The Imperative of the Republicans’ Rightward Imperative

By Steven Jonas, Senior Editor, Dr. J.’s BF Commentary No. 191

 (Author’s Note:  This is a slightly longer version of the Commentary published on BuzzFlash.)

A Republican candidate for his party’s nomination known as “moderate” would abolish Medicare as we know it, adopting something very similar to the infamous Paul Ryan plan (which happened to sink any presidential aspirations Ryan himself might have had) (1). In boasting about it, he said: “I’ll end Medicare faster than Newt Gingrich.” He also supported the proposed Mississippi Constitutional amendment to ensconce a particular religious belief as to when live begins in it (turned by the voters of Mississippi!) Yes, that’s Mitt, who continues to have all sorts of trouble cozying up to the Republican Far Right, because of that awful label “moderate” earned when he was Governor of Massachusetts. Then there’s the “traditional conservative” Rick Santorum who said: “As long as abortion is legal in this country . . . we will never rest because that law does not comport with God’s law” (2).

References:

1. The Progress Report, Dec. 9, 2011: “Romney Bearhugs Disastrous Plan to End Medicare.”

2. Bacon, Jr., P. (The Washington Post), “Courting Christians,” Newsday, Dec. 5, 2011.

3. Jonas, S., “The Triumph of Cheneyism,” http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13119 .

4. Pollitt, Katha, “Ron Paul’s Strange Bedfellows,” The Nation (online), January 4, 2012.

5.  Westminster, J., The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, Port Jefferson, NY: The Thomas Jefferson Press, 1996, Chap. 1, “The United States in 1994: Setting the Stage for Fascism.”  (Available at TPJ Magazine.net, “The 15%” Archive.)

Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and author/co-author/editor of over 30 books.  In addition to being a Columnist for Truthout/BuzzFlash (http://www.truth-out.org/, http://www.buzzflash.com), he is a Contributing Editor for The Greanville Post (https://www.greanvillepost.com/; Managing Editor and a Contributing Author for TPJmagazine; a Contributor to The Planetary Movement, , a Featured Writer for Dandelion Salad,  a Contributor to Op-Ed News.com (http://www.opednews.com/), and a Contributor to TheHarderStuff newsletter.

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