Skip to content

Republicans

Ordinary People By The Millions

Lunch with Tom Frank is a totally American experience. He’s a proud native of Kansas but far from a country boy: he got his doctorate from the University of Chicago and has written a series of influential books. He likes people, food, and telling it like it is. He teases the waiter, talks about a healthy salad, and then orders an overstuffed sandwich that he wolfs down as he dissects the increasingly crazed American political world. He’s not just a guy who happens to be bright and unpretentious and a lot of fun who has chosen to focus on American politics; he’s a political prophet who two decades ago saw what others could not glimpse and published What’s the Matter with Kansas?

House’s ‘Horrors Of Socialism’ Resolution Spurred By Capitalist’s Fear

On Feb. 3 the newly-elected House of Representatives passed a resolution denouncing “the horrors of Socialism“ and opposed “the implementation of socialist policies“ in the United States. The resolution was discussed for several days. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said “it is a lie that socialism will solve your problems, economic or social…We cannot let this evil ideology take hold in this country.”  She went on to say that “we are in the United States the stronghold of freedom. That is why we must pass this resolution.” The resolution passed 328 to 86 with a majority of the Democrats joining the Republicans.

Oil Lobby Prompts Right-Wing Media To Save Whales—From Wind Power

As a humpback whale was found on the shore at Brigantine, New Jersey on January 12—the seventh dead whale to wash up on a New York or New Jersey beach since December 5—local Republicans rushed to blame it on offshore wind development projects. “Not even the whales can survive [New Jersey Gov.] Murphy’s Energy Master Plan,” lamented the Jersey GOP on Twitter (1/18/23). The partisan account linked to a story in the New Jersey Monitor (1/17/23) with the alarming headline “Debate Grows Over Offshore Wind, as Whale Deaths Mount.” The article began by laying out that debate—”environmentalists put out dueling calls to continue or curtail offshore wind work”—before including an important clarification about wind farm construction and the whale deaths: “no evidence shows it caused the casualties.”

House Republican Rules Package Designed To Enable Skewed Priorities

The House Republican majority recently adopted a rules package to guide that chamber’s legislative action that would put up steep barriers to investments in critical national needs while paving the way for ever more tax cuts, inevitably tilted toward the wealthy and profitable corporations. That isn’t an agenda that will expand opportunity or support broadly shared economic growth. Proponents describe the rules as “restoring fiscal sanity,” but they just reflect an ideology that ignores reams of evidence showing that the tax cuts of recent decades haven’t meaningfully boosted economic growth. The large tax cuts have led to higher deficits and debt and lower investments in areas such as education, research, child care, climate, and transportation that would make our nation as a whole stronger. The new House rules can be waived, but this package offers a window into the House majority’s priorities — favoring new tax cuts while hindering new investments.

The Vote For House Speaker Obscured Democratic Treachery

In 2021 Democratic Party progressives asked those members of congress who claimed to share their political priorities to stand up to their leadership, which meant standing up for the people. They knew that Joe Biden promised to veto any legislation providing free, universal healthcare, known as Medicare for All. But they did what any political activist should do. They made the demand anyway. The call to #ForcetheVote was a request for House members to withhold their votes for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House unless she committed herself to bringing Medicare for All to a vote. The House members who called themselves progressives did nothing of the sort. They elected Nancy Pelosi without demanding that she bring Medicare for All or any other issue for a vote. The Squad and the Progressive Caucus, all failed to do what their supporters wanted.

A New Third Party Just Launched

We finally have a real third party in the United States that the mainstream media is willing to talk about. I bet they’ll give them ballot access and everything. And this new party has nothing to do with the Democrats or the Republicans, right? As Reuters reported - “Former Republicans and Democrats form new third U.S. political party”. Wait? Made up of Republicans and Democrats?? You can’t form a new party out of the rejects from the old parties. That’s like having a counseling group for trauma victims made up of former Seal Team Six members. Let’s keep reading. Maybe I’m being overly judgmental.

Republicans Are Quietly Giving Up On Anti-Trans Bills

Bills targeting the transgender community have stalled all over the country this week as legislators debate the effects these laws will have on trans youth. 2021 has marked an onslaught of hate in state legislative sessions across the country as Republicans sponsored bills that seek to limit trans youth’s access to gender affirming health care as well as prohibit their ability to participate in school sports. While several have passed, multiple bills in at least six states have been set aside or gotten veto threats from governors this week. In Missouri, after a contentious debate between Republicans and Democrats, the state house agreed to put a proposal on hold that would require athletes to participate on sports teams based on the sex written on their birth certificate.

