Toadies, Sycophants, And Unprincipled Pawns

I believe rule by a single party is a bad thing. A democracy cannot survive with only one party. That party, even with lofty ideals, will eventually go too far and hurt the people.

In the past, this nation had an effective two-party system. Both Democrats and Republicans believed in our democracy and acted to uphold it. And they were willing to negotiate and compromise for the good of the country.

Sadly, that is no longer true. Today's Republican Party refuses to negotiate or compromise. And they are willing to destroy our democracy to gain and retain political power. They are little more than a cult, obeying the whims of their orange demagogue. They have no agenda other than obeying Trump.

The following is part of an op-ed by Robert Reich (pictured):

Up and down the ranks of the Republican Party, the new litmus test for gaining dollars, votes, and the coveted Trump Endorsement is to embrace the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. For the rest of us — and for posterity — it should be a negative litmus test for politicians who place ambition over principle, narcissism over duty, and cowardice over conscience. 

How are Republican voters ever to know the truth when these toadies, sycophants, and unprincipled pawns repeat and amplify Trump’s big lie? Fully 85 percent of Republicans now believe it (35 percent of Americans overall believe it). 

The Republican Party now stands for little more than the big lie — not for fiscal prudence or smaller government or stronger defense, not for state’s rights or religious freedom or even anti-abortion, but for a pernicious deception. How can what was once a noble party — the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt — descend to such putrid depths, sowing distrust in our electoral system and in the peaceful transition of power that’s at the heart of democracy? 

The real question — more in the realm of social psychology than political science — is how one profoundly sick, pathologically narcissistic man, who is obsessed with never losing, has been able to impose his narcissistic obsession on one of America’s two political parties? Which raises an even more troubling question: How can our democracy ever function when almost all Republican politicians are willing to sell out their oaths to the United States Constitution in order to kiss the derrière of this demented man? Why are no more than a handful of Republican politicians, such as Rep. Liz Cheney, willing stand up to this monstrosity? 

This is how fascism begins.