Yep, already.
I’m a political independent, and always have been. We’re two weeks or less from the mid-term elections for 2018. Long-time readers know my inclinations with regards to voting in the upcoming mid-term elections, but I thought I’d share my explicit reasons for my approach to voting this season, and why I’m varying from my usual Evaluate each race and vote according to their merits, which, by the time I reach the judges, I’m bored and have wandered off. Fortunately, I don’t think judges should be voted upon in any case, so my conscience is only minimally impacted.
So, for my readers, especially those of a conservative bent, here is why I did not (having already voted) vote for a single Republican candidate, and why you should also not vote for a single Republican candidate. Incidentally, this is not an ordered list of deep concerns, but as they occurred to me while I wrote.
- Tear Down, Not Build Up. As a nation, it is important to build upon the accomplishments of previous Administrations and Congresses in order to continue the momentum of success. For just one example, we saw this used to great effect during the Cold War, as my more mature readers will recall. Successive Administrations negotiated important arms control treaties and, in general, utilized a united front to stop the growth of the barbaric Soviet Union empire, and eventually caused it to implode. We didn’t see a whipsaw of tactics, but rather each Administration building on the last, regardless of Party, until, finally, victory was achieved.But during the last decade this spirit of cooperation has palpably withered, and this may be laid at the feet of Republican Party. The most vivid example is the Iran Nuclear Weapon deal (JCPOA), which was painstakingly negotiated by the Obama Administration. Once completed, it was consistently mischaracterized by the leading Republicans and conservative pundits. Worse yet, most of the Republican Senators issued an unprecedented letter to Iran, which brought opprobrium down on their heads, and allowed adversaries to legitimately mock the United States.
A properly skeptical conservative reader may think I’m naive, or a fool, but I do not rely on liberal or Democratic sources for information on this matter, but on non-partisan, third-party expert sources, who examined the text of the agreement, examined the situation, and suggested this was a good agreement. Over the years that it ran, experts in nuclear arms control noted that it achieved. or was making excellent progress, towards its stated aims.And perhaps I merely amuse easily, but, to me, the fact that it infuriated Iranian hard-liners, those folks who hate the United States the most, was perhaps the best proof of its efficacy and appropriateness.
Without being a fly on the wall in the White House, it’s difficult to know the true reasons for its abrogation by President Trump, but since he chose not to share substantive, detailed reasons for that abrogation – and simply saying the Iranians had violated it doesn’t fly – I am uneasily aware, even suspicious, that there’s no reason to think it wasn’t simple jealousy on the part of the Republicans, and the agreement was abrogated simply to salve tender Republican egos, at the possible expense of our national security. For more information concerning the matter on this blog, search using the search box on the right, using JCPOA.
The JCPOA abrogation is not the only sad instance of tearing down rather than building upon. Just as an example, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are considered by Republican leaders to be programs ripe for cutting. This has been stated in the wake of growing deficits brought on by the Tax Reform Act of 2017 (more anon), as if these social net programs are to blame, rather than the mismanagement of our tax system exemplified by the Tax Reform Act. Shall they just be torn apart and their beneficiaries left to struggle with their burdens, whether age or infirmity, with no help from society?
This is just destruction for the sake of destruction.
- Environmental. Transitioning from the previous point is the environmental blindness exhibited by the current government, leading with perhaps the most important struggle this country will ever face: anthropocentric climate change. President Obama had taken the first small, inadequate steps towards resolving this problem. Did President Trump charge ahead with more ambitious plans to safeguard our future?No. He, with the full-throated support of the Republican Party and assorted conservative pundits, began the process to remove the United States from the leadership position in the project to save our current biosphere, for which our civilization is well-suited, and ceding that leadership position to our national competitors, such as China, and in the process discrediting ourselves and our system of government.I am more than aware that conservative kant says that it’s all a (Chinese) hoax, or that it’s a natural cycle for which we have no responsibility, and, hey, there’s great scientific controversy over it all anyways.Well, no. Speaking as a science groupy (and software engineer, complete with a science degree), with at least one friend in the climate scientist community who, until 2016, was a card-carrying Republican, no, there’s no controversy. None. 98% of climate scientists agree with the statement that Climate change is anthropocentric.Which makes the lack of response to the recent report on climate change all the more discouraging. It was the sort of report that should have caused an uproar in Congress, complete with committee meetings and grandiose proposals from both sides of the aisle. Instead, hardly a word. I addressed this phenomenon a little here.
But that’s not the end of my disappointment in the Trump Administration and Republican Congress. There are several more topics here, such as the President’s stated goal to open up oil drilling on the Eastern Seaboard, which is a recipe for catastrophe (see: Hurricane Florence, or here for another), but I’ll limit myself to his iconic selection of Scott Pruitt for the EPA. This was, in my view, rank folly. Mr Pruitt was an industry lobbyist who, during his time at the EPA, tried to disassemble the agency which works to protect our environment from selfish fools like himself. Fairly predictably, Pruitt chased himself out of his position through a series of scandals, but not before casting a revealing light on Republican thinking when it comes to wilderness refuge areas such as the Minnesota BWCA.
