Republicans, the Party of Stupid
As our country descends deeper and deeper into the abyss of political divide, it should be noted that one side is right (or at least more right) than the other. They both can not be correct.
Now the Right side of the Aisle has been saying for awhile that the eschew political correctness. And I am tempted to say that Republicans are (pick a four letter word here with an ing attached) Stupid. With a capital S. And they just don't care.
You see Republicans who seem smart. The present arguments about Trump such as: Look at all he has done!!. And they will even list stuff they think he has done like:
- Eliminated ISIS
- Reduced taxes to the middle class
- Lowest Unemployment for Blacks and other minorities
- Signed a bunch of executive orders
- Drained the Swamp
- Killing off Obamacare slowly.
- Stock Market is at it's highest point
The list often goes on for awhile. And while, on first blush it looks pretty good, the problem is that the reality is often much more complicated. One Trump supporters biggest issues (well those that are seeking truth anyway) is that they do tend to be more black and white thinkers. Things are simple, one way or the other.
But each of the "facts" in lists like these are often for more nuanced. The Tax Bill, for example, will create huge deficits while giving massive tax decreases to the wealthy. While there is some positives to it (increased hiring by corporations, economic stimulation, corporations being more generous due to their increased tax status), there is also many negatives. It was almost universally panned by economists for being ultimately very bad for middle class long term (see https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/22/16691016/economists-g...). And interestingly enough, here are the initial number although time will tell: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/29/16384274/big-six-tax-r...
I could go over each one on the list and while there is good and bad to most of them, the truth is, Trump is not qualified for this job and it shows. He is single handedly unwinding many of the benefits for middle class people, many of the people who voted for him (although it will take a number of years for these people to feel the effects, but they are coming).
It generally takes a long while for presidential decisions to have an effect. The American system was designed, on purpose, like a huge cruise liner. A change in steering is done and the direction of the boat slowly, almost unperceptively starts changing. Its slow, but over time, the change is huge.
But for the sake of our country, Republicans would do well to try and research each item and notice how each one has positives AND negatives. The issue with Trump is that most of what he has so far "done" has far greater negative consequences than positive.
Now does that make Republicans the Party of Stupid? In some ways the difference between someone smart and dumb is in their curiosity and desire to fully understand something. To me, Republicans just want the feel good part of being part of a team. I think that drives their desire to not do any research on anything, not venture outside the realm of what is being said of Fox News. But this is a very risky time for the United States. It is on all of its citizens to try and understand complicated issues and develop opinions that help us all move forward. And on almost every issue, Trump and the Republicans are wrong about things. Wrong on the environment and global warming, wrong on taxes, wrong on trade, wrong on world leadership and wrong on how over the top harsh to be on illegal immigration. All of these wrongs will come back to bite us. It is sad that most Republicans are just unwilling to spend the time to develop more informed opinions.
