The “Hypocritic” Oath

Democracy dies in an environment of deceit, darkness, distrust and denial. These conditions are prevalent today. I think they are being manipulated, marketed and actually cultivated by the hypocritical Republican Party. Examples:

• Deceit: The Republican Party’s hypocrisy confuses and deceives the public about what its true intentions are. For example, Republican Rep. Joel Kitchens has co-sponsored a bill to establish nonpartisan redistricting. He has also voted to base the new maps on the existing partisan, gerrymandered voting-district maps. What does he stand for?

• Darkness: The Republican Legislature voted unanimously to ban the teaching in our schools of systemic racial inequality – slavery, Jim Crow, etc. They have even banned teaching words such as “equity” and “multiculturalism.” That would be like Germany denying that Hitler and the Holocaust happened. Rep. Kitchens supported this measure but “forgot” to mention it in his newsletter, keeping us in the dark.

• Distrust: Republicans constantly sow misleading and false seeds of distrust and disloyalty by pretending that Democrats are socialists and that so-called “socialism” – public libraries, water and sewer systems, fire departments and the like – are bad ideas. Really?

• Denial: The entire Republican Party denies the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, will not admit that climate change is scientifically a fact, and denies that COVID-19 vaccinations are a positive public good. Republicans apparently deny the fact that Medicaid expansion would save both lives and money.

As you read this letter, one political party is discussing and debating policy alternatives to improve the economic, environmental and health care lives of all Americans. The other party, as described above, is

wallowing in lies, denial and hypocrisy. It is a backward-looking party in a time with a challenging future.

The Republican Party, the “Radical Right,” is apparently intent on remaking American society as a failed experiment in democracy. It is hypocritical, dangerous and deceitful. It is destroying our country and planet.

Doctors take the Hippocratic oath to preserve life. Apparently, Republicans take the “Hypocritic oath” to destroy America and the world.

Mike Brodd

Sister Bay, Wisconsin