Why the current Republican Party is evil.

This is mostly for Clog, responding to a comment he made on my last post.

For what it's worth (not much) the Republican Party has not always been evil, nor are all of its current members evil (though most of them have worked together to advance some really horrible policies) but as a general institution it is a truly awful thing, and one desperately in need of an internal revolution.

How are they evil?

They are the worst sort of hypocrites.

• They claim to be for individual rights while simultaneously creating the most expansive surveillance state since the fall of the Soviet Union. Our phone calls, our e-mails, our bank records are all being monitored. Since I'm not a terrorist I shouldn't care, right? Except that people that peacefully demonstrated against the war show up on no-fly lists and are excluded from appearances by the president. They are treated as terrorists. If you check the wrong books out from the library you too could be labeled a terrorist.
• They claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility while simultaneously running up the tab of every governmental program, even ignoring the 'extra' costs of voluntary wars.
• They claim to be the party that will keep us safe, while simultaneously enacting policies that create terrorists at previously unimaginable levels. The number of world-wide terrorist attacks continues to increase despite (maybe because of?) or very aggressive and possibly inept strategy.
• They push policies that they trumpet as 'moral' while many of their most ardent spokespeople fall victim to one scandal after another. From the most recent revelations of prominent state department employees soliciting 'escort' services to gay crack-addicted pastor in Colorado Springs to the drug-addicted Rush Limbaugh, there is no end to the talking out of both sides of their mouths.
• They create programs like No Child Left Behind and then don't provide enough funding to allow them to succeed.
• They work to treat illegal immigrants like sub-humans, while employing them as gardeners and nannies.
  

They don't believe they are accountable. Once elected they rule like kings, hiding everything they can from the eyes of the American people.

• Energy policy determined by big oil and coal.
• 6 years of absolutely no oversight from a Republican led congress despite some of the most catastrophic and incompetent responses to events in American history.
• Filling previously 'neutral' offices like United States Attorneys with party ideologues and encouraging them to go after Democrats.
• Using outside e-mail services to get around archive requirements - keeping as much as 95% of their correspondence away from prying eyes.

They care more about corporate profits than people's lives.

• Lowering standards for emissions of all sorts, from mercury to CO2, despite direct evidence that these things lead directly to the deaths of thousands of people every year.
• Do I need to elaborate their stance on global climate change.
• Clear Skies Initiative (lowering emissions standards)
  
• Healthy Forest Initiative (increase logging in areas considered pristine wilderness)
• They refuse to allow universal health care for all Americans, something the Democratic party has tried to enact.
• They fight labor unions. While labor unions have all kinds of problems, in many cases they are the only way from keeping everyone from working like a Wal-Mart worker.
• They fight to keep mileage standards low.
  

They care only about rich people.

• They created a tax system so skewed to benefit rich people that the middle class in America is shrinking for the first time ever. As a percentage of their income (the only fair way to compare taxes) the wealthiest in America are paying less than they have since the income tax was created. Meanwhile, all those taxes that impact the rest of us are growing, including state and local taxes and fees.

They are attempting to create one party rule.

• If you think two parties is bad (and I suspect few have thought through the realities of true multi-party democracy - think of countries where they have elections almost randomly because the loose affiliation of people supporting the government lose confidence) one party is worse, and that is exactly what the Republicans have been trying to do.
• They have been using the power of the federal government to advance partisan electoral advances. They have filled previously neutral positions in government with partisan ideologues who use their offices to try to swat elections (see US Attorneys above).
  
• They actively suppress the votes of minorities while constantly screaming voter fraud. When no evidence is found of voter fraud, they just yell louder. Meanwhile they limit access to polls in urban areas, 'terrorize' other minorities groups into not voting, create electronic voting methods that have no paper trail, etc....

They destroy our image in the world.

• They back out of long-standing treaties. Things intended to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world (ABM, NNPT). Things intended to make everyone in the world play by the same rules (International Criminal Court). Things intended to deal with the extreme dangers of climate change (Kyoto).
• They torture people.
• They eliminate the very foundations of our system of government (Habeus Corpus rights for so-called Enemy Combatants)
• They kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people in a voluntary war.

There is a laundry list of other things they do that don't fall neatly into the above categories.

• They motivate through fear rather than hope or shared sacrifice. Think of the inspirational speeches of the last 100 years. How many came from Republicans?
• They lie relentlessly. Nearly everything that comes out of the mouth of Dick Cheney is a lie, and an easily provable one. And these are lies that lead to people dying.
  
• They disparage anyone who comes across as an intellectual as if being smart was a bad thing.
• They claim to be like 'normal folk' while almost universally coming from very privileged backgrounds.

That's off the top of my head. If you want backup for any of this, just let me know.

Why is the Democratic party better? Because despite its many flaws the policies it puts forward almost universally benefit the many rather than the few. Other than a few anomalous policies like The Endangered Species Act, The Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act (all of which came through the Nixon administration and all of which the Bush administration has tried to destroy) almost every good policy this country now enjoys came from the Democratic Party.

So where is Mr. Smith, and when will he come to Washington? The thing to remember about mr. Smith is that he was NOT the president, he was a lowly representative. There never was a perfect presidential candidate, not even the beloved Mr. Lincoln. It's even harder these days because interest groups hold so much sway and can poison the well (think Swift Boat Veterans for Truth), but there are and have been some truly great politicians.

Paul Wellstone (D-MN)
Paul Simon (D-IL)
both sadly deceased

But we now have
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
among many others