(C) Common Dreams
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The GOP’s Nefarious Mythologies Have Become a Dire Problem for Democracy [1]

['Rich Logis', 'Jason Linkins', 'Osita Nwanevu', 'Michael Tomasky', 'Talia Jane', 'Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling']

Date: 2022-11-04

Not all male, heterosexual, Caucasian Christians have swallowed this bitter pill; for those who have, the sight of other people gaining equality can feel like repression, conjuring in them an intense anxiety that if others are “winning,” then they must be “losing.” The feeling of being left behind is a valid concern, but our exceptionalist mythology gets them riled up against those (such as immigrants) whom they’ve been duped into blaming. The right is living in a make-believe country, in which equality can’t ever be shared and the battle to hang onto the shreds warrants retaliation against companies that exercise their protected speech; impugning teachers who are, allegedly, “making” kids gay; and discrediting “uppity” Blacks who want America to swallow the truth serum of knowledge of our racial history.

The GOP sells power as a means to cause harm and to keep its adherents constantly frothing about encroaching enemies within. Whether it’s a skewed and poisoned memory of “the good ol’ days,” the wrong-headed insistence that the least inclusive eras of our history were our finest hours, or the toxic notion that the marriage of two lesbians must somehow be adulterating our values, these myths must be countered for our democracy to endure. It’s going to be a Herculean effort, but as the GOP retreats from policy and governing and cocoons itself into its culthood, there’s a chance for Democrats to fill this vacuum with a new story: one about power as a means of doing good, of solving problems, of ideas and substance, and a more dignified way of leading the nation into a future instead of into a trap.

As I’ve written before, there are Republicans out there who know well that they cannot allow the GOP, in its current form, to deepen its hooks in the destiny of this nation. I feel they have an easy choice to make in the days to come: Vote Democrat—not to become a convert but to proclaim yourself as a dedicated citizen.

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[1] Url: https://newrepublic.com/article/168379/right-wing-myths-2022-midterms

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