- President Biden’s economy added over 350,000 jobs in January
- The Biden Administration forgave over $1.5 Billion in student loans this Thursday
- Republicans’ “star witness” in President Biden’s impeachment probe got his info via a Russian spy
Well — I’m sure you can guess which one is a lie.
I wish I was kidding – I really do. I hate talking about the Biden impeachment stuff as much as the next person and I think politics these days are too petty, too bogged down by finger-pointing, and are not focused on actually helping the American people.
But when one political party’s information is handed to them by literal Russian spy agents, that’s certainly cause for concern.
It’s a matter of ideals. While imperfect, The United States of America is supposed to stand for liberty and justice for all. Yet, time and time again, the Republican Party turns its back on American ideals and turns towards the Russian ideals of *checks notes* authoritarianism and killing your political opponents.
The top Russian opposition leader to Vladimir Putin was brazenly assassinated this week, yet the Republican party favors the ideals of Putin and his murderous dictatorship over President Biden’s democratic values.
I don’t care where you stand on taxes or immigration or the economy, if you choose the ideals of murderers over the ideals of a free and fair democracy, you nor the party that you claim to represent can claim to uphold American values.
Plain and simple, this Republican Congress is as un-American as it gets.
The Boring Stuff
Nobody likes talking about “the foundations of democracy” – it’s just boring. We’d all rather talk about hot-button issues that evoke emotion, like access to abortion or affordable healthcare or protecting the rights of marginalized communities. Despite those fights being extremely important, the boring issues are no less important.
None of the rights that we have today exist without democracy. Without democracy, bigots would be free to discriminate without consequence and our free speech wouldn’t be protected.
Democracy is at the core of our fight for a more just country. When we dislike what elected officials stand for, we vote them out. When elected officials don’t listen to us, we protest. Around every turn in the fight for justice, we organize and are free to do so without fear of persecution, because we have a protected voice.
Without democracy, right-wing lunatics could tote their AR-15s wherever they pleased and threaten protests, conservative leaders could jail those who dissented, and any power that we, the people, had in the fight for a more just America would be under attack by the government.
So sure, democratic ideals aren’t as flashy or fun to talk about, but they’re the foundation that we build our fight upon. In every step forward, when we advocate for access to abortion or LGBTQ+ equality, we do so upon the foundation that we can fight without fear of persecution, and we have democracy, and only democracy, to thank for that.
That is why we cannot risk another term of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in office.
Enabling
Enabling is defined as, “giving someone the authority to do something; oftentimes passive in nature”. Enablers aren’t the bank robbers or the ones behind the gun, but they’re the getaway drivers.
I’ve never seen a group of people better defined as enablers than the current members of the Republican Party. Sure, they’re not all inciting riots on January 6th or screaming “rigged election” from every street corner, but they’re not diminishing Donald Trump’s authority to do so.
Every time Trump spouts a lie or issues an un-Democratic statement, every Republican could simply issue a statement saying, “Mr. Trump is wrong and I disagree with him because of reasons X, Y, and Z”. But nope – they’ll continue to enable him.
Republican enablers like Don Bacon put their hands up and try to say, “Oh, well that was Trump, not me.” Yet, they do absolutely nothing to stop Donald Trump. This culture of enabling is so far embedded into the Republican party, that not a single Republican is willing to say a word out of line anymore. At this point, we should just rename the GOP the GEP – the Grand Enabling Party.
This is why it is more crucial than ever to vote them all out. The halls of Congress can’t be filled with getaway drivers, we need a Congress that represents American values, upholds democracy even in the threat of backlash, and will continue to let us, the people, utilize the rights afforded to us by our founding fathers.
If you want the right to vote, the right to voice dissent and a country that aligns with liberty and justice over authoritarianism and assassinations, there’s only one political party that represents you.
Thank you for reading,
Please consider donating to the NDP here. Authenticity and effort are on the ballot this year – we deserve folks who work to create solutions for the public – and we need help in order to keep up with the corporate mega-donors of the GOP.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at jack@nebraskademocrats.org.
All the best,
Jack Schiewe
