Dear friends:
Just a short note on the growing hypocrisy and malice being spread by the Republican party since the Presidency of Richard Millhouse Nixon some fifty years ago.
America reached its zenith as a country back during the JFK years and it was called "Camelot" for a good reason. Then along came 'tricky Dick,' (he had already shamed himself during the "checkers" incident) and the Republicans started their long, slow slide into partisanship, greed and dishonesty!
When he finally did gain the Presidency (69 - 74) his administration became the first (and only) in history where both the Vice-President and the President of the United States were drummed out of office for being generally disgusting!
Since then it's been a steady slide (with the exception of Gerald Ford) into the abyss and nobody seems to be able to stop it!
From the Iran-Contra affair to George W Bush declaring an illegal war in the Middle-East as a few examples from among many, the only “principles” the Republican Party seems to have now are driven by profit and power. (When you sell people’s privacy, conspire to deny them health care, and authorize projects that threaten the very air they breathe and the water they drink, you are the antithesis of public servants.)
Lindy West at the Guardian puts it well: “America has never seen a party less caring than 21st-century Republicans.”
As she explains:
Just a short note on the growing hypocrisy and malice being spread by the Republican party since the Presidency of Richard Millhouse Nixon some fifty years ago.
America reached its zenith as a country back during the JFK years and it was called "Camelot" for a good reason. Then along came 'tricky Dick,' (he had already shamed himself during the "checkers" incident) and the Republicans started their long, slow slide into partisanship, greed and dishonesty!
This "Checkers" speech came during the 1952 presidential election campaign. Senator Nixon was Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice-presidential running mate. Accused of accepting illegal gifts, Nixon used his television appearance to deny the allegations and outline his personal financial circumstances.
When he finally did gain the Presidency (69 - 74) his administration became the first (and only) in history where both the Vice-President and the President of the United States were drummed out of office for being generally disgusting!
Since then it's been a steady slide (with the exception of Gerald Ford) into the abyss and nobody seems to be able to stop it!
From the Iran-Contra affair to George W Bush declaring an illegal war in the Middle-East as a few examples from among many, the only “principles” the Republican Party seems to have now are driven by profit and power. (When you sell people’s privacy, conspire to deny them health care, and authorize projects that threaten the very air they breathe and the water they drink, you are the antithesis of public servants.)
Lindy West at the Guardian puts it well: “America has never seen a party less caring than 21st-century Republicans.”
As she explains:
I don’t know that America has ever seen a political party so divested of care. Since Trump took office, Republicans have proposed legislation to destroy unions, the healthcare system, the education system and the Environmental Protection Agency; to defund the reproductive health charity Planned Parenthood and restrict abortion; to stifle public protest and decimate arts funding; to increase the risk of violence against trans people and roll back anti-discrimination laws; and to funnel more and more wealth from the poorest to the richest. Every executive order and piece of GOP legislation is destructive, aimed at dismantling something else, never creating anything new, never in the service of improving the care of the nation.
Contemporary American conservatism is not a political philosophy so much as the roiling negative space around Barack Obama’s legacy. Can you imagine being that insecure? Can you imagine not wanting children to have healthcare because you’re embarrassed a black guy was your boss? It would be sad if it wasn’t so dangerous.
A close friend put it well: “I think much of it is about spite ― let’s take away whatever Obama did just because we hate him and because we CAN. Whatever he did must be wrong. Have they [the Republicans] done anything or passed any regulation since they took office that actually benefits anyone other than big business (and maybe coal miners)? I honestly can’t think of anything! Isn’t [Steve] Bannon’s philosophy to deconstruct and destroy the government? I’d say he’s succeeding.”
Yes, it’s always easier to destroy than to create. And when you destroy, there’s money to be made from the wreckage.
Behold, I give you today’s Republican Party, a party of wreckers and moral turpitude.
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