I do not always agree with what Thomas Friedman says, although usually, he says things in a way that at least makes sense, and gives you pause for thought. Usually, I do agree with the logic behind what he is saying.
Well, he recently wrote an op-ed in which he hit the nail right on the head regarding today's extremist Republican Party.
He began the article by saying that if he had the opportunity to ask only one question in the Republican debate later today, this would be the question:
“As part of a 1982 transportation bill, President Ronald Reagan agreed to boost the then 4-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax to 9 cents, saying, ‘When we first built our highways, we paid for them with a gas tax,’ adding, ‘It was a fair concept then, and it is today.’ Do you believe Reagan was right then, and would you agree to raise the gasoline tax by 5 cents a gallon today so we can pay for our highway bill, which is now stalled in Congress over funding?”
That is a very valid question, and he explains why below:
Why is this such a key question? Because it cuts to the core of what is undermining the Republican Party today and, indirectly, our country: There is no longer a Republican center-right that would have no problem raising the gas tax for something as fundamental as infrastructure. Sure, there are center-right candidates... But can they run, win and govern from the center-right when the base of their party and so many of its billionaire donors reflect the angry anti-science, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-minorities, anti-gay rights and anti-immigration views of the Tea Party and its media enforcer, Fox News?
Yes, I think that is a fair point. The Republican Party today seems to be driven by an extremist, uncompromising base that is more anti-everything than truly having a positive agenda. Indeed, as Friedman rightly points out, Republicans today are far too influenced by those who "reflect the angry anti-science, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-minorities, anti-gay rights and anti-immigration views of the Tea Party and...Fox News."
These days, the Republican primaries seem almost like a joke. Indeed, it is fodder for comedians all over the country, and it would be purely funny, if it were not also sad, because this is real. This is serious. You have almost a dozen and a half Republicans in the race, so many that nearly half of them will not even be participating in tonight's debate. And the leader of the pack as of right now is an eccentric billionaire braggart who should have been immediately discredited for making blanket statements insulting Hispanics as well as the war record of one prominent Republican who served in Vietnam while Trump was living the high life in the comfortable confines of Manhattan. Trump's clownish behavior has become something of a national joke but, again, we need to remember that this is real. He is presently the front-runner for the presidential race for one of the two major parties of the United States.
Absurd.
Yet, that is not all. Prominent Republicans all express serious doubts about climate change, even though they acknowledge that they themselves are not scientists. Think about that for a moment. These politicians who play such a major part in national politics are fighting hard against what the vast majority of the world's scientific community believes to be real, doing so in order to protect the interests of those who sponsor them heavily and rely on them to fight for their interests. And they do so, arguing the scientific validity of the "global warming theory" by reminding everyone that they are not themselves scientists!
To me, that sounds suspiciously like someone saying that they are not qualified to argue any major points on a particular subject, but because of their own ignorance and lack of understanding, they are going to argue that they do not believe in it, anyway. How childish! How tragic!
It is like this with the current GOP time and time again, too. Across the board, on almost every issue, the Republican strategy has been not so much to come up with a plan that works for America, as much as it is to stand in staunch opposition to what most Americans believe to be progress. That is true with climate change, it is true with healthcare, it is true with gun control, it is true with the prohibition of marijuana, and quite a few other issues, as well. The same party that brought us the Iraq War - while we were already fighting another war, mind you - is now pining for a very aggressive stance towards Iran. Oh, and by the way, they have, and will, continue to advocate tax breaks for the wealthiest of Americans throughout, despite the obviously high costs of fighting a war. Hell, Scott Walker went so far as to suggest that he would launch a preemptive war against Iran on the very first day that he assumes power in the White House.
While their privileged corporate clientele are benefiting, the rest of us are paying. Paying for wars, paying for poor environmental policies and weak enforcement of those laws, paying more for medical care while getting generally less actual care, and paying for policies that have given Americans a diminished standard of living that is failing to keep up with inflation.
I am not a Democrat. Used to be, but I cannot say that I have been now for probably two decades, so disillusioned I was by the Clinton years. By all rights, he was what most experts considered a moderate Republican, yet the GOP back then swore that he was a socialist, that he was an extremist. Now, many Republicans reluctantly give Clinton credit, but they say the same things about Obama, even though he, too, qualifies as a conservative. Obama is far more conservative - far more conservative - than Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Yet, these Democrats, and many others like them who dominate the supposed party on the left, are actually quite conservative in their own right.
That means that the Republicans, who continually, relentlessly blast these same Democrats for being socialists and extremists, have themselves moved so far to the right, that they represent an extreme agenda.
No wonder they have more closely resembled a circus act than a serious political option for the country!
My Question for the Republican Presidential Debate by Thomas Friedman, Aug. 5, 2015:
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