I
would consider voting for the Liberal party? Because things in this country
need to change, and the Republican Party has made it clear they see no need for
this. I cannot, in good conscience, support what the Republican Party has
become.