It has been rather easy to think of what is on the GOP to do list for the next 2-4 years. Remember that soon we won’t have the Supreme Court to protect us. This is definitely not a complete list.
* Repeal Obamacare. And no, there won’t be a replacement. Senate Majority Leader said today that repeal is high on the agenda, though I’m sure they’ll save it for January so Obama doesn’t veto it. This likely means 20 million people who recently got health insurance will lose it again. Surely, some of those 20 million voted for the nasty guy. While Dems may be able to filibuster repeal in the Senate (unless McConnell goes all hypocritical and ends filibustering) there are several parts of Obamacare that the nasty guy can change through executive order, causing its collapse.
* Defund Medicaid and all support services for the poor.
* End legal abortion.
* Privatize Social Security.
* Privatize Medicare.
* Gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and every law that prevents banks from doing whatever they want.
* Gut worker safety laws.
* Overturn Obama’s decisions on Dakota Access (the one currently being protested in South Dakota) and Keystone pipelines.
* Gut clean air and clean water laws and Obama’s executive orders that are trying to make energy generation become cleaner.
* End incentives for renewable energy.
* Preempt new state and local minimum wage laws.
* Gut the Voting Rights Act and implement voter suppression. Appoint justices who think gerrymandering is just fine.
* Abolish all campaign finance limits while maintaining secrecy rules.
* Convince the media to not write anything bad about them, essentially gutting the First Amendment. From the way the media treated the nasty guy and Hillary during the campaign there may not need to be a lot of convincing.
* Gut spending on roads and bridges.
* Give the rich a big tax cut.
* Get rid of all gun-free zones.
* Increase the militarization of our police forces and increase protections of officers who kill civilians.
* Gut spending on education, especially education of *those people*. This includes making sure those people can’t afford to attend college.
* Privatize schools.
* Start a war with ISIS.
* Overturn Obama’s executive orders protecting illegal immigrants who came here as young children.
* Overturn net neutrality, allowing big internet companies to favor themselves over smaller sites.
* Come as close to instituting Fundamentalist Christianity as the state religion as they think they can get away with.
We like to think the country has moved on and what is listed below aren’t issues anymore. But some people still think so and these are people the GOP listens to and will have a big say in choosing future Supreme Court justices.
* Reinstitute the ban on LGBT people in the military.
* Overturn same-sex marriage.
* Force LGBT people back in the closet.
I was at the Ruth Ellis Center this evening and as I washed pots a thought went through my mind, a bit of resignation and challenge. You voted for the nasty guy? OK, fine. Go for it. Let’s check back in a couple years and see how well you and your community are doing. Will you still like your choice then? How much pain will be inflicted on your community, country, and world in those two years (or will it happen only to those who are beneath your notice)?
At the risk of activating Godwin’s rule… I said this morning that the GOP has the White House, the Senate, the House, and will soon have the Supremes. They also increased their control over state legislatures. Will that be enough? Will that amount of control and poor outcomes convince citizens that the GOP has lied to them over the last three decades, that the policies sold to citizens never had the ability to improve their lives? Or will the GOP still be able to successfully claim, as was done in Germany in the 1930s, our policies are great, but they won’t benefit you until we purify the citizenry, getting rid of all who work against us?
My church, which is in a working-class suburb just west of Detroit, has a goal of giving 150 baskets full of supplies for a full turkey dinner. This is up from 130 baskets last year. I intend to sponsor one of them. I’m pretty sure we’re doing it because of the extreme need in the area and not for bragging rights – see how many baskets we did! But I doubt there are many voices asking this question: Why are circumstances in this community so dire that our church feels the need to give out 150 baskets while surely barely making a dent in the need? And what should we do about it?
The gov’t of Canada sent out a tweet last night:
In Canada, immigrants are encouraged to bring their cultural traditions with them and share them with their fellow citizens.It quickly went viral. Shortly afterward the official Canadian Immigration site crashed.
But those wanting to flee the nasty guy and the havoc about to be unleashed in Congress should know (according to USA Today):
Would-be Canadian immigrants must have a solid reason for wanting to come to their northern neighbor.
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