Why Would Anyone But Rich White Men Vote Republican?

 

The talking heads on cable news are still predicting that the Republican Party will take one or both houses of Congress in the 2022 election. I am still wondering why the majority of Americans would vote for them.

One reason given is inflation. But what is the Republican solution for inflation? The truth is they don't have a solution, and if they do, they are certainly keeping it a deep dark secret. They love to blame Democrats for inflation, but have not said how they would fix it themselves. 

For most Americans, giving more power to the Republicans would be disastrous.

Republicans oppose raising the minimum wage above the 7.25 an hour national minimum wage. They don't think a person working 40 hours a week should make a wage that would lift them out of poverty. And this hurts all workers. Raising the minimum wage would put upward pressure on all wages, while keeping it too low tends to stagnate all wages. That's OK with Republicans. They love to see obscene profits for corporations and obscene wealth accumulation for the super rich, and they're willing to throw all workers under the bus to achieve that.

Republicans also oppose raising taxes on the rich and corporations. They don't want them to pay their fair share of taxes. They will tell you that paying more in taxes will keep a company from being profitable. That is an outrageous lie. Taxes are only paid on profits -- not income. And the more profit a company makes, the more taxes it should pay.

Republicans also oppose making it easier for workers to unionize. Unions are the only way for workers to have enough power to bargain with companies for decent wages and safe working conditions. But Republicans don't want workers to have power. They want all power to rest with companies.

Republicans also want to keep women as second class citizens. They put enough justices on the Supreme Court to take away a woman's control over her body, and they have already said they would like to pass a law making all states do that. How can anyone consider themselves to be free (and a full citizen) if they don't even have control over their own body? They can't, but Republicans don't care. They like a patriarchal system, where men make all the decisions.

Republicans are busy making it harder to vote for many Americans. In a democracy, it should be easy for all citizens to vote, but Republicans don't really want a democracy. They want a system that keeps themselves in power, regardless of what the majority of citizens want -- and the recent events have shown they are willing to legislate unfair rules to accomplish that.

Republicans oppose trying to mitigate the effects of global climate change. Changes are already happening that affect most people (especially more severe and dangerous weather conditions), but Republicans don't care. They think obscene corporate prifits are more important than the health of this planet (and its people).

Republicans refuse to do anything that would reduce the massive gun violence epidemic in this country. There are several constitutional changes that would significantly reduce the loss of lives to gun violence -- closing the loopholes in the background check law, limiting the number of rounds contained in an ammunition magazine, banning assault weapons, etc -- changes supported by a significant majority of Americans. But the Republicans consider the profits of gun manufacturers to be more important than the lives of citizens.

I can understand why the rich (especially rich white men) want to vote Republican. But when others vote Republican, they are voting against their own interests.