I don’t know if there’s a word for this, but I always seem to notice hardcore Republicans proposing some action X because of Y when really it’s because of Z.
For instance, proposing voter ID laws to prevent fraud, when really it’s because they want to limit the voting power of the poor/disenfranchised who would vote against them.
Are there other examples of this?
One of them I’ve always wondered about but was afraid to ask: Why is there this insistence on cutting back education and making it harder to get birth control / abortions? Is it because it’s easier to control a population that is larger / dumber? I’m not asking that in jest – I’m seriously asking.
W/r/t education, I don’t think that hypothesis is definitely false. Only reason being that one alternative to public schooling is religious and home schooling, some of which actively foster ignorance in favor or religious indoctrination.
But I think that a better explanation is generic “starving the beast” – purposely make government seem ineffectual in order to cut down on government more.
You’re making the incorrect assumption that everything a political party does is intended to further a unified agenda. Since there are only two major parties in the U.S., it doesn’t work like that. Republicans are opposed to abortion because they get a lot of support from religious conservatives and they want to cut education funding because they believe the government should be smaller and spend less money, and education (and a lot of other government functions) should be handled at the state level.
And how is it supposed to be easier to control a larger population? That makes no sense at all.
I think the main reason Republicans have it in for the department of education, is that a Democrat created it. They also have are frightened of national control of education since it might expose their youth to ideas they find objectionable, while if it was controlled locally they would have more say as to content. When it comes to higher education, they are wary since when their kids go to college they come back with all sorts of crazy liberal ideas about multi-culturalism and questioning the bible.
Republicans aren’t much different from Democrats in that their only consistent driving force is the lust for power. Many of the differences between the parties are exagerrated and distorted to create division while in reality both parties support the same general goals and want to be the ones to implement them. There are some ‘conviction politicians’ who are whole-hearted uncompromising idealogues, but across the parties most are political opportunists. Over time the end goal of both parties has been to wield power.
Plutocracy/theocracy in some as-yet-undetermined ratio.
Which is why it needs to be wiped off the political map, and why doing so is a higher priority than eventually wiping the Democratic Party off the political map.
As to education *I think *the whole voucher idea boils down to “We pay taxes to support public schools but send our kids to private schools. Therefore, all the tax money we pay towards public education is wasted on other peoples kids. We want the taxpayer money that would have been allocated to our kids to attend public school given to us as a voucher that we can use to help pay for our kids private school tuition, home schooling or whatever”
I don’t have kids and don’t really follow it that much. I’m willing to stand corrected if I missed something.
I’ve been wondering lately if one of the “regulations” that Republicans would like to repeal in the name of unleashing the free market is the law requiring time and a half for anything over 40 hours per week (for non-exempt employees.) I work a lot of overtime and benefit greatly from the time and a half, about ten hours a week. I have to think that Republicans would love to repeal that law.
What effect would that have on the unemployment rate? I could see a lot of jobs being lost, since employers currently have a financial incentive to hire an additional person for any work that needs to be done above and beyond a 40 hour week. I mean, if I’m an employer, I’d rather make you work a 60 hour week for the same money as you at 40 hours/week and a part time guy at 20 hours/week.
The DC insider establishment Republicans’ core agenda is to have control of where and how federal money is spent, i.e. regain control of both chambers in Congress and the White House too. Doing so also entails the power to appoint Supreme Court justices. These days, they crow about wanting to promote social conservative issues, lower the annual deficit, make gov’t smaller, simplify the tax code, and lessen or end regulations, but the GOP didn’t do much of that while in control of Congress and the White House during 2001-2006. Government grew in size, the tax code became longer, the Sarbanes-Oxley auditing regulation law was passed (after the Enron downfall and similar scandals), the prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D) was passed, deficit spending increased, foot stamp eligibility was broadened, etc. OTOH, they did strengthen the military in some ways and also cut taxes, and both of these are common GOP talking points. Social conservative issues are taken seriously by some members of Congress, but for the most part it’s a ruse for a larger portion of lower and middle income people to be motivated to vote for GOP candidates.
