Damon Linker on why he’s not a Democrat — he’s an anti-Republican:
My revulsion at the Republicans doesn’t begin and end with Iraq and Benghazi. It’s spread to many other issues over the years. Frankly, the GOP increasingly looks like a party in the grip of some form of hyperpartisan madness that takes self-destructive delight in alienating everyone who isn’t a far-right ideologue. What else can explain the up-is-down, black-is-white, counterintuitive perversity of the stances Republicans increasingly take in response to national news and trends?
Consider:
- A gun-toting maniac slaughters 20 children and 6 adults inside an elementary school. The GOP response? Loosen gun restrictions.
- Banks and the finance industry nearly topple the global economy. The GOP response? Oppose increased regulation of banks and the finance industry.
- Well over 90 percent of climate scientists present research in favor of anthropogenic climate change. The GOP response? Suggest that the scientists have joined forces with liberals in a big-government conspiracy.
- Economic inequality is increasing dramatically, especially at the very top of the income pyramid. The GOP response? Propose cutting taxes on the wealthy.
- The food stamp program has grown since the economic meltdown of 2008, which led to millions of Americans losing their jobs. The GOP response? Cut the food stamp program.
- Money is playing an ever-greater role in American politics. The GOP response? Cheer on the effort of the Supreme Court’s Republican majority to increase the role of money in politics still further.
- Wages have been stagnant or falling for many years, and raising the federal minimum wage is a broadly popular way of addressing the problem. The GOP response? Oppose raising the minimum wage.
If any of this makes sense to you, maybe the GOP is where you belong. As for me, I’ll stay where I am: Voting against the Republican Party every chance I get — and hoping it soon receives the incontestable rebuke at the ballot box it so richly deserves.