The Best Candidate Is NEVER A Republican

 I have been voting for slightly over five decades now, and I can honestly say I have never voted for a Republican (and I never will).

That statement shocks some people. Those are the people who think they are superior citizens because they say "I vote for the best candidate -- not the party". I say BULLSHIT! If you ever voted for a Republican, then you did not vote for the "best candidate". The one exception to this is if you are rich and vote in your own interest -- because the Republican Party favors the rich to the detriment of all other Americans.

That has been true all of the 20th and 21st centuries. At the dawn of the 20th Century, the Republican Party was firmly in the hands of the richest Americans (i.e., the "Robber Barons"). Their economic idea was that whatever was good for the rich and the corporations was good for all Americans (commonly called the "trickle-down" theory). Of course, it didn't work. The rich just hoarded the wealth created, and shared none of it. That led to an economic disaster (now known as the "Great Depression").

The Democrats cured that economic mess by passing Social Security, a minimum wage, and taxing the rich. A few years later they passed Medicare and Medicaid, and passed other measures to help the poor and disadvantaged.

But the Republican Party never gave up on their failed "trickle-down" theory. With the election of Ronald Reagan (and more power in Congress), they returned to it. And since then, worker wages have stagnated while the rich enjoyed a huge boost in their already high income. This has created an enormous gap in wealth and income between the richest Americans and the rest of the population -- a gap that has grown as big as it was just before the Great Depression -- and it continues to grow (boosted by the recent tax cuts for the rich).

A vote for the Republican Party is a vote to continue the "trickle-down" economics, and invite another economic disaster. The Democrats want a fairer economy -- one that benefits all Americans, and not just the rich. They know that money in our capitalist economy flows up to the rich. It does not trickle down to everyone. They know that their must be regulations on capitalism to make it beneficial to all. The rich must pay their fair share of taxes, and so must corporations. Unions must be protected and encouraged, because that is the only real protection that workers have. They want a livable wage to let all workers provide for their families with depending on government. And they want to protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and programs that help the poor and disadvantaged in our society.

But the Republicans are wrong about matters other than economics also. They are the anti-immigrant party -- even though this nation was built (and is still sustained) by immigration. And they would limit the rights of everyone but white males. It is thanks to Democrats that minorities, women, homosexuals, and non-christians have more rights today than ever before (although true equality has still not been achieved). More needs to be done, but Republicans will never do it. Democrats will. A vote for the Republican Party is a vote against equal rights and opportunity for all Americans.

There are many other differences between the parties, but that should be enough to show that the Republican Party's beliefs and agenda are disastrous for this country. At this point, some might say that not every Republican agrees with every part of that agenda, and some vote against it at times. But that's a fairly rare occurrence. The members of both political parties, especially in these partisan times, vote at least 95% of the time with their own party's agenda. And even a "good" Republican, will vote against what's best for most Americans 95% of the time. Is it really acceptable to you to vote for a candidate that votes for your interests only 5% of the time?

Democrats are not perfect, and after electing them, voters need to keep their feet to the fire. But they are many times better than Republicans. That's why I truly believe that the worst Democrat on the ballot is better than the best Republican.

The best candidate is NEVER a Republican!