The entire Republican platform boils down to “More money for rich people.” Every policy they propose either is aimed at achieving this goal, or is a shiny distraction to get the social conservatives to vote against their own self-interest.
Cutting the deficit = starving the beast with tax cuts and spending cuts. A lot of the politicians who claim to care about cutting the deficits propose billions and trillions in tax cuts.
Virtually all their economic agendas are plutocratic, but they pass them off as beneficial to the working class indirectly (if you eliminate unions, environmental protections and the minimum wage and combine it with supply side tax cuts it’ll indirectly create high paying, reliable jobs for the working class).
Busting unions is presented as a way to balance state budgets, but it is really a way to destroy democratic funding/volunteer agencies. Labor unions donate hundreds of millions in dollars and volunteer hours to elect democrats and progressives. If you destroy unions you destroy a major source of power for the opposition.
There is a lot of race baiting and xenophobia thrown in under the guise of welfare reform, work requirements, law and order, immigration,
I’m mad the media is liberal = I’m mad the media isn’t conservative
I think abortion and birth control are proxy means to control women and to control people’s ability to have sex w/o consequences.
Most of this thread is ridiculously over the top left-wing splurge.
The “real” endgame for republicans is limited government involvement in the free market, while at the same time trying to legislate as many of their own social values as they possibly can.
X) for cutting taxes to the wealthy Y) creates jobs (Z - protects our wealthy nest eggs).
X) against accepting global climate change Y) because it is a money scam for Liberals (Z - protects the oil interests).
X) against same-sex marriages Y) becasue it ruins the sanctity of marriage (Z - it runs counter to our interpretation of the bible).
X) against Universal Health Care Y) because it is “socialist” (Z - we do not want to pay for someone else’s health care).
X) against abortion, birth control, and reproductive education Y) because we are for “family values” (Z - we want the womenfolk to stay in the kitchen and obey).
X) against legalizing marijuana Y) because it is an illegal hippy drug (Z - because people hopped-up on reefer are going to steal our women).
X) against gun-control laws Y) because existing laws are onerous enough for red-blooded 'Mericans (Z - we are afraid of pissing off the NRA, a key voting block).
X) against alternative energy development Y) because those are hippy technologies (Z - we are protecting big oil, and it would mean accepting global warming)
X) against the centralized Dept of Education Y) becasue it was not there when the constitution was written (Z - we cannot have our kids exposed to “facts” found outside the bible).
X) against stem-cell research Y) because it requires stem-cells (Z - it would mean we approve of abortion).
X) against illegal immigration Y) because they are stealing jobs from citizens (Z - too many brown people vote Democrat).
But it is their dishonesty in going after these goals. It is “tax cuts for the rich will create jobs” when they know they will not unless they are total morons. Which some are. It is attempting to cut as much support as possible to anyone they think might vote Democratic. It is the cries of class warfare. They know that if they were honest about this stuff they would lose big, (until they screen out enough minority voters) so much of the time they talk compassionate while speaking their true minds only behind closed doors.
Remember how the Bush DoJ had a loyalty test? Remember how jobs in Iraq depended on having worked for the party. They’d go to party membership is required for government jobs in a second, just like the Communists did.
Federal NCLB school authority, the PATRIOT Spy on America Act, Medicare expansion, TARP, giving downpayments away for homes, AIDS in Africa graft, Social Security graft, etc.
Teachers are part of the Democratic base. The Republicans want to shut down the Department of Education because they see it as a pork barrel for funneling government money to supporters of the Democratic party.
Private school vouchers are the opposite side of the coin. A large number of private schools are run by conservative religious groups, which are part of the Republican base. Vouchers would be a means of funneling government money to supporters of the Republican party.
Also, if people don’t learn critical reasoning skills, they will have a harder time figuring out that they are voting against their own best interests. They will be more apt to take it on faith that tax cuts for the wealthy somehow benefit the working class, that losing the ability for workers to collectively bargain is somehow good for said workers, and that it’s in society’s best interest to have critical occupations like police, firefighters or teachers, be paid as little as possible.