I hate the Republican Party.
Not individual Republicans, though at this point I am hard-pressed to find a single one who doesn’t deserve the nation’s disgust and condemnation.
And that includes Republican voters as well as politicians.
There are a lot of reasons I say this, but one stands out from all the rest.
It’s what the Republican Party is teaching the nation’s children, starting with telling them that in a democracy it is acceptable to try to prevent certain people from voting.
Twenty-five Republican-led states have passed voter restriction laws since the 2015 Supreme Court ruling striking down the “pre-clearance” section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act because “it was no longer needed.”
Those states proved that what Chief Justice John Roberts said could not have been more naive. Worse, it gave Republicans the opportunity to enact voter suppression laws in the name of protecting the integrity of elections against voter fraud.
That argument was exposed for the lie it has always been by top Republican lawyer Ben Ginsburg who said he and a team of lawyers searched for decades to find voter fraud and came up empty. He went on to say – a Republican, mind you – that the real threat to the integrity of our elections is Donald Trump’s false claims that fraud was rampant.
At this very moment Republicans have filed dozens of lawsuits trying to prevent votes coming in the mail after November 3 from being counted even though they are postmarked before.
In other words, they want to stop democracy in its tracks because of a failure of the post office to do its job, something Donald Trump put in motion last June for this very purpose.
By their own actions Republicans across the country are telling our children that if a politician can subvert our democracy by suppressing voter participation and can get away with it, it’s okay.
And they call themselves patriots.
They are also teaching the nation’s children that the word “liberty” is synonymous with the word “selfish.”
That is how Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude described what the Republican Party is trying to convince Americans to believe.
According to Republicans, wearing a mask and keeping social distance are not ways to show concern for your neighbor, they are violations of your personal freedom.
No, it’s plain old selfishness and an awful thing to teach children.
It doesn’t stop there, though. The Republican Party is also teaching the nation’s children that ignorance is as good as knowledge.
Donald Trump believes his opinions are of equal value as facts and evidence offered by scientific research and study, and the Republican Party stands behind him 100%.
That tells children that knowledge is nothing more than someone’s opinion, which is a de facto way of saying there is no such thing as ignorance.
How ignorant is that?
Yet, it is the inevitable by-product of teaching children that telling the truth doesn’t matter anymore.
Donald Trump is a liar, period. That Republicans dispute this fact makes them complicit in the lies he tells and says to every child and youth in the nation that it is no longer important to tell the truth, that it’s okay to tell a lie if you think it will serve you better.
I really, really hate the Republican Party!
One other awful thing Republicans are teaching our children is not to take responsibility for any of their actions.
That’s what Donald Trump does. He possesses no moral courage to accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong, which is why he said the other day that there is nothing he would do differently in the face of the pandemic.
He is not only a moral coward, he is about as arrogant as a person can be, and the Republican Party has no qualms about telling the nation’s children that refusing to take responsibility for your actions is okay.
Have I said I hate the Republican Party?
Not always, though, because the Republican Party hasn’t always been as decadent and dangerous as it is now.
Years ago when I was a young pastor in a small town I got to know several older Republicans with whom I spent hours talking politics.
As Republicans they believed in small government; as a Democrat I believed in an activist government.
That made our arguments philosophical instead of ideological, which is why we remained friends in spite of our political differences. Those were fun days.
My, how things have changed, none more than the Republican Party.
The party my older friends belong to was nothing like the Republican Party of today.
In fact, I am sure they would have never supported Donald Trump and would have left the party as many Republicans have done.
I doubt they would say they hate the Republican Party as I do. Old loyalties die hard.
But knowing them as I did I have no doubt they would wholeheartedly agree with me that today’s Republican Party deserves everything that is about to come down on its head in Tuesday’s election, especially because of the awful lessons it is teaching the nation’s children.
linnposts.com 
I agree. You state our contempt eloquently and in a kinder fashion than I am able. Thank you, Jan!
Rollie, it took all the inner constraints I possess to write in a civil manner.
I find it difficult to believe than anyone with an ounce of morality would still call themselves a Republican!
You and me both, Anne.
This is one of your best. My dad was one of those Rs who would not stand for Trump’s lies, arrogance, and ignorance. His driving up the deficit for tax breaks for the wealthy would have had Dad shaking his head.
Today’s diehard Rs dont want to wear masks and be “sheeple”; yet, they don’t question anything the orange man does. I can’t even talk to my siblings about their vote. Once an R always an R, I guess.
