Juan Cole; public intellectual, prominent blogger, essayist and professor of history. (photo: Informed Comment)
Top 5 Planks of Republican's 2016 Platform? Torture, War, Bank Corruption, Paid-For Elections
13 December 14
readersupportednews.org
his
week, the release by the Senate of a report on torture as practiced in
the zeroes by the CIA, along with Thursday night’s dramatic vote on an
omnibus spending bill, laid bare the shape of the GOP platform in 2016.
(Some Democrats were dragooned into voting for the spending bill, but
key provisions or riders were clearly inserted by the GOP). However much
the party or its members deny it, the practical actions and concrete
words of party leaders make clear their priorities.
1. With a few noble exceptions like Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ), Republican Party spokesmen, Republican politicians, and
Republican media like Fox Cable News, defended torture. This defense was
mounted from so many directions by so many Republicans that it now
seems indisputable that the party stands for the principle of rectal
hydration. Since torture is illegal in American law, presumably they
want to repeal the 5th and 8th amendments to the constitution.
2. The Republican Party stands for the principle that elections should be stolen by the rich who pay the most for them. The new bill multiplies permitted donations by a factor of ten.
3. The GOP wants the US taxpayer to be made to bail
out risky, casino-like “derivatives.” After the 2008 crash, caused by
some corrupt Wall Street financiers stealing our money, Congress had
removed FDIC protection from the riskier derivatives. The GOP, plotting
in smoke filled rooms far from the light, just put the taxpayer right back in the sights the next time the bankers need a bailout.
The provision was actually written by CitiBank, which won’t get my
business. They think, much better to gamble with the taxpayers’ money;
they would, but why would GOP lawmakers agree to be their
ventriloquist’s dummy?
4. The bill blocks aid to the Palestine authority if
it becomes a member of UN agencies without Israeli permission. Palestine
has been recognized as a non-member observer state at the UN, and is
gradually joining key committees. It likely will sign the Rome Statute,
join the International Criminal Court, and sue Israel for war crimes.
But in the fantasyland of Congress, none of this may be allowed to
happen. The PA has other sources of money than the US, and all this
provision does is further weaken the ability of the US to do effective
diplomacy.
5. This fall, most Republicans ran on putting troops
back into Iraq and getting even more deeply involved in the Syrian civil
war than the US already is. This is a plank in their platform that
leads to sanguinary wars.
These, then, are the major issues on which the GOP is
running for the presidency in 2016. They underline that the party
represents the 3 million wealthiest Americans, and has no scruples that
might interfere in doing exactly what the 1% tells them to do.
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