By
Joshua Sager
When we are all arguing policy with one another we
sometimes fail to step back and look at the possible end states of our policies
as an ideology. Basically, if you could get everything that your party wants,
what would your country look like in the end?
In this article, I extrapolate the stated policies
of the current GOP in order to come up with a view of what a Republican
controlled country would look like in the absence of an opposition party.
The
Republican World
Economic status: privatized social
programs, profit based justice, and corporate power over personal power.
The economy in a Republican America is based
entirely upon the profit motive. Companies compete in the totally free market
and regulations have long been repealed. Due to the inherent flaws in
the free market ideology when mixed with the democratic political system, the
large corporations dominate over the smaller ones through undercutting prices
and manipulating the awarding of contracts. The pro-corporate politicians remain
in power over the less corporately owned ones because of sheer volume of money
and advertising, thus in this end state the corporate interests control the
political processes. The cycle of corporations buying political support and
awarding office leads to the entirely "Pro-Business" regulatory
climate. Regulations on labor, pollution and product safety have been
completely repealed, leading to massive profits for the corporations and those
who have money, while the other 90% are little better than serfs. With the
destruction of labor regulations and unionization there are few protections for
the worker, thus hours are longer and less money is given to the blue collar
family. Worker safety decreases at the same time legal liability for the
companies does, leading to little recourse for the worker when they are harmed
on the job. Pollution is rampant due to a lack of regulations on anything from
CO2 to oil spill cleanup but don't worry, the corporations and "job
creators" won't lose money.
Infrastructure status: Completely
privatized
The infrastructure of the USA in a Republican end
state is completely privatized, from education to public safety. The public
school systems have either been destroyed or eviscerated in favor of private
schools, which unfortunately cost more money and don't get any better results. Teachers
unions are gone and thus teachers get far less money for their hard work. A
decrease in the draw for competent teachers has reduced the quality
of education to the point where we simply no longer can compete in the world in
terms of innovation. A very small upside to this situation is that the rich
children's private schools are still superior and thus a privileged overclass
is born (normally I don't agree with Marxism but this is one thing that they
predicted accurately). Police and fire protection have been privatized to the
point where more affluent areas get superior coverage but the rest of
us suffer from a terminal lack of protection. Look at the situation where a
privatized fire department let a house burn down over a $75 missed fee, despite
having their equipment on site and you will see the future as the Republicans
see it. The only public good which is not privatized is the military because we
all know that you have to pay private military contractors far better than
simple soldiers; it would be a shame if the warmongers needed to pay even
larger exorbitant amounts during their perpetual wars.
Social-political status:
In the Republican world, all social policy and
rights are founded in the writings of two documents: the Constitution (or
somebody's warped interpretation) and the Bible. As the Republicans in power
believe that the social safety net is unconstitutional, it no longer exists in
this world. Social security has either been eliminated or privatized in a way
that transforms it into a voucher program. The poor and disabled live in far
inferior conditions to what they do now and people are forced to work longer
and harder. Medicare and Medicaid have been completely disbanded because come
on, what an infringement it would be if everybody were forced to have medical
insurance coverage (no shit, this is their argument). As we saw before the
start of social medical programs, many more people will get sick and die
prematurely than do now. Rights in the Republican America are simplified into
two categories: The second amendment and whatever it says in the bible.
Gun rights are absolute and so are the rights of free speech, just as long as
your views are in line with the conservative views. Other than part of the first
amendment and an expansion of the second amendment, the constitution is only
given lip service. Due to the bible's control over the social policy of the
Republican America, abortion and gay rights have been completely abolished. Not
to say that abortions would not occur and gay people wouldn't exist, but they
will be criminalized (like in Texas during the 20s) under the law. If you are
Christian, white and upper class this world would be a very comfortable
place to live but otherwise I would wish you luck.
System sustainability: Strong
The Republican end state would actually be a very
stable political system; the terms conservative and grand OLD party
are certainly accurate descriptors of the Republican mindset. As
shown in the Republican primary, those who are ideologically impure are quickly
expunged from the political scene. The Republican political establishment would
reject any call to change and the massive concentration of money in the
top echelons of society would make us resemble a feudal society; one
lord with hundreds of indentured serfs. Without power to resist, the Republican
America would be very difficult to return to a more balanced system.
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