I got thinking about how Americans always find their way back to a Republican Party controlled government even after that party has proven, over and over again, that it has nothing good to offer the country. A look at history shows that America has always fared very poorly each and every time the Republican Party has been in power. The party has always managed to leave behind, either a very poor economy or an outright recession.
The problem has been that after every single one of their debacles, the Democratic Party has always been the ones to step in, steady the ship and put it back on the right course. This very chivalrous act of stepping in and righting wrongs has exposed the Democrats to the anger of the people who simply have to blame someone for their pains at a time when the Republicans have stepped away from the scene. Funny enough, it seems, for some reason, like all the Democrats ever get for their efforts is the people's contempt while the Republicans, somehow, manage to reap a lot of trust.
This fact boggles the mind and I have tried to figure out a reason for it to no avail. The only semblance of a reason that appears plausible which I can come up with is the Stockholm Syndrome. The Stockholm Syndrome is defined as an emotional attachment to a captor formed by a hostage as a result of continuous stress, dependence, and a need to cooperate for survival. It originated from an incident in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973 during which a bank employee became romantically attached to a robber who held her hostage.
I believe that Americans have developed this syndrome for the Republican Party or how else can you explain what has been going on in our relationship with that party? On a general level, how would you explain our handing the country back to the party only two short years after we threw them out for saddling our country with the worst economic crisis since the great depression?
And on a more individual and particular level, how would anyone explain the fact that groups like women voted overwhelmingly for the Republicans even after most of that party's candidates campaigned on anti-women policies? Policies like being anti abortion even in cases of rape and incest which will force women to carry and bear the children of their rapists even when the rapists are their fathers or brothers. What about the anti pay equality policy of the Republicans which supports women being paid less than their male counterparts for an equal amount of work? Why? Even many of the Republican candidates who are senators and congress men and women, today called for the abolition of the amendment in the constitution which gives women the right to vote. And yet!
How about a group like the gay and lesbian community casting more votes for the Republican Party than the Democrats? This after all the anti gay stance and actions that have been taken by that party over the years. It is the Republican Party which is the reason why gay marriage is still outlawed in this country. That party has done everything within its powers to see that gay marriage does not see the light of day. What about the attempt to repeal the United States military's Don't Ask Don't Tell rule that has kept gays and lesbians from serving their country's military openly? The Republicans have kept blocking every attempt by congress to end it and have sworn to filibuster any further try by Democrats to repeal it. All these beside calling gay and lesbian people every name imaginable from sinners to sickos. And yet!
Last, but not least, is the baby boomer group. This is the old people's group which, again, voted predominantly for the Republican Party. Once again, you wonder why, on earth, after that party's candidates openly campaigned on cutting, or outright scrapping, of all the lifelines on which most members of this group depend. Talk about something like social security which they want to either cut, scrap or privatize, all actions that can be mortally harmful to that major baby boomer safety net. How about medicare and medicaid which are the major health care refuge of this group but which the Republicans have pledged to put under the chopping block.
So, why would we as a country and as these individual groups vote to put the Republican Party back in power? Why would we vote to have them back oppressing us like they always have every time they are in charge? I conclude that it is because we have developed some sort of weird Stockholm Syndrome feelings for that party of oppressors, and the sooner we collectively and individually find psychiatric help for our condition, the better we will turn out. And our country, too.
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