Dear Fascists... errr Republicans

THE REPUBLICAN AGENDA

For decades now, the Republican Party, Republican leaders and officials, Republican talk radio, and Fox news have been aggressively pursuing an agenda that sometimes doesn’t seem to make any sense or have any cohesive message.

But, there is an agenda and the message makes perfect sense if the goal is to create an unquestioning citizenry willing to turn over US assets and commons to private corporations for the benefit of the 1%.

Long ago, we saw a marriage of convenience between Evangelical Christianity and the Republican Party. There is nothing quite like having God and the only true religion on your side! Evangelicals vote in droves for Republicans. And, single issue voters create a win for Republicans: Opposition to abortion sealed the deal.

A bonus is that creating a marriage made in heaven between the Republican Party and the religious right gives Republicans a large following of people predisposed to be authoritarian followers. See what I did there!

It is easy to fuel the fires of envy and jealousy and nothing does it better than propaganda against non-white non-Chrisitan groups. And, add a heavy dose of  “Us vs. Them” and you have a winning political strategy. We seem to have large numbers of citizens who

·        hate Muslims and African Americans, and immigrants, and…

·        approve a ban on Muslim immigration,

·        are happy to break up families to deport people who have been law-abiding hard working members of our communities for years,

·        believe that Black Lives Matter is a violent anti-white group and that white men are the most persecuted group in the USA.

There have been decades of Republican attacks on education – which makes a smooth transition to for-profit charter schools and religious schools which are able to further the Republican agenda. This paves the way for big tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations.

Add to that, decades of slander against higher education, tenure, liberal professors, etc.and we are contributing to an uneducated unquestioning populace of followers. And, that is terrifying.

Countless attacks on experts and expertise, science and scientists have produced a devout citizenry who put their trust in … a political party!?!

And, that makes deregulation – of wall street, banking, environmental protection, media, etc. very very easy and very very profitable.

Yes, if scientists are liars and scientific processes cannot be trusted, but the GOP can… Well, cut more funding to universities, research programs, the EPA and give more tax breaks to the 1%.

All this leads us to the present where a large segment of the population believes politicians and no longer see science as a means of progress.

Then, falsely present pseudo-science as science and we produce

a voting public who are so ignorant of basic science that the non-expert doesn’t know what legitimate science is and what it isn’t. Global climate change? Accepting the science on climate change might put a damper on business, so that is unacceptable.

Now, we have a large minority of the population who do not believe that experience, knowledge, or expertise is needed to run the government! And, we get 45. His supporters are still happy with him.

Constant attacks on the free press have created a citizenry who seem to feel it is their duty not to listen to or read anything that isn’t specifically Republican. 

95% of talk radio is right-wing. Every day, our 45^th president rails against “fake news.” And, every day, citizens flock to fake news sites and believe even the most demonstrably false information.

These attacks pave the way for total trust in propaganda and “fake news” while insisting that any divergence from the right wing message is “fake news” by definition.

After decades of hate talk about “libtard femi-nazi agnostic atheist humanists (!)” plus successful efforts to own the airwaves and end the fairness doctrine, we have a media dominated by the right wing.

But, large numbers of our citizens are unaware of this.

Listen to more Republican talk radio, watch more Fox News, read more “InfoWars.” We have an uneducated unquestioning populace that are willing to be followers of authoritarians – and, support Fascism.

Have mercy on us.

VLL