- The Swamp. Speaking of swamps, do you recall candidate Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp?” His utter disregard of this promise as underlined by him nomination of Price, Pruitt, Zinke, Flynn, and a number of others, makes the President a terrible joke – and the confirmation of those nominations by the GOP-controlled Congress indicates just how little they care about corruption in their midst.If you doubt this judgment, consider this. Pruitt and Interior Secretary Zinke are currently in a race to see which one is being investigated for more scandals. Pruitt, having left the field with at least 14 scandals, probably won’t win., because Zinke is still in the Cabinet and will likely be caught up in more scandals – he’s not far behind Pruitt as it is, and he seems to be quite avaricious.Meanwhile, the grand number of scandals for the Obama Administration? Present count is 0. Zero. If you’re a conservative, then you may be shouting at the screen WHAT ABOUT BENGHAZI?!
Yes, well, what about it, my friend? It was investigated eight times, last I heard, and several of those were run by openly hostile GOP legislators. Given the powers of Congress, if there was anything to find, they would have found it.
Instead, Clinton handed them their ass at the big hearing. I know that, for the doctrinaire conservative, that’s a heavy load to swallow, but there it is. An honest assessment is that this Administration is top-heavy with scandal compared to the circumspect Obama Administration. All these scandals are something which Trump explicitly promised wouldn’t happen.
This simple comparison of two years of Trump to 8 years of Obama only heightens the disgust I, and anyone with any sense, has with the Trump Administration. How much worse will The Swamp get under Trump? I had some hopes that he’d really get himself a quality, straight-ahead Cabinet. Instead….
- Presidential Mendacity. It really says something when the major neutral news sites such as The Washington Post find it’s actually useful and important to keep running counts of the lies spewed by our President.
It’s even more impressive when the conservative pundits who have made it their business to close their eyes to his antics while defending him have actually taken to redefining the meaning of the word honesty so that he doesn’t look like a congenitally dishonest and dishonorable person. I addressed this situation here as it pertains to Marc Thiessen, conservative columnist for The Washington Post.That implicitly raises a question for the committed conservative: of what value is honesty?Well, I’ll tell you what. I may be a big-city boy, living here in the Twin Cities (you NYC folks can just stifle the guffaws, eh?), but I was raised by parents who came from small towns like Crystal Lake and Bemidji, and served in the Air Force, and grandparents who served in the Army.
They taught me NEVER to trust a dishonest person. You can never comfortably predict what he (or she) will do beyond lie. Let’s take an example. Say he says 4. What’s the opposite of 4? Hard to say, isn’t it? That means we can’t just say we assume the opposite of what he says and it’ll all be copacetic. It just won’t work.
His quantity of lying is way beyond the scope of this Voter’s Guide, but just consider his excuse for not punishing Saudi Arabia for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: an arms deal worth $100 billion (or possibly $450 billion) and bringing, at last count, 1 million jobs to the defense industry of America. But, as PolitiFact, a professional fact-checking website notes, this is just an escalating lie.
In short, putting a known, documented liar in a position of responsibility was a mistake.
- Who Cares, He’s Too Useful. This excuse, used primarily by Evangelical voters desperate to have their agenda concerning abortion enacted, is really so morally repugnant that it’s embarrassing that a group of people who like to consider themselves the moral examples of America have enfolded it in their arms. Want more on this subject? Click here.
- Republican Party Use Of Judgment. But, the skeptical conservative reader, exclaims, this election isn’t a Presidential election, so why does this appertain?I’m glad you asked. For those of us who have been watching the House of Representatives and, in particular, the House Intel Committee, have been absolutely appalled by the antics of Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA). A member of a “co-equal branch of government,” which I put in quotes because Nunes doesn’t appear to understand the duties that go along with that, Nunes has been responsible for running interference for President Trump, rather than monitoring his activities in order to snuff out illegalities by same.
This indisputable lapse in fulfilling his duties, which has happened several times, isn’t limited to him. In fact, Speaker Ryan (R-WI) is responsible for Nunes’ performance, so if Ryan does nothing in response, Ryan becomes equally responsible – and he hasn’t. And Ryan’s position is only his because the House GOP members decided he would be Speaker. Their refusal to replace him with a Speaker that would replace Nunes speaks volumes.
So Trump may not be up for election, but his fellow Party members have refused to properly monitor him or even admonish him on such national security matters as emoluments.
- Republican Party Operation of Congress. When it comes to running Congress, I don’t want ideologues trolling for endless arguments, I want competency. Do you want some goombah working on your truck who doesn’t think you need to tighten the carburetor mount? Who doesn’t think you need oil to run the damn thing? I didn’t think so.
