IS IT POSSIBLE TO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THE GOP IS SHRINKING?

 

 

The right-wing radio waves have apparently been very successful in duping their less than aware radio listeners.

 

As I was shopping over the holidays, I heard a right-wing radio program where a Tea Party individual from South Carolina was saying that he just couldn’t understand why there was such angst, (My word, not his.), against his Republican Party.

Seriously, this man actually had no idea as to why his party was shrinking and why the majority of the country was not in support of his party and their policies.

Well, for this less than politically aware individual, let’s list a few items that might possibly turn on a light-bulb for his basic understanding.

·       Due to the Republicans not agreeing to extending the unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, last Saturday, 1.3 million unemployed Americans were kicked off of their unemployment benefits. In addition, there are 4 million people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer.  If our vacationing GOP House lawmakers don’t do something about it when they return, the problem will worsen.  To put this into perspective, this is the highest long-term unemployment rate since the end of World War II.  These unemployed have a ~12% chance of finding a job in any given month.  And contrary to the bizarre theories of the Rand Paul Republicans, there is little evidence that they’re more likely to find work after losing their unemployment benefits.  Obviously, the South Carolinian radio listener must not have been in this unemployed status.

·       It is now known that there are more women that vote, than there are men that vote.  Women are also usually the child care-takers and budget decision makers in the family.  These women have now learned that the Republicans opposed the equal pay bill and voted to defund Planned Parenthood and children’s Head Start programs.  This will not only lose much of the homemaking women’s votes, it will lose major numbers of the younger women’s votes.

·       The Republicans also opposed the military sexual assault bill, which is another shot at the larger women’s voting coalition.

·       Republicans in congress voted against getting rid of assault weapons and they were against background checks for gun sales.  This attitude is not supported by well over 60% of the general population.

·       Many of the Southern state’s conservatives are against an immigration bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for those immigrants that are currently residing in the US.  With the nation’s currently changing demographics, this will be a long-term death penalty for the Republican Party if this anti-immigration attitude continues.

·       The Republicans removed the Food Stamp program from the Farm Bill, just so they could cut Food Stamps.  The majority of Food Stamps are used by the poor in general and the working-poor white people and their children.  Also by the elderly, the disabled, and the US Veterans.  By cutting Food Stamps, the GOP is not only taking food out of poor American children’s mouths, they are hurting the US economy. Per the CBO, every $1.00 in Food Stamps becomes worth ~$1.70 for the US economy.  In addition, it helps the farmers for selling their food being purchased by the Food Stamps, and it is money that is spent immediately into the US economy.

·       The conservative Republicans were against Civil Rights, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and now Obamacare.  For some reason, the conservatives still want a US medical system that allows for a person that gets a catastrophic illness to lose their savings, retirement, their home and to go bankrupt.  They want people with pre-existing medical conditions to be allowed to be refused medical insurance.  They also don’t want children to stay on their parent’s insurance after they are 21.  For these reasons alone, there’s a good reason to not support the Republican party.

·       The Republicans running the Red states are trying to keep legitimate Americans from voting.  They are cutting voting days and voting hours.  They are stopping voter pre-registration for teens.  They are restricting voting machines in predominately Democratic precincts and increasing them in Republican precincts.  They are stopping voting on college campuses.  They are requiring government issued photo ID’s for legal voters that have been voting for decades.  They say it’s for stopping voter fraud where the amount of voter fraud is at 0.00005% of the votes.  In other words, they are making it hard for the disabled, the elderly, college students and any groups that normally votes Democratic, to vote.

Now, I could go on and on, but I think I have made my point as to why the GOP appears to be a dying breed.  

The reality is that the current Republican Party is basically against the following:

·       Women of all ages

·       Working Women

·       Military Women

·       American Children

·       The Poor

·       The Elderly & Disabled

·       Minorities

·       Offering Affordable Health Care for All Americans

·       Voters in General

·       College Student Voting

·       Background Checks for Gun Buyers

·       US Veterans

·       The Unemployed

I must admit, they aren’t leaving many people out of their negative focus. 

And the aforementioned South Carolinian radio listener should now not be confused as to why his party is continuing to shrink.

Copyright G.Ater  2014