Plog Number 47
The Change
Hello Ploggers. How are you? I was having a conversation with my sister Peggy today about a fascinating topic. We talked about yoga, fallen arches, school, family and the change of the Republican Party. Having only been observers of the party, we only know about it second hand. Growing up I remember Richard Nixon being known as a “crook” but the party still had a good rep because they called him out. They saw what he was into and had the good sense to disassociate themselves from him. In particular Barry Goldwater (AZ), John Rhodes, (AZ) and High Scott (Pa) told Nixon that he would face impeachment, conviction and removal from office because of Watergate. He soon resigned and was pardoned by Gerald Ford. So the party moved on and stayed intact as the moral majority, tough on crime, law and order, conservative party. They lost the next election to Jimmy Carter but got it back with Reagan. Things went back and forth like that. As I remember the two parties battled it out but some people said the parties were more similar than different. But then something happened. The parties are vastly different today. The GOP is vastly different today.
The thing that happened was Newt Leroy Gingrich. His middle name surprised me. He served as the Speaker of the House from 1995-1999. Newt was known as and popularized the image of the “Angry White Man”. He had a viciousness about him and he cast himself as the savior in the fight of good versus evil. He felt that the Republican Party members were too nice. He was aggressive and confrontational and used those tactics to shock and defeat Democrats. He made outlandish claims that got him media coverage and put his opponents on the defensive. He had a message that was so loud and foul that he was eventually removed from office. But Newt remained active as an advisor and has laid the ground work for 45. He still is a behind the scenes advisor to Kevin McCarthy. His type of hate filled rhetoric has remained alive and has taken over the party. Newt gave life to the Conspiracy theory followers and denialism. He started the Tea Party and started the phrase the “radical left”. I remember in 1998 I was on a Missionary trip to Nigeria and a member of our crowd surprised me by saying how much he liked Newt. I never felt safe around this man after that. I knew that he admired a viscous man. I judged him by the company he admired. Later in life I learned that I was right about him. Always follow your gut.
But I said all this to say that there is a reason that the Republican party has changed. As I see it, they are now the party of White Nationalists, Conspiracy theorists, theocratic hypocrites, misogynists, and hate. I cant blame this all on Newt 👾 , but he surely gets credit for urging the party in this negative direction. Why the senior members of the party don't do a Barry Goldwater and dip on 45 is another question. They seem to feel that they MUST go down with 45 and his sinking ship of hate and crime SMH. The smell of desperation is upon the Republicans today. I am sure that some new "Newt" will come along and try to help them stay in power.
The Mega Mart Museum in Las Vegas has a whole supermarket dedicated to sarcastic and fictional products. One of the products was an empty container of "Plausible Deniablity". On the bottle it says "33% more like it never happened" and "keeps lies white". It shows a bouquet of flowers and says "apple blossom alibi" At the very bottom it says Caution eye irritant, harmful if swallowed. It looks like a bottle of Liquid Tide but when you read the label closely it is cutting, 😆 funny and applicable to the Republican Party today. When called out, they say things like "Obama or Hillary did it" or "I declassified those papers every time I removed them, or the FBI planted them there. Plausible Deniability! When I saw the bottle I laughed and thought of 45, even while on vacation.
RECLAIM!
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