It is no surprise that conservatives hate government, or that their primary funding mechanism the Koch brothers want it gone. Republicans regularly demonize and attack the federal government because it plays an essential role in helping all Americans, and especially because there are regulations in place to protect the people from wealthy predators whose sole purpose in life is taking everything from the people with impunity. The idea of putting an end to America’s government is something only Grover Norquist, not an elected official or candidate for political office, has openly promoted in the past, but after revelations from a Koch billionaire summit in June, it appears the Republican Party is openly touting their intent to hasten Norquist’s goal of “drowning the government.”
The Koch brothers hate the idea of a government period, and since they own the conservative movement, Republicans intend to help them achieve their goal of ending it. The Kochs and the GOP want government gone, in part, because it helps provide retirement security, poverty reduction, education, a clean environment, workplace safety, affordable housing, crime control, infrastructure, access to healthcare, and adequate nutrition, and particularly because government regulations protect Americans from wealthy predators. It is not enough that this so-called “exceptional” nation ranks toward the bottom of many categories in the world according to a recent 2014 study, Republicans promised the Koch brothers that if they win control of the Senate, they will put an end to the government and transform what is becoming a second-rate nation into a third world country like Afghanistan.
Yesterday it was revealed that Mitch McConnell assured the Koch brothers that Republicans exist to serve the interests of the billionaire oil magnates, but he also promised that a Republican Senate would fulfill the Kochs’ greatest desire; America with no federal government. McConnell thanked the Koch brothers’ Supreme Court puppets for giving the Kochs a means to fight against the “party of government;” he was not talking solely about Democrats. McConnell asserted that belief in, and support for, the government is “an act of true radicalism,” something that makes the Founding Fathers and the great majority of Americans “true radicals.” McConnell claimed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Federal Elections Commission (FEC) are waging a “full-tilt assault” on conservatives who want the federal government abolished once and for all. Don’t believe it?
In McConnell’s promise to the Koch’s billionaire network in June, he assured the wealthy libertarians that “In the House and Senate, we own the budget. What does that mean? That means that we will be pushing back against this bureaucracy so that no money can be spent to do this or to do that. We’re going to go after them on healthcare, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board. All across the federal government, we’re going to go after it.” When McConnell said Republicans were going to go after it, all across the federal government, he meant more than environmental, banking, and campaign regulations; he meant every and anything the federal government entails.
It is worth reiterating that on Sunday when Paul Ryan complained that a Republican-controlled House could not put an end to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act without a Republican Senate, he clearly was in league with McConnell’s claim that Republicans will go after “all of it.” Over the past three years many Republicans called for ending the minimum wage, taxation, pensions, child labor laws, unemployment insurance, overtime pay, workplace safety regulations, food stamps, assistance for seniors, and education, or in McConnell’s words, “all of it.”
McConnell duly complied with the “eliminate everything” mindset and complained bitterly to the Koch billionaire network that Senate Democrats wanted to debate and hold votes on “things like raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits, and helping reduce student loan rates.” He attacked Democrats for believing in all the wrong things, like the federal government existing for the general welfare of the people he said is “an act of true radicalism.”
McConnell and several other Republicans are openly promoting ending the government one way or the other; either by “going after all of it” by defunding it, or shutting it down if President Obama fails to assist them in ending it. It is the Koch brothers storied “vision” of America where anything goes to increase the assets of the rich including no minimum wage, no workplace protections, no child labor laws, no environmental protections, and no form of government to protect the people. It is the purest form of libertarianism where the concept of roads, schools, police and fire protection, hospitals, clean water, and any domestic services are for those with the means to buy and profit from them; the people be damned.
The Koch agenda is clear and Republicans will go to extraordinary lengths to see their masters’ vision reaches fruition including putting an end to any and all government that might impede unrestricted profits for the rich, or protect the middle class or poor from vultures like the Kochs. That means stealing every American’s pension or retirement plan including putting an end to Social Security; the Koch brothers are already funding the State Policy Network and ALEC to steal Americans’ pensions at the state level as well as keep wages low and block workplace safety regulations; anything to increase profits for the rich at the expense of the people’s general welfare.
The reason Republicans appear to be void of ideas and lack an agenda to govern is because they never intended to govern except to eliminate the government that McConnell claims is true radicalism. If the past three years has failed to convince Americans that Republicans’ raison d’être is taking everything from the people, including their government, the Republicans’ full commitment to the Koch brothers vision of America is all the proof they need.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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