[jetpilot]

At the time Reagan compromised with Tip O'Neill, Reagan believed that the U.S. was facing an existential threat in the Soviet Union. Democrats got huge spending increases on socialist domestic programs so that Reagan could escalate the arms race during the Cold War and precipitate the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. The compromises were not the result of Reagan and O'Neill getting along. At that time, there were still some patriotic Democrats, such as Sam Nunn, who shared Reagan's commitment to win the Cold War. There were also a few liberals, such as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who recognized and opposed policies that threatened American families by rewarding irresponsible behavior with financial rewards.

Things have changed. Liberal policies and Democrats' inability to govern competently are the top existential threat facing this country today. I generally oppose any compromise that further threaten to destroy our economy and traditional values. Liberal attacks on capitalism, law and order, and their harmful policies that imperil the mental and physical health of American children cannot be tolerated, regardless of what is offered to the Republican Party in return.

Okay, I'll bite.  What harmful liberal policies do that?   Some may argue that conservative policies are much more harmful to children:


Across the country, Republicans have made keeping kids “safe from transgenderism” one of their top priorities. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has said the GOP needs to “protect children” from trans people and their supposed nefarious agenda. Greene, who is one of the Republican Party’s ideological leaders and a key bridge between Donald Trump and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is far from alone. So far eight anti-trans bills have already become state law in 2023, with more to come. Republicans consistently justify such bills with innuendo about protecting children from trans predators or “groomers.”

They have used the same rhetoric in attempts to restrict drag shows, because nothing is more dangerous for children than watching performers dressed up in costumes pretending to be someone else. The drag hysteria has led not only to legislative attempts to restrict free expression, but to dangerous protests at children’s events. Meanwhile, Republicans have also made significant efforts over the past few years to eliminate discussions of homosexuality and racism from school and even university curricula. Of course Donald Trump is using the bully pulpit as the party’s leading presidential candidate to try to further stoke reactionary sentiment, attacking teachers and public schools in the process.

But Republicans’ professed desire to protect children disappears when faced with anything that might actually endanger them. Children are regularly murdered at school in mass shootings, a fact that has become too banal to even mention, so thoroughly have we given up hope that anyone in power will do anything to stop it. As long as the Republican Party is totally committed to allowing this state of affairs to continue, their claims about the need to protect children will remain a hollow joke.

Now Republicans in multiple states have introduced strikingly similar pieces of legislation that will actively harm children by relaxing child labor regulations, putting them at greater risk of injury and exploitation. In addition, studies have found that in addition to potential dangers at specific workplaces, child labor in and of itself puts children at greater health risk.



https://jacobin.com/2023/03/gop-anti-tra...-shootings