All opinions expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the contributors.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial excoriated the Republican Party for its in-fighting, calling them “too dimwitted to understand the uses of power and how to wield it.” House Republicans have been feuding ever since they regained majority control in the midterm elections and some party hardliners are trying to torpedo Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker of the House. Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman says the in-fighting is just the latest evidence that Republicans in Congress only want to complain, not govern.
This is a direct result of the way that the Republican Party has operated over the last, certainly two, absolutely four and six, maybe more like eight and 10 years, really since the start of the Obama era, quite frankly. So even longer than that. The Republican Party has been about rage and has been about anger. They’re not about policy. They’re not about plans and putting in place solutions to problems like, how can we in an affordable way, get people off of fossil fuels for home heating, as an example. Or, let’s figure out how to include dental insurance in normal health insurance. It doesn’t have to be separate. Why is it separate? Let’s make it all one thing so people would have dental coverage.
They don’t want to solve problems like that. They want to use fear and rage and hyperbole and rhetoric, and when you do that, maybe it’ll win you some elections. But it won’t set you up to have a policy platform. And I’ve seen it firsthand. I visited lots of conservative parts of the country. And when people essentially spend their time going to church, going to shooting ranges, etc., going to Walmart, you end up with that view. You’re afraid of immigrants who are going to come and take our jobs. You’re afraid of antifa and Black Lives Matter. You’re afraid. It’s fear and rage, fear and rage, fear and rage.
Who should I be afraid of? And who should I be mad at? And often it’s the same groups.
You should be afraid of and mad at immigrants both for coming here and raping our women and taking our jobs. Those lazy immigrants are taking our jobs and working. That doesn’t sound so lazy. Doesn’t matter. Okay? Fear and anger, fear and anger. Black Lives Matter, we should be afraid of them because they’re rioting, even though they’re not. And we should also be angry at them because they want to level the playing field for historical injustices that have plagued the United States.
The other aspect to this is that, even though the Right loves to say that it’s the Left that’s all about grievances, grievance politics…it’s really the Right that is about grievance politics. And they claim to be aggrieved and that their free speech is taken away by platforms – by private social media platforms. They claim to be aggrieved and that elections they claim they won aren’t being given to them. And of course, it’s all lies. But it’s important to remember that the more loudly they insist it’s the Left that wants to talk about grievance, it is really they who have become the party of grievance.
