12 Good Reasons To NOT Vote REPUBLICAN This Year!

November 2, 2012  By Jack Jodell

This is addressed primarily to those who claim to be independent, unsure, or even apolitical in their attitude toward our government. First, I am asking all of you to do your civic duty and VOTE in the upcoming November 6 election! For the first time in many years, there will be clear-cut choices this time around. Second, I am asking you to NOT VOTE FOR ANY REPUBLICAN, and here are 12 good reasons  why:

1). Republicans are only for the very wealthy and don’t care in the least about anyone else. They have given unneeded tax breaks to the very rich and are sending signals they will increase these breaks while simultaneously raising taxes on eceryone else to pay for these exorbitant and ubfair tax breaks! You heard their Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, condescendingly attacking all those below him on the income scale as he was addressing fellow multi-millionaires at a fundraiser last May. He contemptuously referred to 47% of the electorate as slackers who view themselves as “victims” dependent on the federal government for entitlements. He and his followers now claim to have a plan that will lower everybody’s taxes by 20 – 25%, but DON’T BELIEVE A WORD OF IT! For, while lowering your tax rate, they will simultaneously eliminate many needed breaks YOUhave, deserve, and currently enjoy! They put all of their effort toward benefitting the richest 1% minority while ignoring the very real needs of the MAJORITY 99% below!

2). Republicans are power-hungry and repeatedly LIE to deceive voters into voting for them. They have no real interest in governance per se, and wish to use the federal government primarily as a means to funnel money into their own pockets and/or those of their wealthy stockholders. They achieve this through the attainment of subsidies or special tax breaks. They want power to ensure that the masses will have very little of it, if any. They continually use scare tactics and massive lies to prevent their opponents from being elected. They conduct war for profit as opposed to waging it for the true safety of the country. As such, they are not worthy of your vote, unless you place imperialism and war crimes high at the top of your list of desired priorities.

3). Republicams claim to be fiscally responsible and concerned about the national debt, but the evidence proves otherwise! While the Democrats engaged in deficit spending to jump-start the economy during the Great Depression years of the 1030s, and continued it out of necessity during World War II, and again during the anti-poverty Great Society efforts of the mid-1960s, the Repunlicans (especially during the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations) have spent wildly and recklessly. Rather than spending for the public good, as Democrats and former Republican President Dwight Eisenhower did, modern Republicans have wasted HUGE sums on massive unneeded subsidies and trying to buy political favor. They have rewarded financial supporters lavishly and unabashedly, as the now-discredited and jailed former Rep. Tom DeLay has proven, They have blown TRILLIONS on illegal war and wholly unneeded tax breaks for the very wealthy. In fact, former Vice President DICK Cheney said in 2002 that “deficits don’t matter.” He and his partner W then embarked on a spending spree that has yet to be equalled OR  ended. Current Republicans are therefore the LAST persons who should be controlling the government’s purse strings, as they waste public funding like drunken sailors!

4). Small business and workers (Inion or otherwise) fare much better under Democratic rule than they do under Republican rule! Don’t just take my word for it – Google the facts on this for yourselves! Remember: it was Republican Reagan whose administration began  “trickle down economics” and who began giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy and very little to anyone else. It was Republicans who pushed for tax breaks for businesses to export our jobs and factories outside our country! It has been Republicans who began to destroy labor unions, which has led to stagnant wages for workers over the past 10 + years and is threatening to end upward mobility!

5). IT WAS CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN “FREE MARKET” ECONOMIC POLICIES WHICH CAUSED BOTH THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND OUR RECENT GREAT RECESSION! Their drive to minimize regulation on banks and Wall Street, and their refusal to raise taxes on the very rich, even though Amerca’s wealthiest pay FAR lower taxes and have MUCH greater access to tax loopholes than do those of similar income ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD, has driven our country to the very edge of bankruptcy. These policies MUST be ended, and Republicans are a major obstacle in our being able to do so!

6). Republicans are the ENEMY of poor people AND the middle class, and their continued grip on power presents a very real threat to the economic well-being of all workers! Since way back in 1935, the Republicans  have opposed the adoption of all pro-people economic policies: they have fought Social Security, General Assistance, MEDICARE, MEDICAID, unemployment compensation, disability, Pell Grants for students, the MINMUM WAGE, and now, even  the Affordable Care Act! They have always claimed that the country could not afford these cmeasures, or that enacting them would create a sense of entitlement and laziness among the masses. Yet they approve of multi-billion dollar subsidies for corporate agriculture and the already massively profitable oil industry, and think nothing of claiming tax deductions for three-Martini lunches and other personal entertainment! Now THAT is a sense of entitlement in action!

