Jamelle Bouie has a new piece at Slate that looks at the Republicans’ solutions to largely imaginary problems. He focuses on three major examples: voter impersonation fraud, unsafe abortion clinics, and drug-addicted people getting public assistance.
Interestingly, all three examples have some things in common. And it’s not just that these aren’t very serious problems.
I think everyone thinks that our elections should be decided by validly cast votes. If we’re going to have abortion providers at all, we should be able to agree that their facilities should be clean and safe. And I think we’re all more comfortable giving our tax dollars to assist people who are in temporary need rather than to enable people’s continued drug or alcohol addiction.
These issues all make sense on the surface. And, even if they aren’t particularly pressing problems, it would seem that opposing laws to address them would be more a matter of questioning priorities than opposing reforms.
But, things are not what they seem.
The voter ID laws that are supposed to address in-person voter impersonation actually prevent tens of thousands of valid votes from being cast and only theoretically prevent any fraudulent votes. So, the electorate is skewed and public confidence in the results is eroded more than it is with the status quo.
The abortion clinic regulations cause clinics to close, not to be cleaner and safer. As a result, women’s health is undermined rather than strengthened.
And the drug-testing requirement for public assistance costs more money than it saves, meaning that tax payers get a higher bill.
So, in all three cases, these Republican reforms do the opposite of what they are supposed to do.
And you’d call them all failures if you judged the performance based on the stated goals.
But these are all successes for the Republicans. So, how could that be?
The goal of the voting reforms is to reduce how many Democrats can vote without having much impact on how many Republicans can vote. These reforms, where they are allowed to stand, accomplish that.
The goal of the abortion clinic regulations is to force the clinics to close. Where these laws are allowed to stand, they accomplish that.
The goal of drug-testing for public assistance is to stigmatize public assistance and reinforce right-wing stereotypes about the kind of people who receive it. So, even though these laws cost more money, they succeed in their intended purpose.
So, Jamelle Bouie isn’t quite right. These aren’t efforts to solve imaginary problems. These are efforts to win elections, stop abortions, and to reinforce the idea that voters are being taxed to subsidize the low-life lifestyles of lazy drug-addicted ghetto-dwellers.
It doesn’t even matter that these efforts undermine public confidence in our elections, harm women’s health, and make public assistance more expensive. Right-wingers don’t really care about those things, no matter how sincere they sometimes seem to be.
Their policies address real, not imaginary, problems, they’re just problems that no one but conservatives care about. In the cases of voter ID and drug-testing, they make things worse but are seen as good policy by Republicans because the real purpose is to give them a political advantage. In the case of abortion, women’s health always takes a back seat to the embryo.
Good point, but the GOP isn’t interested in stopping abortion. If they were, they’d be funding sex education and easy access to contraceptives. Their aim is to stigmatize sex outside of marriage. I think it’s too early in the game to know whether they’re making headway on that, but I doubt they are.
Well, you have to understand that the God that created universe(s) of unimaginable size and complexity gets really really sorrowful if two of his insignificant creations act on the impulses He created to continue the species and have sex without one of His special minister’s giving the official “okey-dokey”. So much so that he will make them burn in Hell forever. And if they happen to be of the same sex, they will burn in Hell forever for even thinking about it. That is unless they give lots and lots of money to His special ministers or they happen to be Catholic priests or Republican Congressmen.
“And I think we’re all more comfortable giving our tax dollars to assist people who are in temporary need rather than to enable people’s continued drug or alcohol addiction. “
Er, no. The public assistance in question is disability. There really isn’t any other kind any more. It doesn’t go to people who are in temporary need. And some people with profound addiction disorders just aren’t going to get better. It isn’t a choice, or a moral failing, it’s a disease. Usually accompanied by co-morbid mental illness.
I understand we’re specifically talking about TANF here, but the point applies. Should the children of an addicted mother be homeless and starve?
you were completely wrong, but your point still applies?
You just wanted to disagree with something.
Not to mention the SSD problem being created with Social Security funds.
I can tell you right away the “problems” the Republicans want to “fix”:
Black people voting
Black people having sex
Black people getting money
When Republicans worry about people voting who shouldn’t, having sex, or getting welfare (which no longer exists) that’s what they’re thinking about. They just can’t admit it publicly (and sometimes not to themselves). It’s just what the modern Republican party is all about: a bunch of racists trying to pretend they’re not racists being led around by a bunch of rich people trying to own the country.
You forgot some additional things Republicans have a problem with:
Black people driving
Black people walking
Black people standing
Black people breathing
Look.
The sky is falling. It’s a major, serious problem because both you and I feel the wind on our face, and feel raindrops.
Hence, we need to focus on the pressing issue of the sky falling down, rather than how the middle class is disappearing, your ability to vote is being challenged, and your family and friends are losing the ability to stay afloat in today’s economy.
Duh!