linnposts.com

I never thought I would say it, but Republicans have a lot to say for themselves. 

I hate having to admit that, but I can see how people are drawn to the Republican Party.

For one thing, Republicans strike me as being wicked smart. 

What’s smarter than passing laws that keep people who won’t vote for you from voting at all? 

Ingenious, when you think about it. Republicans believe that winning is everything so it makes sense for them to let Democrats worry about preserving American democracy while they focus on making sure only their voters get to cast a ballot.  

They also demonstrate an impressive determination to ignore facts that contradict what they believe and say. They even came up with the myth of “alternative facts,” which, of course, are not a real thing, but Republicans have convinced a lot of people they are. 

Republicans have also had remarkable success in breaking with all norms and freeing themselves from any obligation to tell the truth.

When opinions are as good as facts, knowledge becomes unimportant, and without knowledge truth becomes whatever you say it is. 

Think about how much freedom Republicans must feel because they don’t have to bother with telling the truth. Everybody knows it’s a lot easier to tell a lie. 

I find myself awed by the degree to which Republicans lie about everything, from global warming and climate change to trickledown economics to Social Security to defense spending to food stamps to healthcare to the pandemic to the 2020 election to the January 6^th insurrection, and on and on.

Republicans have learned something apparently Democrats haven’t, that truth gets in the way of political power. From the Republican perspective, if you want power you can’t worry about being honest.

Full disclosure, I must admit there are times when telling a lie appeals to me more than telling the truth so I understand why Republicans gave up truth a long time ago. 

I also see now that having no regard for telling the truth is why Republicans find it so easy to be hypocritical. You have to believe in telling the truth if you want to avoid saying one thing and doing another. That’s not the Republican way anymore. 

But I think the thing that makes Republicans more effective in today’s political environment than anything else is the stunning degree of loyalty Republican voters show toward their candidates. 

It doesn’t seem like Republican politicians can be too radical in positions they take or too inflammatory in the things they say as far as their voters are concerned.

Donald Trump clued us into this when he proved he was right when he said he could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue in NY and not lose a vote. Well, he didn’t actually shoot anyone, but he did just about everything else and still got Republicans to back him.

As it turns out, the reason for Republican voter loyalty is not that difficult to figure out. They hate Democrats more than they hate anything else in the world. They would vote for Vladimir Putin before they would vote for a Democrat.

That’s a stunning kind of political loyalty, which is why Senate Republicans don’t worry about paying a price among their voters for their obstructionism. They can oppose even the best proposal for the country solely because Democrats are for it and not miss a beat.

It really is amazing that the Republican Party has convinced its members to hate Democrats so much that Republicans in Congress don’t hesitate to vote against the best interests of the very people who voted them into office. 

That kind of blind loyalty is every politician’s dream.

In fact, all these things I’ve mentioned make me envious of how successful Republicans have become in turning modern American politics on its head. 

I’m still not ready to join the Republican Party, but I have to say that if the day comes when truth and justice, freedom and democracy no longer matter to me anymore, I probably will be.