Wednesday, November 25, 2015

The Republican Party: America’s Largest Hate Group

 November 19, 2015 By Allen Clifton

If there was ever any doubt that the Republican party has become America’s largest hate group, they’ve put that to rest following the response by many within the GOP concerning the U.S. accepting Syrian refugees. From several Republicans suggesting that we only take in Christians, to people like Chris Christie saying he wouldn’t have a problem saying “no” to a small Syrian child seeking a place to go, it takes a special level of hate to behave in the manner that’s commonly accepted by most conservatives. The GOP is built on a foundation of hate. It’s the attitude of, “Our way of life is under attack by (fill in the group).”

Whether it’s equality for women, immigration, minorities in general, other religions (especially Islam) or liberals – Republicans are constantly pushing the idea that some group of people is actively trying to “destroy American values.” It’s the attitude most commonly found among conservatives I encounter. Many of these folks literally believe that President Obama is some sort of un-American Muslim operative out to destroy the United States.

Today alone I had three different conservatives message me with various conspiracies about the president helping ISIS. One of them even denied that any airstrikes against the terrorist group had been carried out, dismissing official reports on the Department of Defense’s website as “lies by the Obama administration.” Now one might dismiss such nonsense as just that – nonsense – except I get messages like these constantly. In fact, it’s this attitude that drove the ridiculous Jade Helm conspiracies over the summer. The asinine belief that President Obama was staging a giant military operation within the southwest to seize guns. People were actually burying their guns to hide them from government officials. I wish that were a joke, but it’s not.

Take a look at the rise of Donald Trump. His campaign was jump started when he publicly declared that most Mexican immigrants were “rapists and criminals.” In fact, it seems that the more he bashes immigrants, or talks about the ridiculous notion of rounding up over 12 million people to deport, the more his poll numbers rise. Right now Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – children of immigrants – are currently in a fairly heated public back and forth over who hates immigrants the most. The House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was found to had given a speech at a white supremacist event a few years back and not only did he keep his job as one of the most powerful people in Congress, but he got the full backing of party leadership. Republicans Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal recently spoke at a conference hosted by a pastor who’s publicly stated he believes gay people should be put to death. Even a bottom-feeder like Ann Coulter, a woman who should really wear a white hood when she speaks, is promoted and embraced by the conservative media. The list goes on and on.

It’s not only acceptable to publicly push hate within the GOP – you essentially must embrace hatred to stand any chance at advancing within the ranks of the Republican party. Let’s not forget that conservatives are a group of people who booed an actively deployed gay member of our military during a 2012 presidential debate – and not a single Republican candidate on stage that night condemned the reaction, likely out of fear that defending the gay serviceman would have negatively impacted their campaign. To deny that the GOP is driven by hate and fear is to deny reality. This is a party which prides itself on “Christian values” yet exemplifies almost nothing “Christ-like.”

In my opinion, you lose any right to call yourself a Christian when you turn your back on desperate women and children fleeing for their lives from those who wish to slaughter them. The truth is, the Republican party has become a machine fueled by hatred, driven by fear-mongering and propped up by those who exploit this ignorance within our society for political gain. They’ve built their coalition of voters by embracing some of the worst aspects of our society. But I think it’s undeniable when you look at the policies, the rhetoric and the vitriolic nature displayed by conservatives toward so many different groups of people – the modern-day Republican party has become our nation’s largest hate group.

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/republican-party-americas-largest-hate-group/

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