7). Republicans wish to strengthen the very wealthy at the expense of all those beneath them! They have enabled unfair, gigantic, and completely unrestricted monetary contributions by huge multinational corporations to influence elections. They put a good share of their record profits into extensive lobbying efforts to buy the votes of key politicians. What has resulted is government of, by, and for the rich rather than of, by, and for the people! 

8). Republicans claim to support small business, but in reality, their economic policies are geared toward, and overwhelmingly favor, BIG business and corporations! Their current nominee for President, Mitt Romney, is a perfect example. Mr. Romney, in his prior role as CEO of Bain Capital, closed down numerous small businesses, exported American jobs and even sent entire plants overseas to slave labor low wage markets, and then stuffed many millions of dollars from these transactions in his own pocket! Republicans have long sponsored and supported one-sided trade deals which benefitted big corporations and foreign countries but hurt wages and employment here at home. With “friends” like the Republican Party, American small business and labor needs no other enemies! 

9). Republicans are the party of death, NOT life. You read that right: Republicans are war hawks who want this country to wage war whenever and wherever possible. The reckless and militaristic stances of such notable Republican neocons as   John McCain, Lindsay Graham, DICK Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Dan Senor are ample proof of this. They view war in the abstract rather than what it really is – the murder of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them innocent civilians. Republicans claim the title of “pro life” because they oppose abortion. But the truth of the matter is that they only support UNBORN life – once a person is born, they oppose any government effort to support that life or to ensure its quality of life!

10). Republicans are paranoid, delusional, and unfit for governing. In the past 93 years, they have led and supported 3 different witchhunts which ruined and/or cost the lives of many people, most of whom were innocent:  the Red Scare following World War I; the McCarthy era of the early 1950s; and the years following the 9/11 attacks. In eaxh case, they massively overreacted to perceived outside threats and their actions led to the unnecessary restriction of personal rights and freedom. Their paranoia even led to the suspension of habeas corpus and also to the TORTURE of enemy combatants, a major violation of international law. These people are too unstable to govern ethically or pragmatically!

11). Republicans are OBSTRUCT-IONISTS who are narrow-minded, backward-looking, and thoroughly uncompromising. With them, it is now “my way or the highway.” Their idea of compromise is for the opposition party to abandon its positions altogether and adopt instead the Tea Party / Republican position. They claim to be “conservative,” but what they truly are is REACTIONARY. They want to abolish good, established programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and even the minimum wage! These people have voted against vitally important jobs legislation and have pledged to vote NO on any initiative the President is in favor of, simply because he is not one of  THEM. They have also refused to vote to fill vacancies on many open federal posts and the people’s business has remained unfinished as a result. This is NOT the American way, and the Republicans in Congress have not been earning their hefty $174,000 annual salaries as a consequence! They are wasting taxpayer money and must therefore no longer be allowed the privilege of serving in government!

12). Republicans hate the Federal government and see it as a threat to freedom rather than as a force CONTROLLED BY THE PEOPLE to be used for the good OF the people! For years, they have maintained the ridiculous stance that the individual STATES must have all the power. This does not allow for any needed NATIONAL standards to be set or achieved. The current GOP standard bearers, Mitt Romney and Paul RUIN, have stated that any time something can be taken from the federal government and sent back to the states (or even to private industry) for implementation, that is the best route to follow Yet, neither individual states nor private enterprise have  the capacity or resources to deliver such basic and needed aid. Hurricane Sandy has proven how preposterous this belief is. Individual states, nor undividual businesses, do NOT have all that is necessary to deliver uniform and fair disaster relief or protection from outside threats. For example, Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, could NEVER deliver proper and vital education, economic assistance, or disaster relief if left solely to its own devices. ANY moron could recognize that! Why, then, do the Republicans continue to endlessly beat that tired old, worn-out drum? 

Voters, you are no longer getting your money’s worth from your Republican congresspersons’ uncompromising, reactionary, undemocratic  behavior. They are NOT working in your best interests and must be replaced with sensible, compromising represntatives who are forward-looking and fair. THIS election, DUMP your reactionary Republican congressperson or Senator in favor of one who will work on YOUR behalf for PROGRESS! Whether it be a Democrat or someone from the Green Party, do the right thing and vote for one of these other NON-Republican parties  instead.

These have been, then – 12 GOOD REASONS TO NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN THIS YEAR!