It Makes No Sense

Maybe it’s because I’m a “crazy liberal”, but I’m having a very difficult time understanding why Republican leaders act the way they do. I’d love to learn why.  

It makes no sense why Republican leaders would support a massive government intrusion on a couple’s decision to get married, even though they are “very strong on liberty and small government.”

It makes no sense why they would favor keeping certain tax cuts and loopholes for the rich if they knew that, in order to expense these benefits, they would either need to A) cut programs – like student loans and unemployment benefits and/or B) raise taxes. It’s simple economics.

It makes no sense why Republican leaders claim that balancing the budget is the key to creating jobs, when the reverse is actually true (take the years during the Clinton Administration, where investments in job creation led to a balanced budget and reduced debt). Why would they argue against government borrowing money to spend on improving the quality of life for its citizens when an average American borrows money all the time to buy a house or a car?

It makes no sense why they would say they’re the biggest proponents of the free market, when they have voted almost 40 times to repeal a set of reforms to our healthcare system (Obamacare) that serves to protect consumers, reduce costs, improve the quality of care, and prevent monopolies in the health insurance industry.

It makes no sense to me why Republican leaders would heavily criticize Obama and the Democrats for “reckless government spending” when most of them argued against ending the Iraq War (which cost taxpayers $3 trillion and 4,500 American lives).

It makes no sense to me why Republicans don’t complain about the rich “mooching” from the government via tax loopholes, but cry foul when a student needs help paying for college, or a cancer patient needs access to affordable healthcare.

We’ve seen the progress that can occur as soon as Republican leaders start listening to their constituents – leaders like Congressman Paul Ryan (who accepted federal stimulus dollars in his district), or Florida Governor Rick Scott (who has stopped withholding Medicare savings from his state via Obamacare).

We can only hope more do the same. But as President Obama recently said during his trip to Israel:

"Speaking as a politician, I can promise you this: political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do. You must create the change that you want to see."