Part of the DNA of the GOP is the belief that only the GOP are fit to govern and stealing elections is permissible to achieve that end. In fact, the GOP will do anything to achieve their goal. In their view the ends do justify any means.
The GOP began stealing elections way back in 1876 in the disputed Tilden-Hayes contest for president. Hayes was declared the victor under a set of very dubious circumstances. The GOP continued to dominate national elections for 52 years from 1860 to 1912 with the single exception of the two split Cleveland terms. Cleveland managed to win his first term because the GOP were split, and the Democrats did not win the White House again until Wilson won in 1912 because of another GOP split.
Another facet of the GOP DNA is that they hate/hated any Democratic President who defeated them.
and they hate both Obamas.
As I see it, the GOP DNA compels them to be a cancer on the US body politic. If they cannot/will not mutate into a harmless form, then the GOP must be exorcised from our democracy or they will kill the host.
I was born a Republican and always voted that way until 2000. I believed what GOP politicians said and was skeptical of the Democrats. I trusted big business, and I religiously absorbed the editorial pages of the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal. That started changing with the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and my journey through insurance hell in 2004 when I totaled my van and then fell and broke a leg. Some people do not survive insurance hell, but I came out changed and stronger for the experience. Insurance hell for those who have not experienced it is having two or more insurers who say that your claim is the other company’s responsibility.
I no longer trust Republican politicians or big business or the Wall Street Journal and I have never trusted Fox News. I don’t claim that the Democrats have all the truth and the Republicans none, but I think that the Democrats are much closer to the truth than the GOP. I am now older and wiser and poorer. I still consider myself a member of the GOP, perhaps a RINO, but I don’t care about labels. I support Barack Obama because the GOP have not offered any viable alternatives when the country so needs solutions to our myriad problems. I don’t expect the GOP to shape up anytime soon, so perhaps they’ll just have to ship out, to be replaced by a responsible party.
I am so tired of listening to pundits and their guests on TV saying that small business owners are going to layoff workers if the top tax rate is increased the small amount that the President and the Democrats are proposing. Let’s be more specific and start dealing in real numbers. How much did the business earn in the last tax period and how much did the business owner pay in taxes? If the tax rate is increased, how much more will be paid in taxes? Is it $1000 or $5,0000 or $10,000? Be specific so that we in the audience can judge how serious you are and how damaging a tax increase will be. Statements that a tax increase will lead to job layoffs are not credible by themselves without specifics.