Republican Party … The Party Of Bigots

Posted on by under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I have said for several years now that the Republican Party has become the party of bigotry:  they despise the LGBT community, treat Blacks like second-class citizens, and would, given half a chance, impose the will of the narrow-minded Christian evangelicals on us all.  You just can’t get much more bigoted than all that.  I am not alone in my assessment, for Eugene Robinson’s most recent column in The Washington Post concurs with my thoughts …

The Republican Party is making Jim Crow segregationists proud

Eugene-RobinsonOpinion by 

Eugene Robinson

Columnist

March 1, 2021 at 5:18 p.m. EST

The Republican Party’s biggest problem is that too many people of color are exercising their right to vote. The party’s solution is a massive push for voter suppression that would make old-time Jim Crow segregationists proud.

The Conservative Political Action Conference circus last week in Orlando showed how bankrupt the GOP is — at least when it comes to ideas, principles and integrity. Some might argue that the party, in buying into the lie that last year’s election was somehow stolen, is simply delusional. I disagree. I think Republican leaders know exactly what they’re doing.

The GOP may have lost the White House and the Senate, but it remains strong in most state capitols. So far this year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, Republicans in 33 states “have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 bills to restrict voting access.” The thrust of virtually all these measures is to make it more difficult for African Americans and other minorities to vote.

These efforts at disenfranchisement are more numerous, and more discriminatory, in several of the swing states President Biden carried narrowly: Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. That should come as no surprise. GOP officials who had the temerity to follow the law and count the November vote honestly, such as Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, have been all but excommunicated by their state Republican Party organizations.

In Georgia — where not only did Donald Trump lose to Biden by 11,779 votes, but also two incumbent GOP senators were defeated by Democratic challengers — Republicans are using their control of the statehouse to try to eliminate all early voting on Sundays. That would put an end to “Souls to the Polls,” a popular Sunday get-out-the-vote initiative in which Black churches help parishioners get to polling places and cast their ballots.

“Souls to the Polls” eliminates barriers to voting that thousands of Black Georgians otherwise might face, such as transportation for the elderly or finding time during the workweek for others. Georgia Republicans want to put those barriers back up — and raise them even higher.

Other proposals being pushed by Georgia GOP state legislators include getting rid of no-excuse absentee voting, which has been allowed for decades; eliminating the use of convenient drop boxes for casting absentee votes; and abolishing automatic voter registration at the Department of Driver Services offices where Georgians go to renew their driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations.

Trump’s wild and false claims of election fraud aren’t the only things driving these efforts; Republican efforts to restrict voting are hardly new. Republican officials in Georgia know the state’s electorate at a granular level and are capable of performing basic addition and subtraction. They see how the populous suburbs around Atlanta, once GOP strongholds, have been steadily trending Democratic. They may not be able to halt that process. But perhaps they can compensate by suppressing the African American vote in economically disadvantaged areas of Atlanta proper; in the wide “Black Belt” stretching southwest across the state, roughly from Augusta to Columbus; and in the heavily African American area around Savannah.

In strongly Hispanic Arizona, which Biden won by 10,457 votes and where the Brennan Center tallies 19 voter-suppression bills filed since the election, the state Senate has rejected — for now — a Republican measure that would have stricken roughly 200,000 names from a list of voters who automatically receive mail-in ballots. That courtesy is considered the primary reason most Arizonans cast their votes by mail.

But another still-pending measure would require early ballots to be hand-delivered to a polling place rather than returned by mail, negating the benefits of mail voting. And another proposed bill would simply disregard the will of the voters altogether, allowing the GOP-controlled state legislature to appoint its own slate of presidential electors. Democracy, after all, can be so inconvenient.

Elsewhere across the country, Republican legislators are trying to tighten voter-identification laws that are already too restrictive. And they are trying to find ways to disqualify more mail-in ballots — perhaps for future occasions when GOP candidates need to “find” enough favorable votes, or lose enough adverse ones, to deny victory to a Democrat.

It amounts to an outrageous and shameful attempt to establish and perpetuate minority rule in a nation in which the Republican candidate for president has won the popular vote only once in the past eight elections.

At the state level, Democrats must fight these efforts relentlessly. And at the federal level, they should use any means necessary — including eliminating or suspending the Senate filibuster — to pass H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” which would invalidate much of the most anti-democratic legislation the GOP is trying to enact.

And voters of color must resolve not to be deterred. This is not a “Whites only” democracy. Not anymore.

