Time to See the Republicans for What They Really Are

So far, none of the Republican candidates for President have addressed the NAACP or other major African American institutions. Now, we all know why they used to address them. The Republicans knew they weren’t going to get an endorsement from the NAACP, but they could reassure suburban white voters that they at least cared enough about minorities to speak to them. In other words, they were trying to assure suburban white voters that they weren’t racist.

Well, this year, so far, they aren’t even going through the motions, and it’s time for the Democrats to expose the Republicans for what they really are. This crop of wealthy white Republicans couldn’t be more removed from the concerns of minorities in America or, for that matter, middle class white suburbanites. I’m not talking about Plano and Sugar Land. I’m talking about working and middle class whites and African Americans that have conservative social beliefs but are falling behind economically. It’s time the Democrats came out and told these people that we are who they can depend on.

The Democrats need to expose the truth about Republican tax cuts, bad health care proposals, and corporate welfare. The Democrats have to present complete, detailed health care plans that will actually provide affordable health care for the poor and working class Americans. Requiring that we have health insurance won’t do if we can’t afford it. There must be reasonable proposals made and we’re going to need to see numbers. The Democrats need to get the truth out there that the Republican tax cuts are for the wealthiest Americans and we need that money to fund schools and roads and a thousand other things.

I know the arguments against a progressive tax system. Yes, it costs the upper levels of income a higher percentage of their income than the working class. It has to. You see, the wealthy don’t exist in a vacuum. They need the working classes to be healthy enough to use the products of the companies they own and they need us to have enough money to buy them. Without education and health care, these things don’t happen. If the wealthy are so removed from the rest of American society that they will not provide health care and a true living wage, a little intervention is necessary to keep the system running for future generations.

The Democrats, as the big tent party that represents the working and middle classes as well as minorities, need to expose the truth that the Republican Party only cares about middle and working class whites when it comes time to vote, and they don’t care about working and middle class minorities at all.