22 years ago today I was talking to my biggest customer in Tarpon Springs, Florida when I heard the news of the attack on the Twin Towers. Today I’m retired and living in North Carolina’s Triangle Region. In 2001 the January 6th domestic coup attempt replaced 9/11 as the worst attack on America. But today I want to spend a few minutes on what potentially could be a more threatening attack on American democracy – today’s Republican party.

Today’s GOP is not only out of touch with the majority of Americans; it is out of touch and no longer represents the majority of its own voters. It’s hierarchy and elected leaders aren’t even attempting to. They are only concerned with power and are repackaging old ideas in order to hoodwink what they see as their temporarily useful idiots.

Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana was the first to be credited with using the new term Republicans have come up with to repackage their losing anti-choice stance: “Pro-baby”. Anti-choice has been repeatedly disproven to be pro-life to the point that even the Republicans are wary to use it. (Was anyone ever anti-life? I could go on, but you get the idea.) They are hoping that no one will ever be anti-baby.

1/6 replaced 9/11 which in turn knocked Pearl Harbor out of first place in that “race”. I’m afraid Pearl Harbor will fade from Americans’ memories with the Baby Boomer generation who, a case can be made, only came to life because of it. However, it is still appropriate to pause, albeit briefly, today to remember the innocent lives lost on 9/11/2001. While some people blame Pearl Harbor on Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I feel a stronger case can be made to (at least partially) blame Republican George W. Bush for 9/11 and certainly Republican Donald Trump bears responsibility for 1/6.

I am an American first and a Democrat third. (A progressive second for any who may be wondering). I have only voted for a few Republicans in my life. Today I’m afraid to vote for any, even in local races. This is bad for America. I make no apologies for my education nor my intelligence and therefore feel I no longer have a choice in general elections. That is not the way a democracy should function.
There is ample room for a center-right party in American but the Republican have ceased to be it. In fact, they are a threat to both democracy and the American people.

The now relabeled pro-baby movement is actually killing Americans. OB-GYNs are leaving red states making women’s health care less available and effective. Republican laws are killing women and forcing more unwanted fetuses to become babies. At that point the Republicans want to spend as little as possible on child care, public education and health care for the poor.

At the request of a conservative (not crazy!) friend, I recently watched a podcast featuring a physician who decided to no longer perform abortions. I want to comment on one part of it – I could criticize many other aspects but that is not for today. The next frontier (in fact the fight has already begun) in the anti-choice field is making abortion and contraception pills unavailable. The physician stated that one of the reasons he felt the “mail order” availability was dangerous because in 2% of the pregnancies the drug is not only not effective but a serious health threat to the woman who would then need emergency professional medical care. What he failed to state (or possibly did not realize) is that if we didn’t have to anti-choice laws the woman could have gone to a health care professional in the first place. It is the draconian and unpopular laws that have created the dangerous situation in the first place.

Today’s GOP is home to a number of anti-vaxers. In addition to Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic how many Americans died because they refused to get vaccinated? We will never know the exact number but the combined mismanagement and anti-vaxers number has to exceed the death tolls in all three events I’m speaking of in today’s article.

The GOP is proudly pro-gun. The days of them (or the NRA) defending the rights of sportsmen (why is it never sportswomen or sportspersons?) has long passed. The NRA has become the lobbying arm of the gun manufacturers and the GOP elected officials the recipients of the greenbacks. In the process they make the average American less safe, resulting in many deaths and also make it more difficult for legitimate gun store owners to make a living.

How many American have and will die because of Republican anti-health care availability positions? This is regardless of citizenship status. We all breath the same air; it is that simple. How many Americans die as a result of Republican anti-safety regulation positions? This hits the poorest that hardest. Those are not conservative positions. The irony is that the Republicans are killing many of what view as their temporarily useful idiots.

In summation, beware of changes in verbiage without changes in positions.

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