Fear This, Republicans!

by Tom Shafer

January 8, 2019

So, for the past several years, Republicans have been trying to scare Americans. When Barack Obama was president, they wanted you to be afraid of him. They also wanted you to fear Sharia Law, gay marriage, the Affordable Care Act, the government coming for your guns, rigged elections, women in combat, ISIS, and trans people. Remember all of those, the greatest hits of fear? Most of those have been abandoned, but of course replaced with new ones like MS-13, porous borders, and dangerous caravans of immigrants.

Do you know what’s funny about all of this? Actually, it’s the Republicans who are afraid. Democrats and Independents fear none of these because, well, none of these “fears” are real. Our president loves to rail against so-called fake news, when the real fake news resides in all of these so-called “fears.” So, I have decided to create my own list, a list of “things” that Republicans really fear – perhaps never spoken aloud but certainly whispered in dark corridors on Capitol Hill.

1. Strong women. Republicans don’t even want them in their own party. Outside of recently retired Nikki Haley and Professor Condi Rice, name one other strong woman – and no use of your smartphones! And no, Fox anchors and Sarah Palin don’t count because I used the word “strong.” If you mentioned New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez or Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, either you consulted your phone or you happen to live in one of those states. Just twenty-nine Republican women now hold seats in the House, while only six women will serve in the Senate. Need I say more?
2. Immigrants, any immigrants. Okay, so this one is obvious. They’ve talked about caravans, terrorists, MS-13 all streaming over the border to steal our jobs and women while peddling their drugs. In my head, I conjure up the restaurant scene from the movie The Blues Brothers where Jake, using a fake Spanish accent, asks a man sitting with his family at the next table, “How much for the little girl . . . the women . . . how much for the women?” Republicans probably don’t see it this way, but I do. What will those immigrants do when they get here? Work, especially work in industries the vast majority of Americans won’t do: dairy (cleaning pens, feeding and milking cows), vegetable (picking fruits and berries, cleaning silos), meat (rending, cleaning pens), hospitality (room cleaning, laundry), and construction (winter work). Oh, and MS-13? That gang was born in Los Angeles in the 1980s and their population has been static for two decades now. The Crips, Bloods, and Latin Kings, our all-American gangs, are significantly larger and more violent than MS-13. Oh, and those terrorists? We catch most of them at our airports – and trying to come through the Canadian border. For the last reporting period coming from Customs and Border Protection data (October 2017 to April 2018), six non-U.S. persons on the Terrorist Screening Database were captured along the southern border while nearly 3700 were caught at our airports. Maybe we should be building big, beautiful walls around them instead.
3. People who are educated. I am so proud to be considered one of the elites – okay, so this is really self-promotion, but with a master’s+ in education and nearly a B.S. in engineering from an Ivy League West school (Wright State University), I think I more than qualify. I love how Republicans condemn and attack the liberal elite – though it wasn’t long ago when they owned that mantle. Until the 1980s, Democrats were considered the party of the working man, friend to labor, and Republicans represented the establishment elite. As labor unions eroded in the 1990s, American workers broke with the Democratic Party, many calling themselves Independents or jumping ship completely and joining Republicans. According to the Pew Research Center, in 1994, Republicans were winning over college graduates (39% college graduates, 32% postgraduate experience) compared to Democrats (27% college graduates, 33% postgraduate experience) and Independents (32% college graduates, 32% postgraduate experience). Today, those numbers are almost reversed: Republicans 24% college graduates, 19% postgraduate experience; Democrats 35% college graduates, 41% postgraduate experience; Independents 38% college graduates, 38% postgraduate experience. Trump’s victory in 2016 came in part from white voters who held a high school degree or less; 58% of this population called themselves Republicans, while 35% identified themselves as Democrats. In twenty-five plus years, we’ve witnessed a complete reversal of party politics as it is connected to education.
4. People who aren’t white. The numbers are staggering. According to Pew, 84% of black voters identify with Democrats (8% Republican), 63% of Hispanic voters identify with Democrats (28% Republican), and 65% of Asian voters identify with Democrats (27% Republican). Frankly, the numbers haven’t changed much since 1994, but given these statistics, one would reasonably conclude that the party on the wrong side of these numbers might try to be more inclusive. Obviously, that hasn’t happened. Instead of reaching out, Republicans appear to be closing ranks, choosing to side with Trump as he attacks blacks (“low IQ” Maxine Waters and “dumb” Don Lemon), Hispanics (“they’re bringing drugs,” “they’re rapists”), and Asians (if America is attacked, “Japan doesn’t have to do anything. They can sit at home and watch Sony television, OK?”). When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Well played, Republicans! – and sorry, dogs. It’s just a silly saying.
5. People who aren’t old. Republicans fear youth. Remember how they attacked teen leaders from Stoneman Douglas High School after the school shooting there, one that killed seventeen students and teachers? Remember how that backfired as the “kids” proved to be more than equal to the task of taking on conservatives and the NRA? And, millennials don’t want fear. They want social justice, healthcare reform, gun control, and climate change policies – things Republicans aren’t noted for. Thus, today’s millennial is far more likely to identify as Democratic (59%) than Republican (32%). The fountain of youth will not be found in the Republican Party.
6. Democracy itself. The Republicans have been on a rampage to change election laws – and not to make voting easier. Since 2010, twenty-five states (as in half of our country) have initiated significant voting restrictions. Many of these states were tightening voter ID rules, changing voter registration rules, and cutting back on early voting opportunities. In the lead-up to the 2018 midterm, several states attempted more of the same: some were successful, but courts intervened in three cases and overturned new voting laws, dubbing them suppressive. In a time when voting should be easier and more inclusive, conservatives are trying to do the opposite. But given the Republican demographic of 2019 (as evidenced by all of the information provided above), I don’t blame them for trying. Our country is not getting older, whiter, dumber, and more masculine. Shrinking the voting pool is the only way Republicans can grow their constituency. Good luck with that.
7. Trump. See all of the above.