16 thoughts on “Republican Party … The Party Of Bigots”

  2. How’s this for a generalized statement Jill: All Republicans aren’t racists. But most racists vote Republican. I’ll just leave that right there.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Sigh. It’s so hard not to step on anyone’s toes, yet to be honest. I have to say that anyone who sees what the republicans are doing and doesn’t switch affiliations, can still bring themselves to vote for a republican, HAS to have a bit of bigotry, or arrogance or a sense of supremacy. I hate to paint any group with a broad brush, but I’m sick and damn tired of making excuses for ignorance. Sigh. Forgive me … rotten week so far.

      Liked by 1 person

      • No apologies necessary Jill. Bottom line: The R Party cannot win elections, at least nationally, without suppressing the vote. That’s their calculation. Over 200 bills now trying to do just that. They will never moderate their voices. They’ll never try to appeal to a wider a electorate. It’s the White Party. And, apparently, they seem damn proud to wear that label. It’s disgusting..and scary.

        Liked by 1 person

        • One republican leader was quoted as saying something to the effect that the party would have to fight against efforts to dismantle the Electoral College, for doing so would deem the Republican Party dead on arrival.

          Liked by 1 person

  3. Pingback: Not all Republicans are racist | musingsofanoldfart

  4. Grumpy Jerry said something publicly today which may or may not be well known in America. Not being American, and reading what he said, I can only hope this is something said behind clised doors, while in the same breath stating that I am glad I heard it.
    “If you’re a Republican before age 18, you have no heart. If you’re a Democrat past age 18, you have no brain.”
    How anyone else reads this, I have no idea. How I read this is as a mantra to maintain the systemic racism, bigotry, genderism, etc., and white privilege that is the main cause of many of the ills of this world.
    If conservatives around the world believe it is brainless to live with heart in this world today, we are never going to change the world into a welcoming place for everyone.
    If you have to lie, cheat, and steal to maintain the status quo, that status quo is not worth a hill of beans, to say it nicely. There is no humanity in conservatism, no recognition of value in people who are not like the powermongers. This type of thinking must be exposed for what it is, dehumanizing to the nth degree.
    The intolerance can no longer be tolerated!

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  5. Jill, to say all Republicans are bigots is a little unfair, but to not recognize those who are the most bigoted white people are tending to be in the Trump Party also misses the mark. The former president’s attorney/ fixer Michael Cohen said under oath to Congress, “Donald Trump is a racist, he is a con-artist and he is a cheat.” It meant something to me that Cohen, who has paid off many people to be silent about information damaging to the former president, used the words “Donald Trump is a racist” first.

    There have been too many opportunities both missed and exploited by the former president to clearly say he is not a racist. The easiest example is Trump settling a court case on housing discrimination, then being taken back to court as he did not abide by the terms of the settlement (he lost again). Or, his Obama Birther story he perpetuated for several years. Of course he is racist. Then, there is Charlottesville, where he doubled down on his racist remarks after being chastised the first time.

    There is a subtle difference in two mantras that is important. The BLM movement is saying my rights are important while the white supremacists are saying my rights are more important than yours. That distinction speaks volumes. People who look the other way or cheer when a corrupt, deceitful and racist former president stokes fires of hatred are abetting his efforts. That may not make them racists, but it certainly does not make them anti-racist. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

  6. A re-run of the post Civil War era in ‘The South’ only this time it’s Lincoln Party; the tragic irony.
    No one reads World History much in the GOP do they? Trying to put the lid on a large portion of the population never works well. Even if they do get their way with votes, all they do is create a culture which conducts itself without reference to the Official Political process, which causes division, a drain on the economy and resources.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Every time I read something like this I find myself asking the same question. Why do the Republicans always challenge Democratic policy with negativity like telling the people they spend too much and hurt the economy or the equal rights act is evil because it kills Christianity. Why not just try and create some policies of their own with Universal Appeal and try winning on a positive note. If you always go to the negative people will fear you but never vote for you.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 3 people

    • I wish I had an answer to your question, but it is one that I’ve been asking for years and cannot find a good answer. I think that at the end of the day, it all boils down to keeping their big $$$ donors happy. But you’re right, they have become the party of negativity … the party of ‘NO’. I hate to say it, but I hope the GOP crashes and burns. Yes, we need two viable parties to ensure that we don’t become a dictatorship, but surely somebody can start a new party that would care about people over profit, that would NOT be discriminatory in their policies. Sigh.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 1 person

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