So What Do Republicans Stand For, Anyway?

Over the past decade, the Republic Party at the national level has moved further to the right, and has become very effective as a well-coordinated bloc of obstructionists.  While the Democrats have managed to plod through their agenda with a diversity of views ranging from socialist (not a dirty word) Bernie Sanders to über-blue-dog Blanche Lincoln, the GOP solidly votes “no” on every national initiative – even those that it originally proposed.  The moniker “Party of No” is well-deserved.

So while it is clear that the Republicans are AGAINST everything the Obama/Pelosi/Reid administration proposes, it suggests the question, “what are the right-wingers actually FOR?”

We can answer this question by the process of elimination.  By looking at what the GOP is AGAINST, we can sift out what remains and determine what it is FOR.

Clearly, the righties are AGAINST the common people.  They eviscerated the Nixonian approach to Health Care and voted AGAINST health care for 40 million Americans.  Even though Health Insurance Reform passed, the Republicans vow to repeal this life-saving legislation in the next Congress.  And along the lines of life-saving legislation, the Republicans are AGAINST environmentally friendly legislation and the regulations that place the safety of workers on equal par with the dividends of shareholders. 

Looking at the rights of Americans, these too are not on the GOP’s agenda.  They are AGAINST the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of rights when it comes to marriage, and AGAINST a woman’s right over her own body (although some Republicans are tacitly FOR violence against abortion providers).

Republicans are also AGAINST creating jobs, as evidenced by their solid NO vote on the stimulus package.  And for those people who are out of a job, the right is AGAINST providing them with extended unemployment funding which would pour money back into the economy.

The Republic Party line argues that it is AGAINST many of the initiatives that help Americans because the party is the one of "fiscal responsibility."  Yet, its minions are FOR budget-busting wars of choice in the Middle East, and the current deficits have ballooned under Republican presidential leadership.  And while they continue to espouse their demonstrably harmful “trickle down” economic policies, the real tax cuts have been for the wealthy (the repeal of the estate tax on the national level for the top 0.5% of the population, and the failure to renew the “millionaire’s tax” here in New Jersey.)

So what’s left?  Well, the Republicans are FOR the death penalty.  Despite their mantra of the “sanctity of life”, the righties (and unfortunately many Democrats) would rather see a few innocent people put to death by the state than ban this cruel and unusual punishment as has been done in most of the civilized world.  This stance puts the United States in the same category as Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and the Palestinian Authority.  That seems to be what the right wing is FOR.