Who’s really behind the curtain in Washington’s Oz?
When every day’s “news” cycle is reduced to a circus, reasonably-minded Americans are forced to ignore the assessments of others and evaluate for ourselves.
How humans analyze the world is a complex sensory process best explained by scientists. But the basic method is always consistent: we start with what we already think we understand – with reference points – and then we evaluate new information based upon how it matches up. If it proves consistent, we accept it as “true.” If it doesn’t, we either reject it outright or dig deeper to reevaluate the reference points.
I’m certainly not alone in trying to figure out what’s true about Republicans anymore. If I accepted the dominant narrative, I’d believe that they’re a party of greedy, racist, misogynistic and xenophobic Bond villains. But, because some of the people I love and respect most still vote Republican, I can’t accept such a caricature. It doesn’t represent their complexities or the admirable parts of their convictions.
The Republican party I grew up in had three defining tenets: fiscal conservancy, “traditional family values,” and a preference for small, limited government and individual freedom. These were the values that drew my family of farmers and military servicemen to it. These, then, are my reference points and it is by them that I must evaluate today’s party.
Perhaps the most traditional feature is the desire to cut government spending. Liberals like spending tax money on things – Republicans don’t. This is why it takes very little evaluation to know that with the recent tax cut adding roughly 1.5 trillion dollars to the national deficit, that budget simply does not reflect the priorities of actual Republicans. Conservatism, after all, is about “conserving,” or saving.
Sadly, the “traditional family values” front doesn’t provide solid footing either. The list of Republican men who have exhibited appalling hypocrisy on abortion is sobering, as is the number involved in recent harassment and abuse scandals. And since I do strongly believe in due process, I expected them to face the accusations publicly and in courts of law. Instead, most of them resigned to avoid doing so. Two committed suicide. No reasonable person of any political persuasion could read such choices as the actions of innocent men.
Our president has had three wives and has five children by three different women. And, even if I’m tempted to treat that as an isolated issue, I can’t ignore the almost pathological adultery that undergirds virtually all of the abuse scandals. I see none of the sanctity afforded to life, marriage, discipline or morality espoused by actual Republicans.
Recently, the President issued his budget plan, which calls for the creation of the “America’s Harvest Box” program to substitute for a portion of the current SNAP system. On its face, the goal of reducing spending on “welfare” appears consistent with Republican ideals. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Aside from the exorbitant cost of mailing food to every eligible participant around the country each month (and which has not been considered in the proposal’s estimated cost savings), the associated sourcing, transportation and packing would be one of the largest government boondoggles ever. And this is to say nothing of the blatant disregard for individual liberty it would represent. True Republicans would never allow the government to mandate the food consumed by American citizens.
So, if by every measure of what it means to be a Republican, the current occupiers of party leadership do exactly the opposite, what’s a rational person to conclude? Well, here’s what I have: Today’s “Republican party” aren’t Republicans at all. Rather, reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, they are merely using the levers and pulleys of technology and the wide curtain provided by Trump’s sideshow to conserve their own power for its own sake. This is a new kind of “identity politics” – one where interlopers hide behind a storied and respected identity while they run its reputation squarely into the ground. That makes me angry. And here’s hoping that it also makes true Republicans angry enough to come out from behind the curtain and remind us who they really are before it’s too late to salvage their good name.
Image credit: Konstantin L
