After posting what is an outside the beltway state of the union, it seems appropriate to take some time and put a question flat out on the table with the challenge for some answers, doubtful to be forthcoming but needing to be asked anyhow.

According to the Constitution – which so many members of the GOP use as their bible though I fear few have actually read it – government , this government, was established “ ……. to insure domestic tranquility …… promote the general welfare…..”. It was also designed to “….form a more perfect union…” as the Articles of Confederation were deemed inadequate. In U S vs Cathcart, the courts reputed the “heresy” that states could at will or against the will of other states consider secession OR nullification.
So, as is often said here, one needs to ask the question. Why is the GOP agenda so dead set against domestic tranquility and the general welfare of the country, a condition prevailing not only inside the beltway but also inside every red state, several of which are deliberating nullification bills, as well.
It is well known that on the night of the first inauguration of President Obama in 2009, the GOP leadership met in a hotel suite to discuss and plan for years of obstruction, a plan well carried out over the six years of this administration. Now, I accept that there is blame on both sides of the aisle for the complete and utter dysfunction of the federal government but one must certainly fault the GOP for its continuing and flagrant disregard for the “ insuring of domestic tranquility…”.
But this did not start in 2009. No, it clearly did not. The modern day GOP has been a thorn in the side of progressive thinking, forward movement and general consideration of the well being of the nation for decades. Unpaid for wars costing trillions, not to mention thousands of lives, brought to the brink of economic collapse more than once, disdain for the middle class, not to mention those in poverty, and an all out obsession with conferring upon big business the mantle of complete immunity in its reckless drive for unlimited profits, the cost to social and environmental balance be damned.                  The GOP fought against Social Security from the beginning and it continues to do so today under the Ryan budget plans. The plan still calls for the privatization not only of Social Security but also of Medicare, capping medical insurance at $15,000 annually.

It has taken a dark blue pencil to SNAP – the food stamp program – and doesn’t think school lunches are important. It has fought raising the minimum wage, unwilling to accept that most people who are working in the $7.25 to $10.00 / hour strata are not only working for a wage which cannot support a family on any level, but are usually not working a forty hour week, making the task of making ends meet next to impossible
The modern GOP, controlled by the extremist Tea Party wing, continues to block job growth initiatives, equal pay for equal work, efforts for clean air and clean water, support for higher education costs, student loans and any efforts whatsoever at reform directed at the robber barons on Wall Street, whose blatant greed continues to keep the nation off an even keel. Trickle down doesn’t and never did !!!
This is, in no way, limited to high jinks inside the Beltway either. No, this insanity has filtered down to the state level especially in those dark red states whose austerity measures have brought about incredible hardship for so many populations.
In numerous states, most notably Texas, within the hour of the Court striking down Section 4 of the Voter Rights Act ( Chief Justice Roberts seems to think that racism in the voting process no longer exists ) executed a raft of anti voting measures which rival the Jim Crow measures of the fifties and sixties. Many states are doing away with redistricting commissions, paving the way for the legislature to design the voting patterns virtually eliminating whole voting districts. And then there are those “nullification” laws alluded to earlier which are gaining traction by the week.
In Arizona, capitalizing on the tea party mantra of fighting federal government overreach, Proposition 122 was passed. False information about its scope and only a 26% voter turnout being major causal factors, the State now is flexing its anti federal government muscles and poised to allow developing on federally protected lands and, most detestable of all, mining at the rim of the Grand Canyon – one of the most scared of all protected national monuments.

Red states have embarked on diluting to the point of extinction collective bargaining for public sector employees and Right to Work legislation is moving straight ahead in those states which do not already have such. And per usual, these same public sector employees who provide so many of much needed services will soon be unemployed as states are using severe cuts to public agencies as their way to dilute the deep red ink in which they all find themselves swimming. And, as there is insufficient time and space to address the issues around education, suffice it to say that cuts in education, especially in higher education are reminiscent of that old Mitt Romney adage, if your daddy can’t afford college, then try a trade school or something you can afford, supporting the now well acknowledged GOP policy agenda of keeping the rich richer and well educated while keeping the ever fading middle class broke and uneducated. Red states are using their legislative agenda to balance their debt by cutting services to those populations in most need. TANF, Medicaid, SNAP – all finding new eligibility rules, new limits and new restrictions – all designed to find those dollars which are scarce in a trickle down budget – and all this while, for some inexplicable reason, downsizing sources of revenue. Some states are going so far as moving toward eliminating state income taxes and corporate taxes all together.
I suspect some day the fearful and ignorant will awaken to find that not only are they struggling to maintain their lives as the quality is being greatly diminished, but to find also that the services which helped them survive the stupidity of across the board austerity are no longer to be found. Then, just then, we might see a greater than 26 % voter turnout. One proposes that the question on the table is, with such a pervasive and long standing agenda which clearly runs counter to the “… promotion of the general welfare…” how can anyone with any sense of moral compass cast a vote for any GOP candidate on any level ?