Yet, in both House and Senate, the GOP leaders Ryan and McConnell, respectively, have not been competent leaders. Now, I’m not making the mistake of complaining about the policies they’ve pushed. They hold the majority, they can push what they want, just so long as they’re willing to take the flak for it.
But, for God’s sake, pay attention to tradition! (Are they really conservatives?) We hold committee meetings and consult with experts and take our time to get things right because when they go wrong on a national level, it’s like a nuclear bomb going off. Clean up is no fun at all, right?
I’m referring to the methods for writing the major legislation of this Congress, the AHCA (the failed replacement for the ACA, aka ObamaCare) and the 2017 Tax Reform Bill. Both were written by small groups of GOP Senators in secret. Yes, you can go look this up, it was in all the papers at the time, at least the reputable news sources. In fact, in my opinion the House abdicated its legal responsibility to originate the latter bill, since by Constitutional directive tax bills must originate in the House, by writing and passing a “straw-man” bill, which the GOP-controlled Senate promptly discarded and replaced with their own and then moved back to the House through reconciliation committee.
Bills like these should take months of careful consideration. True, each received a couple of hours of hearing and debate, so the GOP can truthfully claim they received same – but it’s all hollow to my Independent ears. It’s the sort of lying I might expect out of a poorly brought up 13 year old, not from adults who are responsible for the future of our country.
Remember, love or hate the ACA, it took the Democrats roughly two years from conception to final signing. Hours and hours of debates, testimony from experts, all the sort of thing I expect from good legislators.
To my eye, the GOP acts like nothing more than a marketing machine. Sure, a couple of pieces of shitty legislation they can point at, passed by GOP members who didn’t have time to read it, written in secret by God knows who.
As an independent, it makes me sick.
- The Conservative Mail Stream. Long time readers know that I occasionally receive mail of a conservative nature via friends, and, as a public service, I dissect it. Which is to say, I note how it’s always written to stimulate anger and fear, while playing on the minor keys of xenophobia and racism. This is done by mixing truth with deception.
The final purpose? Division of our great nation by playing on our differences.
I’ve seen lies about the NFL, lies about charitable endeavours, lies about our Nation’s founding. The conservative mail stream is really quite revolting, yet it appears to be taken quite seriously. As someone who prefers truth, I find that mail stream loathsome. (For a few examples, go to my search box and enter email.)
This applies to my appraisal of how to vote in that it tells me what the bloodstream of the Republican Party is like these days, and one might as well just say it teams with syphilis.
Fair is fair. Somehow I got on the wrong email list, and I’m so overwhelmed with lefty email that most of it I just delete without reading. I think in their case they’re looking to use their current minority-should-be-majority position in Congress and the White House to gouge for money. Also, the Kavanaugh debacle also resulted in a lot of begging.
I give very little, if any.
Oh, and, yes, they can be very snooty, indeed. Some of them should take remedial courses in communications – how not to alienate your readers.
- Ideology Over Reality. Stepping back and taking in the big vista, my overall impression is that the GOP is running on illusions. They want to believe markets function best when they’re not regulated, for example. They want to believe Trump’s promises about how he’s going to return everyone back to a Golden Age when Coal is King, American steel is the gold standard, and no one builds as well as us.
Unfortunately, given Trump’s record, I don’t have to even discuss why any or all of these assertions, as well as others, aren’t going to happen. Trump lies. He may try to fulfill these promises, but he has no idea what he’s doing. Just look at his Swamp, his selfish lies, etc.
There are many other instances of GOP illusions, and they frighten me. They suggest a Party with little connection with reality. All you can really say is they have a marketing machine to kill for.
Uff-da. Close readers will have noted I didn’t engage in speculation to make my case. These are all verifiable facts.
I haven’t paid much attention to the various races in Minnesota. I can guess my current Rep, Betty McCollum of the 4th District, will win, just as Tom Emmer will win in the 6th District. But here’s my thoughts:
- This country needs a viable, responsible conservative party to balance the progressives,
- And the Republicans are no longer it. None of them deserve an Independent’s vote.
In light of the above …
- If you are a Republican, my advice to you is either vote Democratic or just sit it out. Even if you’re in a safe district, do it. The Republican Party seems to be haplessly out of control, and the more of an electric shock that can be delivered to them, the more likely it is they’ll recover. And do ME a favor – if you think the Democrats are “evil,” if you feel yourself turning red every time you think about those damn liberals, GO FIND ONE AND MAKE A FRIEND. Yeah, I’m not kidding. You’ll find they’re just like your current set of friends for the most part. Maybe they won’t go shooting, but they’ll play poker. They probably bet on football, and fix cars – and maybe join you in wondering about electric cars. Remember, they’re Americans, too. And, if I may – Washington, Franklin, Jefferson – they were all liberals, too. (Sure, I’m happy to discuss that, just send me some mail.)
- If you are an Independent, vote Democratic. No, don’t go voting for some obscure third party. If you don’t think it matters, read this.
Hey, have a good day!
