Welcome to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, otherwise known as the modern day Radical Republican Party where elephants are running amok without cause or concern for the average citizen.
This wasn't the case over 150 years ago. The Radical Republicans represented a faction of the Republican Party that stood for civil rights and demanded equality for every person on American soil including African slaves. They opposed then President Abraham Lincoln for his stances on selecting Union generals for the Civil War, readmitting southern states back into the Union, and implementing his Ten Percent Plan. They feverishly pushed for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and vehemently opposed the Democratic Party as well.
The only difference between the two versions of the Radical Republican parties is the original version had a method to their madness and was on the side of progression. The modern day Radical Republican Party is full of ordure and willing to take down the country through their histrionics.
The Radical Republicans of yesteryear had incredible progressives within their ranks such as Congressmen Thaddeus Stevens, Owen Lovejoy, James Ashley, Henry Winter Davis, George W. Julian, Elihu Washburne, and Henry Wilson. But the Radical Republicans of today are populated with Congressmen and Senators with regressive policy agendas such as Eric Cantor, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, Steve Stockman, and Kerry Bentivolio.
In the last 50 years, the Republican Party has developed into a shell of its former self. The political party once associated with the eponymous President Abraham Lincoln has become the voice of extremism and vulgarity. Most Republicans can argue until they're blue in the face that this isn't the case, but the visceral images we continue to see and the truculent rhetoric used by their party's representatives suggests otherwise.
It has become laughable to listen to most Republicans come up with excuse after excuse on why they dislike President Obama and his policies. Very few Republicans can make a credible case based on statistical data. The rest are living in their collective bubbles where facts are foreign and lies are commonplace. The pervasive assertion has been that President Obama is lazy, un-American, and not worthy of the position he holds as leader of the free world. Over the past five years, the amount of collusion going on in the halls of Congress has become a historic scourge on the nation.
Washington, D.C. continues to be a place where congressional dysfunction reigns supreme and the American people deserve much better than we're receiving. If the average citizen were performing at their job with 10 percent efficiency, they would be fired without hesitation. Perhaps, this is a glimpse into the bleak future of U.S. politics. Our system has become totally fractured. It seems the rival factions within the Radical Republican Party are operating on a potent homogenous mixture of limited intelligence, and the future of our country hangs in the balance.
These temporary healing agents being applied to these longstanding problems repeatedly require the attention of an uninterested body of folks, who would rather be playing a round of golf with their lobbying friends while being paid a six-figure salary by a country they claim to adore.
Actions speak louder than words.
How many more "crises" do we have to endure before things improve? A government continuously operating under crisis mode can't be what our founding fathers envisioned 237 years ago. Now we're on the cusp of more "crises" with talks of the government being shut down at the end of the month over Obamacare and the debt-limit ceiling not being raised. One can only imagine how much more political capital will be spent and the amount of venomous vitriol that will be leveled against President Obama and the Democrats by threats of impeachment from these radicals.
They have a superficial interest in the three branches of U.S. government. Most of their representatives simply can't fathom true governance because they don't understand the concept behind it. We've elected men and women to positions of power who are influenced more by the power of a dollar rather than the power of the people.
Money has always been the common denominator in politics, but it is destroying the fabric of our democracy. Too many politicians are concerned about what's going in their own bank accounts over the average Joe or Jane. When this occurs, one political party fights to preserve altruism to their plutocracy while the other political party galvanizes around what's left of a fleeing democracy.
Their incessant juvenile tactics need to end once and for all. For example, the unprecedented amount of legislation being passed through Republican-led state legislatures in North Carolina, Florida, and Texas to repress voting rights and women's rights is deplorable. From a federal level, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives wants to cut programs that help the most vulnerable citizens in our country. They must have a zany thirst to be on the wrong side of history.
For the past few years, their unremitting abuse of the Constitution and rules within the House and Senate has allowed them to successfully obstruct anything that President Obama has put forth as a form of legislation to pass into law. Moderate voices, balanced budgets, and common sense are retired notions. Gerrymandering congressional districts has become these radicals formula for success. They've fallen victim to fanatical right wing media voices and their monotonous agendas. Lacking a progressive direction and diversity (of thought, gender, class and race) will be their ultimate undoing. Unfortunately, the debt-limit ceiling and government shut down crises have become the status quo in U.S. politics.
Some Republicans have acknowledged that if they don't make sweeping changes in their attitudes, their party will become extinct. It would benefit the country to have a legitimate, viable second option to choose from that has the best interests of everyone in mind.
It is now up to the American people to decide if they want to keep their front row seats to this circus, or demand a refund from these radical politicians.