How Not to "Broaden the Base"
The GOP, trying to "broadening its base" , is faced with the choice between their fast and furious, gun toting honky base; those poor shlubs they've been cultivating for decades to bulk out their own obvious old money minority constituency, (never mind that they abandon those shlubs anyway, right after each election); and virtually everybody else. They can't have gays and Jews and blacks on their podium; because at the sight of them, their actual largest base, inebriated, gun-toting, white bigots across the land, will walk away, finally feeling betrayed; when the actual betrayal is to their health, their infrastructure, their wilderness, their schools, and their jobs. The GOP will cotton to mega industry in the end because wherever they get their votes, corporations are the source of their financial support.
These would-be champions of everything backward are the people who pay no taxes, hide their money in the Caribbean, ship jobs overseas (Trump certainly has!), send our children to fight illegal wars, have all the abortions they need while denying them to others, crap on the environment, women, Muslims, and in general feel that they themselves are above the law. Those betrayals somehow escape the very loyal, entrenched, poorly educated far Right, and the GOP would like to keep it that way. Consequently, early education will get short shrift in their budget plans.
They decry "creeping Socialism",when Socialism in the US is out of the bag, the barn, and the closet. The only taxes that diminish with the GOP in charge are those of the filthy rich. The question is not which is the Capitalist, as opposed to Socialist party, the question is which party will spend our money wisely? The GOP wants to collect our taxes, and give us nothing in return. I'm OK with the Feds not giving us anything in return. I'm confident the states have all they need to provide for their citizens. And I'm equally OK with hanging on to my Federal Income taxes and giving it to the State instead. Let the Feds give a bake sale the next time they want to decimate a small Middle Eastern country. I will continue to support my State only until further notice. The GOP has miles to go before they sleep, and so many ugly promises to keep!
