Barbara Mezeske: Rethinking 'Republican'
Ask people which Michigan county is most Republican and you’ll hear “Ottawa.” In fact, the last time a Democratic presidential candidate carried the county was in 1864. For trivia buffs, that Democrat was George McClellan, who lost to Abraham Lincoln.
Most of our neighbors identify as Republicans, and have done so for generations. They supported Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, John McCain, George Romney and Bill Milliken. They supported the old Republican Party values of conservatism and small government — all within the historical context of the America that emerged from World War II. America defended democracy across the world, enacted civil rights legislation for its own citizens, was a model of the peaceful transfer of power, and of the right to vote without intimidation or violence. We were a nation that enshrined in our Declaration of Independence the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as universal ideals, not weapons to be turned against other Americans who claimed the same benefits.
The 21st century version of the Republican Party is different. It is an extremist group that no longer reflects the values that shaped this country.
The extreme new Republicans attack people. On the top of the list are women who seek abortion — even in the case of rape or incest, or when the pregnancy threatens the mother’s health. Abortion care is newly illegal in fourteen states, and under threat in at least a dozen others. Republican legislators attack doctors and private citizens who help women seeking abortion; their actions, no matter the situation, are being criminalized under the banner of “pro-life.”
Transgendered young people are on the attack list. Kentucky passed a law in March banning transgender student athletes from playing on girls’ teams. The only one affected by the law is a seventh-grader playing field hockey. One kid, and so much political power leveraged against her!
That’s not the end of it: follow up with LGBTQ people, and the threat by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to revisit Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that legalized same-sex marriages.
The extreme new Republicans attack schools, banning books that address race, the history of racism, and gender. Many of these books, like Harper Lee’s "To Kill a Mockingbird," have been read in schools for decades. Books that probe what went wrong in our racist past — especially when told from a non-white perspective — might make white students feel uncomfortable, say the extremists. They behave as though books are a greater threat to school kids than military weapons in the hands of murderers.
They attack teachers, empowering anyone — whether or not they have a child in school — to sue schools and teachers if they find fault with the curriculum. A Florida law has been dubbed, “don’t say gay” as though banning any discussion of gender differences will somehow make everyone heterosexual.
These extreme Republicans attack democracy itself. Only a master of mental gymnastics can look at the videos of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and see “a peaceful protest,” or “legitimate political expression.” Yet many current Republican office holders and mid-term candidates support the Big Lie that Trump won the election. Re-counts, lawsuits, and facts can’t budge them.
They attack the structures of government, most recently the FBI and the IRS whose offices are preparing to face violence in light of the fierce rhetoric hurled at them by Republicans.
They attack voting by sowing doubt about the results, when someone else wins. In a sad bit of irony, they turn on each other. In Florida, a far-right extremist lost her election to another Republican by a margin of 44% to 51%, yet she refused to concede, baselessly claiming voter fraud.
And all of these attacks carry with them the real threat of violence against election workers, librarians, school boards, public health officials, police officers, legislators and judges.
This is not the Republican Party of the past century. It is something new. It foments anger, and fundraises on that emotion. It seeks power, not to make our lives better, or the country a more just place to live, but simply to block the other side. When New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu was considering a run for Senate last year, he consulted his potential Republican colleagues and decided not to run. Why? Because all they had to offer him was being a “roadblock” for the next two years, voting with the party to stymie whatever the Biden administration proposed. Sununu, to his credit, is not that kind of politician. He is more like old-style Republicans than like Mitch McConnell.
The bottom line: when you go to the polls, think hard about what kind of Republican you are, and what kind of country you want to live in. If you really love America, the choice is easy: oppose the extremists.
— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Park Township. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Barbara Mezeske: Rethinking 'Republican'
