I am afraid for my country. I am afraid for the world.
With Republicans in control of all three branches of the federal government, not to mention increasing numbers of governorships and state legislatures, we are likely to see much social and economic progress of the last fifty years summarily reversed. As Kos said last night, we’ll have to start over.
Let’s begin a list of the items Republicans have promised to repeal, destroy, or alter beyond recognition. Here’s what I can think of. Feel free to add more in the comments.
The EPA - gone.
The Department of Education - gone.
Obamacare - gone.
Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a whole slew of banking regulations - gone.
The global agreement preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon - gone.
The Paris agreement on climate change - gone.
The Voting Rights Act - gone.
The Equal Rights Act - gone.
Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security - gone.
Marriage equality - gone.
LGBTQ rights in general - gone.
DOMA and DACA - gone.
Abortion rights - gone.
Worker protections - gone.
Food labeling - gone.
Progress on renewable energy - gone.
Progressive taxation - gone. Imagine what our new tax structure is likely to be. Just imagine it. There’s nothing now to stop Paul Ryan from enacting the most regressive tax structure the world has ever seen. Well, there’s the filibuster. How long will that last do you think?
Except for Iran and climate change, the above list is mostly a series of domestic issues. Trade agreements and various treaties from START and other nuclear treaties to NATO and funding for the UN are in danger. Imagine the world without NATO or the UN. Try to imagine it.
We may someday have to begin recreating these things from scratch. When will we get a chance?
- Republicans have gerrymandered congressional districts to the point where Democrats may not win back a majority in the House for decades, if ever. The next census, with the chance to redraw districts, is in 2020. Does anyone think Democrats can get a majority in state legislatures four years from now?
- With maybe one to three new ultraconservative Supreme Court Justices likely to be appointed for life within the next four years, not to mention dozens of federal circuit appointments, we have lost the federal judiciary for a generation. Imagine Scalia on steroids.
- Citizens United will stay ensconced in American legal rulings until the Court changes. Unlimited money will continue to flow into our politics. Worse, with the erasure of the Voting Rights Act, an ever-stricter series of vote suppression laws are certain to be enacted all over the country, further eroding the vote of minorities, students, and the poor. When is the next time we will get a Democratic president?
It would be economically disastrous to even attempt to build a wall with Mexico, or to deport eleven million people, so I don’t imagine these things will be done. We may, however, see far more legalized and institutionalized discrimination against Hispanics, African-Americans, women, Muslims (and people who “look like” Muslims), and members of the LGBTQ community. With a friendly Supreme Court smiling on.
After we’ve engaged in another series of wars, after the world economy has collapsed, after our social contract is no more, after we’ve returned to back-alley abortions and segregated lunch counters, after the world’s climate has increased in temperature by another two or three degrees, after Iran has a nuclear weapon—maybe then we’ll have a chance to turn things around. You think?
And that’s not counting the multiple constitutional crises likely to ensue from having a President on trial for RICO violations, for rape, and on multiple counts of tax fraud and sexual assault. Besides his having stupendous conflicts of interest from his financial investments and ties to Russia. How well will that play?
Let’s not even consider what happens when Mitch McConnell gets rid of the filibuster to prevent Democrats from blocking anything Republicans want to do in the Senate. That’s too frightening a prospect for me to mention. Okay, I’ve done it twice now. It’s that scary.
I am afraid for my country. I am afraid for the world.