Political turmoil has seemingly become a mainstay throughout every election cycle since the Bush 43 Administration and it only appears to be getting more ridiculous as the 2016 presidential race approaches. One of the primary issues at hand is the GOP’s penchant for instilling fear in the hearts and minds of the American public. Members of the party have been obsessed with implementing unrealistic national security measures; they’ve been trying to convince registered voters that ISIS/ISIL is spending all of its time hatching plans on how to kill Americans, and that Mexican rapists are crossing the borders and infiltrating this country at will. Adding a little more salt to these wounds, they also believe that all Syrian refugees, children included, are secretly waging a jihadist movement in the United States, and that Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei is simply waiting for the perfect time wipe out the State of Texas with nuclear warheads.
A reality check is desperately needed here in terms of what the Republican Party intends to do in order to secure our nation’s borders. These proposals are much closer to being pipe dreams filled with hot air as opposed to the realities we actually face as a nation.
Donald Trump, for example, aims to construct a giant wall between México and the US, and he seriously believes that México will incur the costs. He also intends on deporting all undocumented immigrants, as well as banning all Muslims from entering the country. In addition, Mr. Trump wants to monitor all mosques in America and put the Muslim population in data bases. While the party drifts further away from what is real, the 24 hour news cycle media would prefer to soak up the nonsense via higher ratings.
In light of the chaos, former secretary of defense Robert Gates, a registered Republican, has literally seen enough of the maniacal political gymnastics and comes out firing some much-needed verbal potshots at his own party.
“The level of dialogue on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler. People are out there making threats and promises that are totally unrealistic, totally unattainable. Either they really believe what they’re saying or they’re cynical and opportunistic and, in a way, you hope it’s the latter, because God forbid they actually believe some of the things that they’re saying.”
Gates went on to say that many of these proposals are unconstitutional or just plain old illegal and from a monetary standpoint, inconceivable in the least. He also stated that the press needs to dig a little deeper and ask the simplest of questions: “How the hell are you going to do that?”
The truth of the matter is that net immigration has decreased dramatically; ISIS is losing ground in the Middle East, and the recent snowstorms have killed more people than Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11. One of the more credible threats to the American people comes from within: white Christian home grown terrorists and the reckless mishandling of mass deadly weapons being distributed in this country. The gradual disappearance of our democracy has been replaced by oligarchs, aka the super wealthy and filthy rich. The waning of the middle class has been caused by the plutocracy that keeps on sucking money out of the economy and not putting it back.
Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that Republican ideologies support these improprieties and they’re willing to ignore the more important issues at hand in order to fulfill their status quo agenda. And so it goes; the GOP is willing to tell lies to further its own special interests at the expense of hard-working taxpayers.