The Republican Party has clearly become a hated figure in America, especially by the liberal half of the population. Their recent electoral success has given them control of the federal government and the ability to enact laws that will anger many liberals, like tearing up the Affordable Care Act. They have the ability to reverse the gains of the Obama years and impose an extremist, conservative agenda on the American people. Due to the way House districts and other legislative districts are drawn, the GOP’s dominance of rural areas and small towns gives them a disproportionate advantage in government. The Democrats have to win ~55% of the popular vote in the House in order to have a majority, and the Republicans just need to be in a decent shape to win a majority. The victory of Trump in 2016 has also given the Republicans the false idea they have a clear mandate to do things, even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a 2% margin. And there really isn’t much stopping them either; the moderate Republicans have been either bullied by the Tea Party into backing this extremist agenda or thrown out in primaries by Tea Party candidates.

The current GOP dominance is based on only two factors; Democratic messaging sucked and the gerrymandering that was done in 2010 by Republican state legislatures. The messaging of Democrats has not really motivated the Obama coalition to turn out and vote, especially in midterm elections. It is very vague and high-level, which doesn’t really energize voters to turnout and elect Democratic candidates. Another is that it is dominated by well-educated, urban progressives, who tend to be more intellectual and rational. While the messaging will appeal to educated progressives and minority voters, it does not have much appeal to voters in rural areas and the heartland; this has continued the longstanding perception of Democrats as urban elitists. It also lacks the raw power and emotional strength of Republican messaging and propaganda, which galvanizes religious conservatives and rural white voters to turn out in great numbers.

Gerrymandering is also another huge issue. The Republican Party gained control of a crapton of state governments in 2010, allowing them to draw House districts during the redistricting process that occurs every 10 years and give them an unfair advantage. To be fair though, Democrats have done the same thing as well, but the Republican gerrymandering is even more notorious. In Pennsylvania, Republicans control 13 out of 18 seats and in North Carolina, they control 10 out of 13 seats. In 2012, the Democrats only won 4 out of 13 despite winning the House popular vote in North Carolina as well. In these states, the districts have been drawn to favor rural Republican areas and give Republicans an unfair advantage; the only way the Democrats can win the majority of seats in these states is if they utterly crush the Republicans. And this is just some bullcrap.

The Republican economic plan is also just as misguided. Trump’s proposed tax cut policy will direct the bulk of these tax cuts to high-income people, while even raising taxes for middle class families with more than 3 children. It will also do nothing to eliminate the various loopholes and the disparity between capital gains and normal income rates. They also have no plans to enact an infrastructure spending program that Trump and the Democratic Party backs. Apparently, according to Mitch Mcconnell, it will not be on the agenda in the Senate. But repealing Obamacare, with no obvious plan for a replacement, is apparently top priority.

The GOP plan to replace Obamacare is short-sighted, just like their goals of cutting public welfare spending and privatizing Medicare. The GOP thinks that doing so would be a victory for the American people, who are no longer forced to buy insurance or pay premiums. The issue is that that would return us to the mess that existed before Obamacare, where people with preexisting conditions as broad as the flu were denied coverage or forced to pay unaffordable premiums. It would also force 20 million people to become uninsured, which would be disastrous to them especially as there is no viable plan in sight to protect them. And finally, the GOP plan would basically rely on subsidies for citizens to afford insurance, which would not address the problems of rising premiums and high prescription drug prices. The issue with our healthcare system is not too much government; rather it is that it is too complex and dysfunctional, with people who don’t have health insurance through Medicaid, Medicare, or their employer being forced to deal with private insurance company greed. And being at risk of dying due to not being able to afford medical care. And their plan to privatize Medicare would screw over millions of seniors, who would not be able to afford sky-high insurance premiums due to their health issues.

The GOP’s persistent denial of climate change is also scary. Despite the fact that 99% of climate scientists agree man-made carbon emissions are driving the current global warming we see, the GOP denies it and calls them as perpetrators of a hoax. This is bad when the planet is due for a massive wave of natural disasters and environmental catastrophes due to our failure to address this issue. And the GOP also plans on pushing for more oil drilling, which would wreck our environment even more. This is yet another short-sighted part of their agenda.

The GOP’s social agenda is also just as atrocious. They plan on pushing for more voter registration laws, which disproportionately hurt minorities and depress their turnout. They plan on militarizing our police forces, leading to more potential cases of police brutality and violence. They plan on overturning Roe v. Wade and not provide women with funding for birth control, decreasing their control of their own bodies. They want to pass religious freedom laws that would legitimize discrimination against LGBT Americans, and a few want to overturn same sex marriage and deny gay and lesbian Americans the right to marry their loved ones. They also want to make it easier for people to get assault weapons, leading to even more gun violence in our country. And they also want to deregulate Wall Street, increasing the chances of a potential collapse like the 2008 one occurring.

The GOP is not inherently evil. It is just that they are misguided and are very short-sighted. They would rather cut the deficit than make long term investments in the American people. They would rather help corporations and the wealthy, hoping the economic benefits they reap will just trickle down. This is short-sighted thinking, and it is inferior to the Democratic ideal of helping the masses. Trickle-down economics hasn’t worked for 3 decades now and it didn’t work in 1929 either.