There's the argument that, well, we have to choose between the two parties. That's the way it's always been. I dislike "always been." "Always been" doesn't mean "basically okay." Disease and disability have "always been," but I wouldn't have a problem with dumping them both over the edge. Same goes with the radical right.
So of course Paul Krugman's indictment of the party looks pretty good. He goes after Republicans' extremely poor showing on the farm bill -- and people like a Tennessee "Christian" and Republican who seems to represent the contemporary, blatantly corrupt Republican party.
Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, for example, cited the New Testament: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Sure enough, it turns out that Mr. Fincher has personally received millions in farm subsidies. ...Krugman, NYT
You still want to preserve the Republican party? Their moral character is rivaled only by their math. You could start and end with Paul Ryan, but the most recent math slip-up needs attention, too, particularly if you're uncertain about whether food stamps add to the problem of unemployment, a favorite Republican "truth."
What about the theory, common on the right, that it’s the other way around — that we have so much unemployment thanks to government programs that, in effect, pay people not to work? (Soup kitchens caused the Great Depression!) The basic answer is, you have to be kidding. Do you really believe that Americans are living lives of leisure on $134 a month, the average SNAP benefit?
Still, let’s pretend to take this seriously. If employment is down because government aid is inducing people to stay home, reducing the labor force, then the law of supply and demand should apply: withdrawing all those workers should be causing labor shortages and rising wages, especially among the low-paid workers most likely to receive aid. In reality, of course, wages are stagnant or declining — and that’s especially true for the groups that benefit most from food stamps.
So what’s going on here? Is it just racism? No doubt the old racist canards — like Ronald Reagan’s image of the “strapping young buck” using food stamps to buy a T-bone steak — still have some traction. But these days almost half of food stamp recipients are non-Hispanic whites; in Tennessee, home of the Bible-quoting Mr. Fincher, the number is 63 percent. So it’s not all about race. ...Krugman,NYT
No, it's just more Romneyesque yadda about "Those People."
Somehow, one of our nation’s two great parties has become infected by an almost pathological meanspiritedness, a contempt for what CNBC’s Rick Santelli, in the famous rant that launched the Tea Party, called “losers.” If you’re an American, and you’re down on your luck, these people don’t want to help; they want to give you an extra kick. I don’t fully understand it, but it’s a terrible thing to behold. ...Krugman,NYT
And you think Republicans still have some legitimacy? I don't. From unnecessary wars to a serious economic depression and from Citizens United to a refusal to govern, the right is responsible for serious damage to all of us. I think they have insulted America profoundly.
