This is not the only poll that has shown the GOP is not in sync with the views of most Americans. But the party seems to be ignoring all of this. They want to believe that they just need better candidates that can couch their views in kinder terms, and the people will come flocking to them once again. That is simply not true. It is not the rhetoric or the candidates (even though they have had some weak ones) that is turning off most people. It is what the Republicans claim they stand for -- their policies.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past that the Republican Party was composed of both moderates and conservatives -- but the far-right (the John Birchers) were considered anathema and not allowed in positions of power. Even during the Reagan administration, while the conservatives were in power, congressional Republicans were willing to compromise for the good of the country. That is not true any longer.
In an effort to return their party to power, the GOP opened their party to the far-right-wingers, the social fundamentalists, and the racists -- and much to the dismay of GOP moderates, those elements took over the Republican Party. And when they did, they moved the party's agenda and policies far to the right. It is this far-right outlook that the majority of Americans simply cannot accept.
And those policies are definitely on the far-right fringe of American politics. All you have to do to realize that is just look at what they now support. Here are just a few of the things the Republicans would like to do:
* They would like to privatize both Social Security and Medicare -- and if they can't do that, they would like to force benefit cuts in both programs.
* They want to keep the unneeded corporate subsidies (for corporations making record profits) and lower the tax rate for corporations (even though corporations are paying less in taxes now than they have in decades).
* They want to block any efforts to close loopholes or raise taxes on the rich (even though the rich are paying a smaller percentage in taxes than many in the middle class).
* They want to cut unemployment insurance and block job creation programs (even though there are still at least 12 million jobless workers).
* They want to completely defund Obamacare (leaving at least 30 million Americans with no health insurance).
* They oppose a timeline to leave Afghanistan, and many would like to start a new war by bombing or invading Iran.
* They would like to drastically cut funding for the EPA, allowing energy producers and other corporations to continue to pollute our precious water and air.
* They oppose any raise in the minimum wage (and many of them would like to completely abolish the minimum wage).
* They want to force creationist young-Earth religion into the science classrooms of our schools.
* They want to cut education funding much more (and many would even abolish the Department of Education).
* They want to give the government the right to tell a woman what she must do with her own body (forcing many back to the bloody and dangerous back-alley abortions).
* They want to deny the LGBT community the same rights that other Americans enjoy, including the right to marry.
* They want to cut food stamp programs for families and school lunch programs for children (even though one-fifth of America's children live in poverty, and poverty is growing).
* They want to continue to reward corporations that outsource American jobs with tax breaks for doing that.
* They want to de-regulate Wall Street and let them return to the same dangerous practices that triggered a crash and the recession.
* They want to keep wages low by weakening or destroying unions (even though those unions have done more than any other thing to create the middle class in America).
* They want to restrict the amount of people who can vote in American elections (especially those in areas dominated by minorities), to give themselves an unfair advantage in electoral politics.
I could go on for a while, but that list should be adequate to show just how extreme the Republican Party policies have become. They have sold out to the corporate interests, religious fundamentalists, and racists, and sadly, don't seem to care about that -- as long as those in power can keep getting elected. And their refusal to compromise on anything, even for the overall good of the country, shows they value their extremist ideology over their love of country.
Frankly, I don't understand how any decent person could vote Republican these days.
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