Voting Republican

December 24th, 2011

Unless you consider yourself to belong to the upper class–that is, if you are worth less than a few million dollars or make less than a hundred thousand dollars a year–then if you vote Republican, you’re a total idiot.

Republicans want to do away with most taxes on rich people by lowering the marginal tax rate by more than half to 15%, and by lowering to zero the capital gains tax, which is a major source of income for the wealthy.

At the same time, they want to raise taxes on the poor, as evidenced by (1) the 15% flat rate which would instantly raise taxes significantly on the poorest Americans, (2) their intense disgust that people making a pittance don’t pay income taxes at all and should start doing so, and (3) their favor of de-emphasizing income taxes (which presently favor the poor) with sales or VAT taxes (which would favor the rich and hurt the poor). All this despite their pledge to never raise taxes–a pledge they only seem to honor if it refers to taxes on wealthy people.

Then there’s representation. Republicans love the idea that corporations are people and elevated the practice of lobbying to a high art, assuring that institutions of wealth, controlled by the wealthiest people, have the most powerful representation and influence possible.

Meanwhile, through voter ID and other laws based upon utterly false claims of election fraud, they seek to suppress the ability to vote amongst the poor, the elderly, the young, and especially among minorities. This tendency is accentuated with the use of practices like voter caging, false representation of voting times and places, fraudulent registration scams, illicit “felons list” disenfranchisement, and a host of other exercises in what is actually election fraud.

But, according to Republicans, it’s liberals who are engaging in “class warfare.”

You might say that Democrats will raise your taxes. See above–unless you’re in the upper class, it’s the Republicans who have come out clearly for raising your taxes–while Democrats have lowered your taxes, though you probably failed to notice it.

You might say that Democrats spend more. This despite the fact that Republicans show every propensity to spend as much as if not more then Democrats. Not to mention that Democrats want to spend the money on things that you probably want, like Social Security and Medicare, while Republicans want to spend the money on Defense and fighting massive land wars in Asia, which you might approve of but nevertheless benefits you not at all.

And yes, Obama has spent a lot–but most of it has either been spending Republicans pressured him to spend, or else has been spent trying to undo the mess Republicans got us into. Had Obama become president in 2000, it is likely he would have massively underspent Bush.

You might say that you’re social conservative–but even that’s not much to go on. Most of the stuff right-wingers go on about in terms of social issues are things that are not real, like the “War on Christmas” or other imagined attacks on white Christians (usually males), or are things that Republicans are not actually trying to change because they work so well to rally voters like yourself.

It could very well be that there are things that Republicans actually fight for and achieve that you really believe are more important than all the things they do which make your life worse–but the chances are against it.

And if you long for the classic Republicans, the Republicans of the Reagan years, for example, then look no further: they call themselves “Democrats” nowadays.

  1. Troy
    December 26th, 2011 at 14:56 | #1

    “You can fool some of the people all of the time . . .” — A. Lincoln

    which you might approve of but nevertheless benefits you not at all.

    People can “approve” of anything but without having to pay for it, it’s easy to sign off on things.

    Intervening in Iraq has cost $750B so far in direct expenses. On a per household basis, that’s $5000 or so, about twice the cost of the Tohoku disasters.

  2. Troy
    December 25th, 2012 at 09:37 | #2

    “Meanwhile, through voter ID and other laws based upon utterly false claims of election fraud, they seek to suppress the ability to vote ”

    you were sure right about that!

    Crist in Florida spilled the beans on that, plus we have Ohio transparently trying to shut out early voting for people they didn’t want to have vote!

    Evil! Beyond the pale!

  3. Luis
    December 25th, 2012 at 12:23 | #3

    Troy:

    Well, in 2004, there was this:

    The brazen fashion which Jeb Bush is acting is simply one of the more blatant examples of voter fraud being committed nationwide, as we speak. The Guardian provides this article detailing many of the problems in Florida. But then there is also the active suppression of minority voters by Republicans, as that group usually votes strongly Democratic. This was widespread in Florida in 2000, but not by any means limited to there. A Michigan state senator, Republican John Pappageorge even said publicly, “If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we’re going to have a tough time in this election.” More than 80% of Detroit residents are African-American. Other violations and cases of voter fraud have occurred across the country.

    But that doesn’t stop the right-wing rags from claiming that Democrats are planning “massive vote fraud.” Their evidence? Democrats in Iowa are registering and requesting absentee ballots in record numbers. Those bastards! How villainous! They aren’t supposed to do that!

    And in 2005:

    Well, in GOP-land, we have a case of one-step-forward, twenty-steps-back. Georgia’s Republican-run state legislature passed a Voter ID law earlier this year which requires all voters to present a photo ID in order to vote. For those with a driver’s license, that’s all they need. But for those without a driver’s license–which includes a great many of the state’s poor and black populations, who vote predominantly Democratic–they need to spend a day going to the DMV, and shell out between $20 and $35 for a photo ID. …

    The GOP, of course, claims that this is not about disenfranchising Democratic voters, but about stemming voter fraud–though it often seems, under the GOP definition, that any Democrat voting is a case of voter fraud. They have in the past made grand yet vague claims about voter fraud being rampant in poor and black communities, though in typical fashion do not present any reliable evidence that this is so. In August, Alberto Gonzales approved the voter ID law, showing a clear distinction between the Bush 43 and Clinton administrations–the Clinton DOJ slapped down a similar law in Louisiana in 1994. The current administration and GOP mindset, however, seems far more prone to be hostile to blacks, the poor, and the elderly.

    A lot more too, just do a search for “disenfranchise” or “voter id” or “vote(r) fraud.” Not that it’s anything special–it’s not about being right, it’s just simply observing…

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