Leaders of the Republican Party would like you to believe that the impending implosion of the GOP is the responsibility of Donald Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth. It all began during the Bush Administration, and escalated after the election of Barrack Obama.

In 2006 our nation was involved in two wars which anyone with common sense knew we could not win. George W. Bush, who was a ‘lame-duck’ president made attempts to convince the American people that he had ‘done the right thing’ by invading two sovereign nations with the express intent of capturing or killing the mastermind of 9/11. This never happened. Worse yet was his elimination of any regulation affecting the banking industry. In 2008 our nation moved towards a depression, mostly related to the housing industry tragedy.

In 2004, our nation’s people made a huge mistake when they reelected Bush. His reelection team used fear tactics to encourage ill-informed voters to allow Bush and Cheney to continue their failed programs which would eventually cause the beginning of the end of the middle class.

America finally relieved itself of the atrocity of the Bush Administration in the election of 2008. Immediately the Republican Party began to deny President Obama his respect and intellect. They made an early decision to oppose every program supported by our nation’s president without deliberation or consideration of compromise. The ‘Party of No’ had entered American politics.

Debate remains whether this attitude was based on racism, or the fact that Mr. Obama was an intelligent man who shamed his predecessor, but the facts remain. He restored our economy, and regained respect for our nation around the world.

When the TEA Party became the destructive and ugly force within the GOP in 2010, the dissolution of our nation’s government was inevitable. This party of the one-percent were so far to the right that they could not be included in the definition of ‘Republican.’ Thanks to weak leaders such as John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, a few members of the House and Senate began to dominate the GOP.

The sad fact of all this is that in the 2012 election Republican leadership believed that they could bullshit themselves into winning the presidency. Democrats, Independents, and some clear thinking Republicans realized that the failure of Congress was solely on the shoulders of those from the right side of the aisle.

In 2013 Ted Cruz was sworn in as the junior Senator from Texas. He immediately began even greater efforts to destroy our system of government. He led a small group who eventually convinced weak-minded Republicans to shut down our government in his first year. Since that time, he has attempted to destroy every advance made for the working class in the last 60 years.

No loss was experienced by the American people when Boehner resigned from the House and as its Speaker. I do not believe that any change will occur with Paul Ryan today, but Boehner did not serve the American people well.

Sadly, Mitch McConnell remains the Senate Majority Leader, and continues to lead the party of obstructionists. If he cared about the American people, he would have resigned as well.

To regress just a little, after the devastating loss in 2012, Reince Priebus and other leaders of the Republican Party insisted that the GOP must move forward and seek the support of demographics other than old, white, affluent, men. Yeah; like that would ever happen.

Here we are in 2016. Who is now representing the Republican Party? The truth is ‘no one.’ Not a single candidate has adopted the principles or ideals of the once Grand Old Party. This is not the Party of Lincoln, or Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, or George H.W. Bush.

The Republican Party has destroyed itself. It has failed to move forward and take our nation courageously and proudly into the future; a nation where all men and women are free, and their individual rights protected without the presence of racism and bigotry. If you listen to the GOP debates, any ideas presented would take our nation into the past, and benefit the one-percent.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

Photo Courtesy of Jayel Aheram

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