Corporations #Resist Trump By Cutting Funding For Republicans

Dozens of large corporations  are stopping all donations to the political parties and their politicians in the wake of the right-wing storming of the Capitol last Wednesday. In many cases, they’ve targeted specifically the 147 Republicans who refused to certify the Electoral College vote. The latter group includes MasterCard, American Express, Dow Chemical, and others  Even Blue Cross Blue Shield, whose PAC has supported Republicans in every election since 1996, withdrew money from members of Congress who challenged the election results. And it’s going even further: an internal email reveals that the PAC will pull its yearly donation to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee. 

Details Emerge Of High-Level State Involvement In January 6 Events

In the aftermath of the January 6 fascist coup attempt in Washington DC, new revelations show that the plot was prepared with the involvement of sections of the military, police and Republican Party. The danger has not passed. Trump remains president for 11 days and is using the White House as the nerve center for his efforts to remain in office. There is every indication that plans for a second putsch attempt on Inauguration Day—January 20—are now underway. The minimal police presence at the Capitol building on Wednesday was not a mistake or oversight, as the corporate media has claimed, but part of a high-level conspiracy.

What Happens January 6th, 20th And After?

This past week’s events are a harbinger of worse to come on January 6th and 20th. Contrary to Democrat Party leaders, the political crisis will not end on January 6, 2021 when Congress confirms the electoral college vote; nor on January 20 when they say Trump will be removed from the White House. These two milestone dates will simply reveal how deep the crisis of America’s truncated, capitalist form of limited Democracy has become. And how likely it will continue and deepen into 2021 and beyond. January 6 and 20 is not the ‘endgame’ of the attack on Democracy by Trump and his radical right wing supporters. Those dates may mark the beginning of renewed attack on a new level and the commencement of a more dangerous period thereafter.

How The Two-Party System Fails Voters

While it is now abundantly clear that Joe Biden has won the electoral college by a hefty margin, many questions remain about who voted in the election and why. As we begin to analyze this information we have to keep in mind the ways in which the bipartisan two-party system influences and shapes the choices of the U.S. electorate and distorts the way that information is interpreted. The similarities between the two parties and the broad consensus on many of the most fundamental questions of capitalist exploitation and imperialism means that most voters have no option...

On Contact: American Dissent

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to Professor Paul Street about the outcome of the US presidential election, and how despite likely losing, Donald Trump has solidified an angry, disposed working class that cuts across racial lines and has embraced a right-wing populism. What does this portend for the two ruling parties? Will the Democrats continue to be captive to big donors and Wall Street, or will they embrace the anti-corporate message and promises Medicare for all, free higher education, higher corporate taxes and regulation of big banks and Silicon Valley that drew such broad and enthusiastic support for Bernie Sanders?

Deception 2020: The One Thing Democrats And Republicans Always Agree On

In this sixth installment of the Deception 2020 Series, we highlight the most vibrant common thread between both of our corporate parties: imperialism. We sit down with Leonardo Flores to discuss Venezuela in particular, placing the ongoing attack on this progressive nation in the broader context of US imperialism both away and at home.

US Presidential Campaign Spectacle

With the seemingly interminable US presidential campaign season mercifully drawing to a close, the buzz is about a possible coup. That would make the US one of the few countries in recent history to experience regime change not masterminded by a US embassy, because there is no US embassy in Washington. There are other reasons why a coup is unlikely. Namely, most of the politically active public believe that they live in an exceptional democracy. This conviction is held despite the abysmal candidate choices they are given and the obscene mountains of money backing them.

Chris Hedges’ Takedown Of Biden And Trump

There is only one choice in this election. The consolidation of oligarchic power under Donald Trump or the consolidation of oligarchic power under Joe Biden. The oligarchs, with Trump or Biden, will win again. We will lose. The oligarchs made it abundantly clear, should Bernie Sanders have miraculously become the Democratic Party nominee, they would join forces with the Republicans to crush him. The oligarchs preach the mantra of the least-worst to us when they attempt to ram a Hillary Clinton or a Joe Biden down our throats but ignore it for themselves.
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.