Republicans and Democrats

Paul Cummins
Mirror contributing writer

   It never ceases to amaze me that many voters vote for people who clearly do not have these voters’ interests at heart. To be specific, I find it hard to understand why a poor or lower middle class person would vote Republican. I realize it is bad form to say publicly what I have just said, but alas, it is my opinion, and for better or worse, this is an opinion column. I grew up in a Republican home; my parents’ friends helped both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan get elected. So, I saw first hand what motivates many Republicans, and at the risk of offending friends and colleagues, I will try to define how I see the Republican Party and what it represents. I will begin with a list of ten positions which I believe the Republican Party in general opposes and ten which it supports.

   Oppose:
   Kyoto Accord guidelines on global warming.
   Allowing the world court jurisdiction over America.
   Bans and strict controls of handguns.
   Ratifying the U.N. decree on the Rights of Children.
   Unions in general.
   Raising minimum wages.
   Welfare programs.
   Gay/Lesbian marriages.
   Significant funding for the arts.
   Substantial funding to eliminate poverty.

   Favor:
   Capital punishment.
   Tax cuts for the wealthy.
   Environmental DE-regulation.
   Subsidies to oil, military-industry, agri-business.
   The U.S. role as the world’s leading supplier of arms.
   Continuing the military budget at above cold wars levels.
   The “Star Wars” massive spending programs.
   Reduction of corporate and inheritance taxes.
   Drilling for oil, where possible, i.e. the Arctic.
   Minimum campaign reform and continuing donations-funded elections.

   To be fair, some Democrats also oppose and favor some of the above. For example, the Clinton White House also favored continuation of military spending at cold war levels. However, Republicans — especially those in the White House — almost unanimously support the above, while random Democrats only support a few items of the above list. In general the above twenty positions tend to define Republicans, not Democrats.
   I believe Republicans, particularly those who hold political office, are motivated primarily by economic issues. Of course, they argue that a healthy economy helps us all. This sounds good, the old “rising tide lifts all ships” theory. In reality, it lifts mostly yachts while the majority of the citizens do their best to patch up and bail out their rowboats, if they have a metaphoric boat at all. The one in six children living in poverty in the United States find that the Republican economic principles do them little good.
   When we look at the ten-oppose/ten favor list, we see some overriding themes: 1) Republicans see the natural world as an economic resource to be used for profit; 2) Republicans see the wealthy as deserving to be the primary beneficiaries of the economy; 3) Republicans see the United States as the legitimate power broker in the world -- we have the strongest army, hence, what we decide is right: in effect, might makes right; and 4) Republicans see that the primary role of government is to serve the upper-class.
   Because these four themes are rather blatantly non-humanistic, the conservative wing of the Republican party has been forced to try to soften its image by attaching the modifier “compassionate” to the noun “conservative.” It seems to me a hollow and even misleading gesture. There is nothing compassionate about the above two lists. Until the right wing of the Republican Party sees the needs of all Americans, including the desperately poor, as equal in importance to the “needs” of the wealthy, “compassionate” is a sham term.
   Why then, do so many voters vote against their own self-interest? And will history repeat itself in the next election or will the electorate/consumer see the real product they are endorsing?

Ed. note: “Keeping Watch, Reflections on American Culture, Education and Politics,” a collection of some of Paul Cummins’ Mirror columns, has just been published by 1st Books.