Last updated on May 24th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Of all the wars America has suffered through, the Civil War still remains the costliest in terms of casualties because there were no foreign armies killing Americans. It was once believed that never again would American be pitted against American, but the past year has revealed there are Americans girding themselves for war to control the country. Although the most violent hate groups readying themselves for race war toil in the background, conservatives have openly declared war on American citizens, and their leaders either occupy positions of power within government or are seeking high political office. By definition, civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation, and although the current civil war in America is being waged by one group, it is still civil war.
The GOP’s war on Americans has been going on for some time, but it started in earnest in January 2011 when Republicans assumed control of the House of Representatives and several state legislatures. First it must be emphasized that in recent memory there are no instances of Republicans passing any legislation that helps the American people, but they have worked tirelessly to help the wealthiest one percent. It is expected that during a normal campaign season, candidates and political parties would promote their agendas by stressing what they will do for the people, but Republicans have abandoned any pretext of helping Americans and are blatantly campaigning on enriching the wealthy and corporations.
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Shortly after taking their oath of office, Republicans immediately singled out women for their initial assault, and then set out to increase hunger and poverty with vicious spending cuts affecting the poor, children, and elderly Americans. They used the deficit, budget, and religion to garner support for their assaults and have been unrelenting in pushing austerity measures on the 99%, and they found willing advocates among racists, teabaggers, and religious fanatics. The tragedy the GOP’s supporters will never comprehend until it is too late is that they will suffer as much as the poor people, minorities, and women they hate.
In both versions of Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity budget, the level of cuts to social safety nets is only matched in severity by the plan to privatize Medicare that not only decimates the elderly, but restricts uninsured Americans from receiving health care. Presumptive Republican presidential candidate, Willard Romney, enthusiastically endorsed Ryan’s budget even though it was generous compared to Romney’s plan. Cutting food stamps, housing and heating assistance, healthcare, and aid to children cannot be misconstrued as anything other than a war on the poor because none of the cuts will reduce the deficit or create jobs, and in fact will eliminate hundreds-of-thousands of jobs if not millions. What is astonishing is that men like Ryan and Romney are unapologetic in advocating for cuts they know will cause extreme hardship for 46 million American citizens.
Although Romney’s goal for his first day in office if he wins the presidency has been covered in great detail, it is worth looking at what he plans on doing for the great majority of people. What Romney promises is rewarding the wealthy, big oil, and the health insurance industry, and if Americans are not appalled at the blatant oligarchy Romney plans, then they are stupider than dirt.
Last Thursday when Willard introduced his television ad detailing what a president Romney’s first day in office would entail, voters should have gasped at the blatant favoritism afforded the wealthy. Romney’s first job on day one is immediately approving the Keystone pipeline that sells Canadian and U.S. oil on the foreign market and will be built by oil pipeline specialists employed by TransCanada, the pipeline’s owners. Americans will not see one drop of the refined oil, and American farmers will see their diesel fuel prices skyrocket as promised by TransCanada.
The second task on Romney’s first day is “introducing tax cuts and reforms that reward job creators†or in laymen’s terms, the filthy rich. Romney’s tax cuts for the rich and corporations are in the range of $10.7 trillion over ten years and they dwarf Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. Of note is that Romney promises the tax cuts are for the rich, and the reforms relaxing workplace and environmental regulations benefit their corporations. There was nothing in Romney’s first day for the majority of Americans except lower wages, dirtier environment, and an increase in the nation’s debt and poverty statistics.
Romney’s third goal is repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with “common sense reform†that Republicans have promised is buying health insurance across state lines and eliminating the ability to sue for malpractice. The only beneficiaries are insurance companies who relocate their corporate offices to a state with the least regulations and healthcare requirements, and big pharma who can produce dangerous drugs without accountability or responsibility to ensure their products are safe. The losers are 30 to 40 million Americans who will be hard pressed to afford insurance, and children who will have no Medicare or Medicaid to fall back on.
It is no secret that Republicans lust to undo the New Deal that saved millions of Americans during the Great Depression, and now they are actively campaigning to take America back to that drastic era when a few wealthy dynasties controlled most of the wealth in the nation. Perhaps Republicans are not waging civil war, but a civil massacre where Depression-era bread lines are the order of the day and entire families barely survive. The America Willard Romney and Paul Ryan envision is survival of the fittest who fight to the death for scraps left over from the wealthy, or as Republicans call them, job creators. It will be a massacre and Republicans have the finest weapons their corporate money can buy; racists, ignorant Americans, and the media.
If Republican’s supporters could get past their hatred of an African American President or their rank stupidity, they would ask Romney and Ryan what exactly they intended to do for the people. If their supporters were not stupid, they would ask why the GOP thinks giving the rich more tax cuts will have any different outcome now than it did eleven years ago when Bush tax cuts were first introduced. If the media did their jobs as advocates for the truth and transparency, they would ask Romney and Ryan how their economic plans benefitted anyone but the rich and corporations, but they do not and it is why Romney gets votes, and Ryan has support for his Draconian budget. The media is as complicit as Republicans in this war on America for never asking the right questions and failing to report what Republican legislation really entails, and if not for the Internet, few Americans would be aware of the looming crisis if Republicans prevail in November.
Romney says often that this election is about what kind of country America will become and he has given every indication that he supports oligarchy. In a Romney America, $19,900 is a good middle class income, unions vanish, education is reserved for the wealthy, and the government exists to support corporations. Republican fiscal guru, Paul Ryan, has made no bones that his vision is eliminating programs for the takers (the poor and elderly) to fund tax cuts for the makers (wealthy) and privatizing Medicare to reward the health insurance industry. Neither Romney nor Ryan has offered anything for the American people, and instead, they campaign on rewarding the job creators while foolish Americans, racists, and the media cheer them on. Little do they know that they are cheering their own demise and they can never say they were fooled because Romney, Ryan, and the rest of the GOP has spent the past year laying out in fine detail exactly how they will win the war on Americans.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
