I've shared how I used to vote Republican, and even did so into the 2000's. What initially got me away from voting Republican was them sending troops into a war unjustified (The second Iraq War. I'm a Veteran), but what has kept me far away from their ilk is their slow decent into madness; a further and further push right, with their ultimate appeal geared towards racists, gun kook, militia types, who used to only exist on compounds in the deserted west.
The Republicans used to have agendas which made sense (well at least for them), but now they're more like a flailing drunk in a bar on a Friday night, spouting belligerence and throwing erratic and misguided roundhouses which have zero chance of actually hitting their target.
I've identified six categories which pretty much encapsulate everything the Minnesota GOP does politically today. There's some bleed over from one category to the others, but they all seem to fit into one or more of the following realms:
Aggressively Irrational and Wrong: The MNGOP is more often than not on the wrong side of sanity, but lately they have been comically way of base. For example, let's point to transportation, specifically light rail.
Old Republicans would've fought somewhat against mass transportation too, but Republicans used to understand the need to get the work force into a major metro area took a multi facetted approach. They would limit public transportation funding, but they'd include stuff like targeted tax cuts for people to buy a car, or for carpooling, and they'd include money in their budgets for the road expansion they claimed was a better option.
Not anymore. Modern Minnesota Republicans scream there should be no mass transportation funding, only road expansion. They scream light trail is only "empty trains" even though the daily ridership is well above initial expectations, and the light rail is a Godsend when it comes to special events (500K rode the light rail over the four day Final Four weekend). Modern Republicans will insist the only spending which should be done is road expansion, but hardly put a pittance into the transportation budget for the expansion they promise. The one thing they embrace is the class tiered, 'pay for access' expansion of the car pool lanes, with wealthy people purchasing their way out of traffic.
Everything about modern Republican transportation policy is mind numbingly bad, but this is their modern stance. There are echoes of this foolishness in everything the Republican propose (more pollution will make our environment cleaner, getting rid of people's healthcare will make everyone healthier, dramatically cutting funding from schools will somehow lead to better students). They're dependent on their voters never asking the question "come again?", and as long as there's no consequence for their faulty empty promises, they're only getting dumber with their legislation.
Racism, Bigotry, Misogyny and Religious Intolerance: So much of Republican policy today is based in these four tentpoles of hate. I'll never forget the Minnesota Republicans, after a tornado hit north Minneapolis, basically saying to the residents "screw you!" Then, less than a year later, when tornados hit in outstate Minnesota, they were screaming how the state should stand up for the victims of natural disasters. Unforgivable.
Voting against equal rights for women, policies which specifically target minorities with criminal penalties, campaign ads which scream about Muslims, harassment of undocumented Latinos, implying African Americans are trying to take away white people's stuff, targeting LGBTQ rights, and Republican funding bills which seem to go out of their way to limit funds for minority groups are all par for the course for the modern right. They even get upset when the Minnesota Historical Society recognized the traditional Native American name for the Fort Snelling area, outrageously accusing them of "revisionist history" for accurately displaying history.
Politics which fester in the brine of hatred has always existed, but the right is re-engaging their bigoted voters with a renewed vigor.
Extremism Worship: This is the one which is really weird. When Real ID became the standard in the US, the MNGOP seemed to withdraw into their 4Chan chat groups, weighing heavily on the paranoid conspiracy theories spouted by people who used to broadcast on short wave radio, but today are given a far bigger megaphone with social media. The Republican leadership refusing to walk away from paranoia on Real ID eventually created huge problems for the state. It was only when Federal officials informed Minnesota little Billy and his whole sports team would all need passports to fly to a weekend sports tournament in Chicago did things change. Republicans scrambled to get Real ID approved, terrified of a disastrous fallout of their inaction from suburbia.
Minnesota Republicans are embracing extremists like never before; religious nuts who want to force Christianity on others, anti-vaxxers creating a health crisis, and climate change deniers who are embracing lunacy. When Rep. Cal Bahr told gun kooks in the State Capitol he wanted to throw Democrats writing common sense gun regulations to the curb, stomp on them, and run them over a few times, he was trying to appeal to this extremism. These extremists have a real desire for a new Civil War, just to stop regulations they don't like from getting passed. Why the MNGOP is throwing gasoline at their fire, I have no idea.
National Marching Orders: The modern Republican Party still gets a lot of their marching orders from the national puppet masters. Even though the Minnesota Republicans are not as powerful as they were when they had both houses, they still get a shocking amount of direction from the national powers that be. Look for the bills which basically have the same verbiage as similar bills from other Republican run states. With the Minnesota Republicans, most of these bills fall into the categories of Health Care and the Environment.
Bitterness: There's a lifetime of soap opera bitterness coming from the Minnesota Republican Party. Modern Republicans feels as if it's beneath them to have to work with Democrats. For a guy like Kurt Daudt, the former Speaker and current minority leader in the House, his nearly daily temper tantrums are a reminder of how petty and small he is. Daudt, a man who constantly violated the rules of the House to jam his agenda through when he was Speaker [and who actually had a mute button installed to stop Democrats from talking], actually screamed at Democratic leaders about how they weren't following the rules, and respecting him [HA! That's rich!]. The condescending attitude from the Minnesota Republicans in the House is both disturbing and delicious at the same time.
For some, this bitterness is making us less safe. Mary Kiffmeyer is a current Senator, and was at one time the Secretary of State. She lost that seat in 2006, and she seems to be quite bitter about it. She's currently holding up millions of dollars in Federal Election security money, money already designated for Minnesota, money every other state in the union has collected to make their elections safer. The Mueller Report showed the Russians had indeed targeted Minnesota in 2016, so why is she doing this? Maybe she wants the Russians to win? She made the argument we shouldn't be bothered if the state's election database is hacked by a foreign government because [paraphrasing] were are all getting hacked all the time anyway (!!!). If this isn't bitterness, I need someone to explain her motivations. Right now she's silent as she and her Senate Republicans hide from Election Security meetings, as Minnesota's safety lies in the balance.
Just Plain Stupid: With all the problems Minnesota is facing this year, getting rid of Daylight Savings Time is pretty low on the list. Same could be said about cracking down on FAKE hate crimes reports. These two gems were floated by Republicans so far this year. Both of these, plus numerous other proposals, can only be described as pathetically stupid. Today we learned Republicans in the Senate voted to make fishing with two fishing poles legal in the state. Now all you have two do is grow a third hand so you can reel.
When you look at where the Minnesota Republican Party is at, it's a FAR cry from the Republicans of yore. They keep screaming at a narrower and tighter group of people, hoping their loyal voters never ask why they never deliver on any of their promises.
At the rate the MNGOP is going this year, 2020 might end up being the year the Republicans realize they can no longer take their voters for granted.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to leave a comment. I'll review it and as long as it's not dirty, I'll post it (even if you disagree with me).