BASIS FOR REPUBLICAN RHETORIC.

The president’s action on immigration stirred up the same old Republican rhetoric; they scream; we will overturn what this communist/socialist has done and substitute our own policy, which is much better. Remember the Republican response to the Affordable Care Act, more affectionately known as Obamacare, which was; we will destroy it, repeal it, defund it, etc, and substitute our own policy, which will be much better. We can go back to the Social Security act of 1935 and even farther with other liberal programs and find exactly the same rhetoric. Of course, George W. Bush used the same theme in the modern version of the repeal theme when he was trying to privatizing Social Security. There is never a Republican plan, at least one that they will publically voice. Why is it that we never see their “better plan”? The answer is easy; they have a plan but in the eyes of liberals but not a better plan.

To find what the plan is, all we have to do is go to anyone “Republican only meetings”. I listen to the rhetoric arising out of such Republican base only, meetings and am not surprised. Their plan is simply to destroy the targeted programs and not to replace them with anything—zero, nothing. We have all heard their cry repeatedly; “Socialism has no place in America”. “We are a nation of free enterprise”, they declare. Although many of us, conservative and liberal alike, believe we are individuals with inalienable rights, in their hearts, most thinking Americans know the government is there to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It is what made America great. This means, we as Americans not only accept but also want some degree of socialism; therefore, the vast majority of people do not agree with this ridiculously extreme form of economics; laissez-faire economics is a system in which all business transactions are free from government intrusive. Ridiculous or not, ask any Republican and they will say in on form or another, it is what they think would be ideal.

To understand the basis for this rhetoric, we can examine the history of some of the most vocal individuals at the heart of the radical right wing Republican movement. Ayn Rand, Ted Cruz, and Marko Rubio fit this category. Of course, the Koch Brothers and their father Fred Koch, who was the principle funder of the Burch Society, fit into this group, if we expand the meaning of vocal to include throwing around “money”. They mask their skullduggery with philanthropy. The common theme in this group is a deep abiding hate for communism. Ayn Rand, the author of several extreme right wing books, has a background of abuse by Russian communism of her and her family. Cruz and Rubio are first generation Americans whose families fled Castro’s communist Cuba. The Burch Society was a right wing, pro Nazi, group that grew out of the struggle with communism for political control of Germany in the early years of the 20^th century.

Thus, by erroneously equating communism with socialism, which is not at all equivalent, this modern group developed the Laissez-faire economics concept, which is an intense anti socialism theme. Obamacare, Social Security, immigration reform, etc are all evil and are aimed at destroying America; therefore should be destroyed an not replaced with anything. Reasonable people know communism is a failed extreme just as Nazi state-ism is a failed and extreme rightwing philosophy. What seems troublesome to me is that certain Ayn Rand followers have influential positions in our government are identified with the so-called respected wing of the Republican Party. These include Senators Rand Paul and Paul Ryan along with the already identified Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Also included as a worshiper of the Ayn Rand philosophy is Alan Greenspan, former Fed Chair, who is of special not because his partner is Andrea Mitchell, a well-known and popular talking head on MSNBC. Even the pot-smoking songster Willie Nelson spent a lot of time in Ayn Rand’s kitchen. The point is that this philosophy is pervasive in virtually every corner of society. The Koch brothers are busy buying influence in institutions higher learning such as Florida State University among others, and passing around copies of, Atlas Shrugged (1957), Ayn Rand’s novel in which she created an ideal society where everyone works and there were no “useless” people defined as anyone who was not a producer.  

URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated