The Republican agenda: More worry, no joy!

I read Luke Throop’s¹ recent letters with admiration and incredulity. Admiration for his abilities as a writer – particularly his ability to make today’s RNC sound reasonable. Incredulity at his claims about what today’s Republican Party represents.

Mr. Throop expresses the idea that the Republican Party, like most of us, is for safe communities, good schools, and an affordable economy. Certainly sounds like something we all can agree on, right?

On the surface, yes. But let’s pop the hood and take a closer look.

Safe communities: How many of you, like me, avoid crowded places like concert venues, fast food restaurants at busy times, county fairs, big shopping malls, movie theatres, live political rallies? Do you do so because, also like me, you know of people who were victims of or narrowly escaped gun violence in one or more of those venues? Do you worry about sending your kids to school? Do you worry about your healthcare facility being attacked by a violent, potentially deadly pro-lifer? Do you worry about visiting the U.S. Capitol, a State capitol, voting location, or local Council meeting for fear of violence – particularly if anyone (even those with prior records of violence or mental health issues) could be carrying handguns or assault weapons? Do you worry about registering your fellow citizens to vote because you might be threatened by someone carrying a gun, as I was a few years ago at the entrance of a busy public grocery store in The Dalles?

If so, thank your Republican representatives for ensuring that not even the most basic common-sense gun violence laws are enacted to protect your life and the lives of those you love in your very community.

Good schools: See paragraph above. And then add to it the following: How many of you can afford to send your kids to private school – or even home-school them, because you must work outside the home? What if you can no longer count on a free public-school education for your children? And what if your child is required to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) exam because they received a public-school education, as the authors of Project 2025 are proposing in an effort to give military recruiters access to more candidates, essentially putting those children first in line for the draft (https://bit.ly/3MrojV9 , page 102)? Note that private-school students wouldn’t face a similar requirement, thus implying that going to war as a young adult is mandatory repayment for your childhood education – even though your parents’ taxes and yours too already pay for it. And sure, some of us might not like the books available to our children in the school library, but isn’t that something we can discuss reasonably with our children and with their teachers? Do we need to hound teachers and librarians into quitting because we don’t agree with some ideas, as the Republican Moms for Liberty and other groups believe?

An affordable economy: The actual, verifiable fact is that Trump oversaw the third-biggest deficit increase of ANY U.S. president. According to ProPublica, known for its in-depth investigative reporting, “Donald Trump built a national debt so big (even before the pandemic), that it’ll weigh down the economy for years.” (https://bit.ly/47pY77j ) If he’s elected and given a Republican-majority Congress, Trump plans to sign these and more billionaire- and corporate-friendly tax cuts into law, costing the US another $4 trillion (https://ampr.gs/4g4wfcH), minimum, over the next decade. Meanwhile, if Trump implements the 20%-general and 60%-for-China import tariffs he’s now proposing (up from his original 10% earlier this year), the rest of us will see our expenses driven up by at least $2,600 per year according to one economic think tank (https://bit.ly/3TdSV09) – not counting the tax-cut induced deficit expense we’ll eventually pay for through more taxes on the non-millionaire/billionaire/corporate classes.

Mr. Throop doesn’t even touch on all the other issues today’s Republican Party supports: Hiding our country’s history of slavery, oppression of Native Americans and other ethnic groups, and lack of rights for women and children; gutting our Voter Rights Act to make it harder for Americans to vote; making the President a king per the Supreme Court’s recent disastrous Trump v. United States decision; cozying up to Putin and Orban and other dictators worldwide; abandoning NATO; turning our backs on ALL immigrants, including those Dreamers who were born in the U.S. or brought here as very young children, or those who are spouses of US citizens – even as data shows recent immigration has shrunk the federal deficit and will contribute to a $7 trillion increase in GDP and $1 trillion in additional government revenue over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, February 2024 (https://bit.ly/4gb7yeL and https://bit.ly/4dQ8Z0E).

I agree with Luke Throop when he says, “It’s worth taking a fresh look.” But I would add that it’s worth taking a fresh look BEYOND your usual sources, whether Fox News or MSNBC. Dig in and learn all you can about the parties’ perspectives and policy proposals from primary sources: For example, check out Project 2025 (https://bit.ly/3MrojV9) and the 2024 Democratic Platform https://bit.ly/4dIW6oJ ).

Then, take action as an informed citizen voter. Stop Project 2025. Save our democracy and freedom. Vote for Harris-Walz and Democrats, state and federal, up and down ballot.

1. The Torch Report by Luke Throop