The GOP:The Party Of Exclusion

In his State of the Union rebuttal, Mitch Daniels, in a measured tone, lambasted President Obama for being and supporting divisive policies.

Presenting the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union address, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) attacked President Barack Obama, saying his administration’s extreme and divisive policies have held back economic recovery. He said the country must instead be righted by a pro-growth agenda, a simpler tax system, and a balancing of deficits. source


Now, granted, we should always strive to be grown-ups in the room. I am aware that the politics of name calling represents a breach of decorum. But how else do you describe Mitch Daniels and the GOP/TeaParty without suggesting that they suffer from sociopathic behavior?


For starters, the GOP has perfected the dubious strategy of campaigning by using the Southern Strategy of divide and conquer. Via exploitation of white resentment, the GOP's claim to power is based on  Us against Them.  Consequently, the GOP's tent is remarkably absent - except for a few tokens - of diversity.


Their campaigns are based on wedge issues against blacks, immigrants, feminist, Arabs, gays, urban dwellers and the list goes on. And their mantra is: We want our country back. They are the party of Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman,FOX News, Rupert "Phone Hacker" Murdoch - the party of extremism.


The Alternet featured an article that further underscores this point.

The 10 Most Racist Moments of the GOP Primary (So Far)

The Republican Party is digging deep into the old bucket of white racism, using the politics of fear, hostility and anxiety to win over white voters.

One cannot forget that the contemporary Republican Party was born with the Southern Strategy, winning over the former Jim Crow South to its side of the political aisle, and as a backlash against the civil rights movement. This is a formula for a politics of white grievance mongering and white victimology; a dreamworld where white conservatives are oppressed, their rights infringed upon by a tyrannical federal government and elite liberal media that are beholden to the interests of the “undeserving poor,” racial minorities, gays, and immigrants.

In keeping with this script in order to win over Red State America, the 2012 Republican presidential candidates have certainly not disappointed. Both overt racism and dog whistles are delectable temptations that the Republican presidential nominees cannot resist. With the election of the country’s first African-American president, and a United States that is less white and more diverse, the GOP is in peril. In uncertain times, you go with what you know. For the Republican Party, this means “dirty boxing,” digging deep into the old bucket of white racism, and using the politics of fear, hostility and anxiety to win over white voters by demagoguing Obama.

Racism is an assault on the common good. Racism also does the work of dividing and conquering people with common interests. While the 2012 Republican candidates are stirring the pot of white racial anxiety, this is a means to a larger end—the destruction of the country’s social safety net, in support of vicious economic austerity policies, and protecting the kleptocrats and financiers at the expense of the working and middle classes. read more