United States: the worrying extremist turn of some Republicans

Since Joe Biden’s inauguration, the Democratic Party has been accumulating blunders and showing a most condescending attitude towards voters. And after almost every election setback, he still blames everything and everyone but himself.

You would think that the Republicans are heading for a rather easy victory next November and that a red tsunami will wash over Congress. But if Trump’s party can’t control its extremist elements, the midterm election will be a ripple at best.

Take the Texas instance of the party for example. She made known her platform election recently and it sends shivers down my spine.

Oh, since these are people who generally oppose excessive state controls, some proposals still make sense to any self-respecting liberal.

In particular, the aim is to severely restrict the scope of action of the executive power at all levels. We thus want to avoid a repetition of the confinements of the last pandemic, where everyone was locked up at home and certain businesses arbitrarily designated as essential. We even propose a punishment against any politician abusing his power. Unfortunately, no mention of tar and feathers…

On the question of keeping all politicians in step, it is also proposed to extend the scope of recall referendums so that they can be replaced by better candidates. The Democrats would no doubt support this measure, they used it to expel overly lax regional prosecutors who turn cities into zones of chaos.

Finally, we also want to make the second amendment absolute by canceling all laws and regulations at all levels restricting the carrying of weapons. Considering that criminals are not affected by these laws, making it easier for civilians to carry weapons will avoid the too many shootings that produce in places where weapons are prohibited.

Theocratic regression

Unfortunately, these sensible points are greatly overshadowed by others that seem to have come out of a dystopian novel, or even from the 19th century. And considering the weight of Texas, several other Republicans could follow suit.

These supposed devotees of the Constitution want to violate the First Amendment and bring religion back into all public places like courts and schools. Everyone is free to their beliefs, but they must remain within the sphere private. One can easily see the hypocrisy of the Conservatives on this subject when the trolls of the satanist church invokes the same “reasons” to impose their religion.

Still on the subject of schools, it is proposed to go further than a recent law in Florida and to prohibit completely all sex education in schools receiving public funding, with the exception of abstinence. In other words, we want to ignore the lamentable failure of such an experiment under George W Bush at the turn of the century.

Indeed, the states that had most scrupulously applied this regressive practice were those where unwanted teenage pregnancies were the most many. And as we also want to put an end to the distribution of free condoms, we are simply throwing oil on the fire.

Considering the thickness of their ideological blinders, it is therefore not surprising to find in the platform also a condemnation of homosexuality as an “abnormal lifestyle.” You read that right: in 2022, people in supposedly developed countries still believe that sexual orientation is a choice. And that conversion therapies – from torture psychological in short – should be permitted.

In other words, in the name of foolish ideological purity, the Texan Republicans are ready to sacrifice their allies to satisfy the most extreme Evangelicals. They are thus jeopardizing a motley alliance that is being built in more moderate conservative circles where all like-minded people are welcome.

Take Caitlin Jenner. Born Bruce Jenner, she regularly collaborates with FoxNewseven co-hosting the show Outnumbered where there are four women and one man. Several gay are also of the collaborators regulars and they are welcomed with open arms because they show that conservatism is not just about straight white men.

In short, if the more moderate Republicans are unable to control the more extreme elements of the Texas platform, they will miss a golden opportunity to have decisive control over Congress for at least two years. They will thus prolong the misery of the people and of the democratic policies which impoverish everyone.

Is a fanatical puritanism which threatens to push back the independents and the newly converted to the GOP really worth the effort?