Pat, being a Republican is not an excuse for what Republicans are doing right now, something you already know. I think it is important not to cut Republicans slack for thinking it is. I would like to think that if Trump were a Democrat I would leave the party. Too many Republicans reject what the party is doing to allow those who are going along to think we understand what they are doing. We don’t. Thanks.
I hope republicans regain a sense of patriotism and morality, because we need two viable parties. It will be a struggle, just today Sen. Mike Lee said fact checking is a form of censorship. Let us hope the voters of Utah send him your blog. Vote Blue and send a clear message that voter suppression and lies will not work.
The Mike Lee comment is stunningly stupid! Suggests there’s not much to work with re the Republican Party.
The Jan Linn that I came to know so very well was a man of faith who eschewed hate in any form and believed in the goodness of all people. I am outraged that “hate” has entered your heart in regard to the Republican party and most individual Republicans!
I am not, of course, outraged at YOU, but at THEM!! What they have done and continue to do “in the name of Trump” — an evil, psychotic monster — is despicable. As you note, the damage to our democracy and to our children is severe and will be long-lasting.
Thank you, Jan, for your ongoing denunciation of those who will someday face a reckoning from a higher power — whatever form that may take…….
Bill Blackwell
Guess I showed my true self, Bill, but, then, I have never seen anything in this country so despicable as the current Republican Party. I might even go so far as to say “hate” is being too kind when talking about it.
Dear Jan,
Looking back over this election year, I have to confess that there has been one thing that truly frightened me. It was when an armed mob invaded the state parliament building in Lansing, Michigan, because Gretchen Whitmer, that state’s governor, had the temerity to require its population to stay at home, and to minimise the impact of Covid 19. Indeed, it seems that a plot was afoot to kidnap and kill her. And all this while Trump sat on his hands and looked the other way…
As an amateur historian, this makes me think of the Germany of 1919, when armed mobs of discharged ex-soldiers known as the Freikorps roamed the streets of Munich and Berlin. Among the people they murdered were Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, whose bodies were dumped in Berlin’s Landwehr Canal after they’d both been shot. Was any action taken against the killers? Not on your life – the murders were disregarded by the “Social Democrat” government. It’s small wonder that the way was clear for the eventual emergence of Adolf Hitler.
Yet, I have hope that if Mr Biden wins on Tuesday, Kamal Harris, herself and ex-prosecutor, will be able to hold Biden’s feet to the fire to disband these private armies, who will always be a threat to democracy.
Nigel, this is a timely historical reminder of what can happen to people when they don’t believe it can happen. Our only hope is a Biden win. That will give us a chance to make the changes we need. Wish more Americans were amateur historians, too. We would have a more realistic perspective on politics.
Hearing the word “hate” takes my breath away. But that is also what I am feeling – and I don’t like it! I love that you framed your essay around what we are teaching our children. Yes, our only hope is that Biden wins.
Peggy, my grandchildren are watching what is going on and asking questions. The good thing is that their parents are including them in political conversations that are helping them see what an aberration Trump is. I wonder if children of Republican families are having similar conversations based on truth and facts. Thanks.
Always Greetings of Grace and Peace to you. I have voted in every presidential election cycle since Harry Truman except the cycle of 1952 when I was in preparation for deployment to Korea and was to young to vote. Across the years I have never voted for a Republican Presidential Candidate, not because I doubted their loyalty to protect and defend the Constitution, but because I never agreed enough with their world view to give my vote. I have voted for a number of Republican candidates down the ballot and in local elections. Now, I will say that I will never vote for a Republican Candidate at any level again until there comes a time when the Republican Party repudiates and reforms from present reality or recreates itself as a political party that commits itself to the fulfillment of the ideals of the Constitution. I can be stubborn. After the election cycle of 1980, the winner let it be known he liked jelly beans. The “take back the country” supporters then bought up all the jelly beans in the country and shipped them to Washington, thus causing a jelly bean shortage. I like jelly beans, but that response so ticked me off that I did not eat a jelly bean for eight years. I am so fed up with the enabling and unwavering support of Trump, that I mean what I say. I only hope that I will live long enough to participate in the next election cycle.to honor my word.
I love what you wrote, Steve. I wish all the people reading your comments knew the person you are. They would have no doubt that you mean what you say. They would also know that when you see something is wrong, the rest of us should pay attention to it. I hope Tuesday’s results will prove to Republicans that the reform you call for is not a choice, but an imperative. That is one reason among many we need you to stick around for many more years.