For all of my life I have been a left-leaning progressive-minded liberal Democrat. I was raised this way. No one in my family supports Republicans (but some of them are Flemish nationalists but only out of emotional reasons, cause Flemish people were treated in an inferior way in the past).
For me the current Grand Olde Party is the personification of evil. Sure, the tax bill has had some good effects. Big companies like Apple are returning money to the US, but they’re only doing it because of Trump’s reduced tax rate for multinationals. In general the Republican tax bills (see also George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan) are a disaster for middle class families.
What happened to the party of Abraham Lincoln, undoubtedly one of the greatest presidents the US ever had?
The GOP was hijacked by the Tea Party, a group of extreme christians who believe the Earth is only 6000 years old. But that’s not the worst of their viewpoints. The problem with Republicans since Reagan came to power in 1980, is the unwavering belief taxes are bad for the economy.
I’m not saying taxes have to be as high as possible, but why would you defend legislation that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer?
I know about the arguments of right-wing people to explain why multinationals and their owners should be exempt from paying their rightful amount of money to the state treasury. If rich people pay less taxes, they will invest in the economy and create jobs. But that is a really narrow way of thinking.
For one thing, economic growth doesn’t equal increased welfare. Today there is too much focus on the growth percentage of the economy, which is too abstract and not a good measurement of how happy people really are.
There may be a growth of 2 percent in the economy but how do you explain the suicide and depression rate? Never before there were more people taking medication for psychological reasons. But that’s another discussion altogether.
I’m not denying rich people have worked long and hard to amass their fortune. And they totally deserve their fortune, because they took risks in the first place. Entrepeneurs are the oxygen of the capitalist system, which has its flaws but is still the best worst way to organize society. But let’s not forget the people who aren’t entrepeneurs.
Everyone has their place and task in our communities. You can compare it with how your body functions, which is the way Menenius Agrippa convinced the plebeian people to stop their rebellion against the patricians in 494 BC.
Republicans nowadays don’t care about the plebeian people. The current president pretended he was going to stand up for those forgotten by Washington DC. But let’s be honest, he didn’t “Drain the swamp”. He was always a part of the swamp, even though he never held a public office.
Politics can’t be neutral, I admit that. Obama failed in his attempt to achieve change he promised when he got elected in 2008. But at least Obama had good intentions, which got mostly hindered by Republicans who refused to work with a progressive Democrat, let alone a black guy.
Obama is still on the right side of history. Don’t blame him for things he couldn’t change. It’s impossible to change things in a short amount of time, and two terms are not enough to amend the direction of the whole complex structure of the US government.
This essay might be biased, because I truly hate Republican policies. I cannot understand why anyone would vote for such a party, but then again, evil just happens to exist in this world.
The GOP is harvesting what they sowed. We’re talking about a vicious circle here. Rich people don’t want to pay taxes so they vote for the party or politicians who promise a tax reduction. And so they keep on getting richer, and inequality keeps on mounting to staggering heights.
I conclude this pessimistic essay with a positive note. I love America, and I have high hopes for the future, starting with the midterms. We can take back Congress and Senate. I’m rooting for Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi and other progressives. We must believe true change is really possible.
This is coming from a European, a continent that was once devastated by two of the biggest and bloodiest conflicts the world has ever seen, and when we go even further back into history, we see more fightings between different religious sects and royal families battling for thrones. Europe has become stable since 1945 and an example of how we can keep health care and education affordable*. The US can do this too.
One last paragraph to explain why it’s impossible to defend Republican plans. I graduated in (modern) history and so I’m familiar with the founder of the historical evidence-based science, Leopold von Ranke. He is most famous for saying historians should write about the past how it actually was (“bloss zeigen wie es eigentlich gewesen”) without any prejudice.
But von Ranke was too naive in believing this was possible. Objectivity is impossible. Everybody has their own convictions. However, when one reasons with logic, everyone must admit defending Republican policies is like trying to prove Intelligent Design is real.
*Higher education is pretty cheap in most European countries. Notable exceptions are the UK and the Netherlands.
