Talking the Talk
So, it may be obvious why they no longer walk the walk. But why, you might ask, do they even bother talking the talk? Well, indeed, some of them no longer believe they have to. That is why we are seeing so many rogue Republican fringe representatives getting extremely mouthy and insulting to just about anybody they happen to dislike. And although he clearly has the biggest mouth, it isn't just Donald Trump.
So, why has the GOP become the party of economic constipation? The reason is they have been in a slow but steady decline in popular support for years. They have been forced to rely on a demographic that is shrinking. And they are now forced to ally themselves individually and as a party, primarily with Big Money. As individuals, Big Money is their primary means achieving power by supporting ALEC policies through Tea Party extremism. And as a party they maintain that political power through the same vehicle of Big Money. Big Money buys their ticket in. Big Money pays the campaign costs. Big Money owns the politician. Whatever Big Money wants, Big Money gets. So, we see attacks on unions, and education funding (we can't have voters being too educated), on science (Big Fossil Fuel says so), and a host of other targets. But why do we see this vehement reaction to immigrants? What can Big Money have against many more low-wage workers? As Rachel Maddow might say, that is an interesting question.
Trumpification: Are Immigrants Really This Big a Problem?
You see, as limited as the GOP's voter base is, the party desperately needs to pick up more individual voters, but most of all, they can't afford to lose any that they already have. And the ones they have a lock on are an aging, increasingly grumpy, largely bigoted group of old white males. So, one of the more common battle cries to rouse the troops is to rail heartily against illegal aliens. After all, it is only a skip and a jump from illegals to citizens who look in any way different from the old, white male demographic. So, they pander to the bigots to keep everyone's blood pressure up. Thus, we have even Bobby Jindal, who was one, railing against "anchor babies." Donald Trump, on the heels of a racist rant, surges in the polls, and all of the many GOP tribe of candidates echo his bigotry as quickly as their fat tongues can wag.
Trump calls them names with racial slurs included. Bobby Jindal advocates the arrest of mayors over designated "sanctuary cities" when immigrants commit crimes there. Santorum, Jindal, Graham, and Trump all loudly proclaim their support for ditching the 14th amendment to the Constitution, and ending birthright citizenship. Ben Carson says he is willing to accept drone strikes, of all things, against undocumented immigrants. A right-wing radio host even called for slavery, saying the illegal immigrants should become "the property of the sate." This is certainly interesting coming from the party that used to represent individual liberty and unalienable rights.
If this all seems a little insane, like it has suddenly emerged out of nowhere here in the Twilight Zone, you need to remember how crazy the GOP has become, these days. They welcomed the Tea Party and all their radicals into the party to secure the radical base. Now they are paying the price for that short-sighted decision with a knee-jerk radicalism that seemingly has no bounds. I thought when Trump went psychotic over immigrants, the party had finally found the previously unknown limits beyond which their insane extremism would not go.
I was wrong. They seemed to rejoice in Trump's ignorant radical extremism.
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