For some reason, I’m on the Republican National Committee’s e-mail fundraising list. It’s occasionally an entertaining read, because the appeals appear to be written by a paranoid schizophrenic.
I haven’t given them money. I will, however, answer their surveys.
Today’s survey was pretty simple. In one sentence…
“What would you like to see the GOP do to change Washington?”
My first draft was:
“I would like to see the Republican Party put forward a positive platform of ideas and policies that will have tangible benefits to the American people, work in good faith with their colleagues across the aisle, and accept the responsibility for governing rather than shirk it by opposing anything and everything that President Obama and the Democrats show any interest in.”
That sentence turned out to be too long! It had to fit under 250 characters.
So I started to cleave.
The final sentence:
“I would like to see the Republicans put forward a positive platform of ideas and policies that will benefit the American people, work in good faith with their colleagues across the aisle, and accept the responsibilities of being a governing party.”
Unfortunately, I think the people at the RNC will take that revision as support for the Republican Party’s platform and politics. Destroying Social Security, Medicare, and Obamacare is not a “positive platform that will benefit the American people,” yet the Republicans believe that society will be better off without all three. Some Republicans, like Rick Perry and Thom Tillis, want to abolish the minimum wage, but that would be destructive to millions of lives. Plus, Senate Republicans are breaking the federal government by holding up executive branch and federal judgeship nominations, shirking their responsibilities and actively working against the proper functioning of government.
The Republican Party of today is not a governing party. It’s an anti-government party.