Principles Denied

Scott Walker has an Op-Ed in today’s New York Times: Against Protests, Republicans Must Stand Strong.

First issue. No idea, have I, why the Times, the word order mangles.  Are they closet Star Wars geeks?

Second, I have no idea why Republicans lie so casually. Maybe they think if they repeat the same lies often enough, people will at least be more comfortable when they say stupid things. Or maybe it’s just, ‘Stupid is, as stupid does’.

Walker’s point was that Republicans must ignore all criticism. No, sir! Don’t let those Lefties influence the debate at all!  Ignore the screaming crowds of people you’ve been elected to represent; they’ll go away eventually.

Explain that the centerpiece in the Republican agenda — returning authority to the states — is the best solution to our nation’s problems.

So, he’s pretending that this is an argument about principle. Which explains so little, given how blithely Republicans overrule local decisions they disagree with:

• Minneapolis and St. Paul voted for a $15 minimum wage and mandatory sick leave. So the solidly GOP Minnesota state legislature wrote a bill retroactively blocking cities and local governments from making worker decisions.
• The Republican North Carolina legislature only passed the H.R. 2 “Bathroom bill” to override the protections the city of Charlotte had already enacted.
• Republican have introduced several bills to penalize and prohibit states and cities from offering protection to undocumented immigrants and refugees. Trump has made several similar threats, without Republican complaints.
• The Trump administration is talking about enforcing anti-marijuana laws in several states that voted to legalize or decriminalize the herb. Again, no Republican objections.

It’s simple hypocrisy when you limit your application of ‘principles’ to the cases where they match what you already wanted. “States’ rights,” my butt. This isn’t complicated.

Scott also tries to argue that Republicans want a smaller federal government, and that Americans voted for that:

Americans were given a choice in November: Where do you want your dollar going? To your local school or to Washington? Caring for the needy in your community or to Washington? Their clear answer in 2016 was “not Washington.”

Since the majority of Americans voted for Hillary Clinton and a robust federal role, I’d tone that stuff down if I wanted to convince someone with my argument. Unless that’s not the point?

Honestly, I’m tired of asking myself the same question, over and over: How stupid do the Republicans think we are? It’s like they’re trying to intimidate my dementia-suffering dad, knowing he doesn’t really remember what they did yesterday.