When a political party does not issue a platform at its last national convention – as the Republicans didn’t in 2020 – it is difficult to ascertain just what it stands for. Two year later they had a disappointing mid-term (I’m being kind in my choice of words). In early 2023 they appear to be in both disarray and internal conflict. However, there are few things that unite them and I’ll briefly outline them in today’s posting.

I guess a good place to start is my theory that the modern Republican party is held up by three pillars: greed, racism/bigotry and the promotion of ignorance. In a nutshell they not only tell you what unites the GOP, but their methodology.

The common goals of elected Republicans are to provide a return on investment for their financiers via tax breaks for those who need a passport to visit their money and either the lack of regulations on their businesses or enforcement of them that is so lax that they are  essentially non-existent . You can substantially sum it all up in one word and that word is greed.

Their voter base is largely less well educated and white. Any non-white, especially if they may also be non-heterosexual and/or non-Christian is a particular target. In other words, the Republicans like to promote the fear of the “other”. Transgender and drag show banning bills are the latest GOP rage at the state and sometimes local levels. Harry Truman was the president when I was born. I’ve lived in big metropolitan areas my entire life. I graduated from what most would consider to be a liberal university. Yet I think I have only met three transgender people in my entire lifetime and I’ve never been to a drag show. On the incorrect assumption that either is a problem, how can they be major problems that are addressed before things like climate change (which the Republican party is the only major political party in the world that denies)? I could expand on that but you get the idea. As far as today’s Republicans are concerned that plays well with Bubba and he is temporarily a useful idiot of theirs.

If some (hopefully all) of the viewpoints of the base Republican voters seem less than brilliant to you that brings us to the third pillar of today’s GOP: the promotion of ignorance. Look no farther (although there is much, much more) than the recent controversy over AP African-American History in Florida. The truth scares the (you insert your verbiage of choice) out of today’s Republican elected officials! The best way to beat the truth is not to allow your people to be exposed to it in the first place.

To this point we have Republican elected officials united on tax breaks for the wealthy, and promoting fear of the “other”. There is one last thing that unites them and it actually touches on both greed and racism/bigotry. That is guns. Republicans love unrestricted guns. One life experience comes to mind. A few years ago a sheriff told me of a situation where he had to take guns away from a man pending the outcome of a domestic abuse case. The man was not concerned that his wife and children only had food to eat and a roof over their heads because of the charity of strangers; he was worried that he wouldn’t get his guns back in time for hunting season. On that basis alone I’d question whether the man had the maturity and reasoning ability to have firearms. Remember the guns issue plays particularly well with rural whites who otherwise the Republicans do nothing for but they need their votes at the moment.

So there you have what unites today’s GOP especially at the federal level: greed/desire to provide a return on investment for their financiers, sacrificing the health and safety of the masses in order to provide that return on investment for their financiers and giving Bubba unrestricted access to firearms regardless of the consequences.

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