Why Are Republicans So Mean?

Why are Republicans, especially right wing Republicans so mean? I am of course using the word 'mean' in its most technical sense, that is, 'not nice'. Let me start this discussion with my old friend Barry Goldwater, since he can be credited with initiating the current conservative movement in America. Whether he actually said it or not I'm not sure, but he certainly was considered to belong to the crowd who believed that 'The poor have a helluva nerve being poor'. That's a pretty mean statement but of course as a fan of Goldwater I never really believed he meant it the way it sounded. I certainly didn't consider myself mean, so I'm sure today's Republicans may consider themselves righteous, correct, just, patriots, or many other things, but definitely not mean.

Yet let's look at some of the basic positions being espoused by Republicans today. Let the banks fail - no bailouts. Let the auto companies fail. Send all illegal immigrants home. Stop awarding citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants born here, even though that would be unconstitutional. The twenty billion dollar fund provided by BP is a shake down that we should apologize for. Don't provide extended unemployment benefits to out of work Americans. Don't regulate coal companies, oil companies, corporations or banks. Discontinue extended Cobra health benefit subsidies. Most of all, lower taxes on corporations and the wealthy. The list could easily go on and on.

Of course there are many legitimate arguments for these positions that don't involve being mean. The free market system will fix everything. Interference, especially by the government will distort the realities of what is going on and make things worse rather than better. If you want to help the 'small people', as BP does, you need to focus on advancing the interests of big business so benefits will at some point trickle down to these small people.

These arguments, however, tend to promote a culture of corporate welfare. We need to provide businesses with subsidies, tax breaks, free reign to operate in the market place, but we have no money to try to make things better for those in need. The deficit is a problem if we want to provide health care, unemployment benefits, or job training. Yet the deficit is not a concern if we need billions to fight wars overseas or to provide subsidies to small businesses. We want to tighten our belts because of the deficit, but if we need tanks and missiles somehow the money is there. The answer to every policy question is to reduce taxes and then reduce them again. It doesn't matter how many or what kind of services need to be cut as long as they don't include weapons for war or support for wall street. Recent data indicate that as many as 115 million widows in the United States are currently living in poverty, but this is not an issue that would create a blip on the radar screens of Republicans.

The question goes deeper than just a difference of opinion about ideology or philosophy. It too often reflects self interest. I have health care so I have no interest in making sure that others have it. I have a job so others must not want to work or they would have jobs too. I'll be fine in retirement without social security so don't ask me to support it with my money. Also, the idea seems to be that he who has the power makes the rules. I'm a powerful CEO and therefore government needs to do my bidding. Even the Supreme Court sees no problem with giving these powerful giants of finance and industry unfettered power to spend as much as they choose to control and ulimately dictate how government should operate.

Yet many Republicans, especially religious conservatives do tend to have a social consience and can even be quite generous in making contributions to help the poor. Their problem is with government, and they tend to feel that helping those in need is a job for the Churches and individuals. These conservative Republican policies, however, are hurting real people. In one of my recent blogs, "Accountability is Not for the Powerful", it was pointed out that we have the lowest record of distribution of wealth of any western country in the world. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Do these Republicans care about that? Is the goal to create a better world where everyone can earn a decent living for their family, or is it to make life more comfortable for those who already have more than they need?

It is true that government programs don't always accomplish what they are intended to, but maybe that's why we need Republican ideas to make programs better. I believe this president has genuinely been seeking that kind of cooperation. What we need to get away from, however, is Republicans designing programs only designed to help business. We need to agree that a balance is needed. Of course we need to support the success of business because the success of business is necessary if the 'small' people are to succeed. This was the real reason for the bailout of the banks. But we also need to design programs that will not make life harder for the people on Main Street but will instead actually assist them in being more successful too.

So Republicans, if you are not really 'mean', and do care about what happens to all our citizens, let's work together to craft policies that will further the interests of big business, but will also ensure that the rest of us get a fair shake as well. We could start by acknowledging the value and necessity of social security and medicare, and further recognize that even if the new health care bill is not all that it should be, reform is needed and working together it can be made better so that all our citizens can have affordable and beneficial health care.