I have written about this before, but with the election coming it seems to be a very pertinent time to remind people that you can break the cycle of abuse that the Republican Party has been subjecting this country to for much of the past 32 years. I have likened what the Republicans have done to this country to that of a battered wife. I believe that is a very apt comparison.

I had this insight after the 2004 election when George W. Bush was once more put in power. I was speaking with a friend about it one day. She asked me why America did this. When I said it was like the bateered wife who fears leaving an abusive relationship more than she fears staying, my friend broke down and cried. I had no idea that she had endured such a relationship and it had taken several years to break the psychological binds that her husband had held her captive with. After a couple of minutes she stopped crying and said I was right on the money.

So let’s compare shall we? Often these relationships begin with big lovely promises while the husband (Republicans) hide their true motives. Makes me think of Ronald Reagan and his “It’s morning in America” line. Once the marriage has been completed, things change. Suddenly the husband is draining the bank account. The wife (citizens) may protest, but they are told that they are unworthy, ugly, less than human. The wife is made to believe that without the husband, she could not take care of herself. He beats her to bring the point home. Day after day the abuse continues until the wife has lost her self confidence and she no longer believes she can make decisions on her own. All the while he has also driven away her friends and family.

Much in the same way, Republicans declared themselves the “adult party” and claim that if we choose not to do what they say, dire fates await. We will be weak militarily, we will lose friends around the world. The spiritual realm is also used as a club, claiming a person will go to hell if they do not vote for the “party of Christianity.”

Internally, natural coalitions such as labor and families have wedges driven between them. The bank accounts are lowered by raising fees and stopping wage growth. Any help from the government is drastically cut back with a threat of national banruptcy. At the same time their loyalists feed heavily at the public trough.

If there is ever a time when a break is attempted the former husband will do all that he can to keep the abuse up, to make it so the wife can’t function on her own. He also terrorizes her so that she is fearful of even stepping out her own door thinking that her ex-husband will do her harm.

If there is a reconciliation, it is because he seemed to have mended his ways and the big promises continue. But once they are back together the physical and psychological abuse starts once again. This cycle is repeated over and over until the wife is finally able to put together a plan and the strength to carry it out. She then must be aided by family, friends and the courts and law enforcement to make the break stick.

When Republicans have been out of power, the country begins to heal from their last round of power. In the 90s, Clinton policies sparked huge economic growth. But he had a democratic congress for at least a part of that period. Barack Obama’s policies have sparked an economic recovery also, but Republicans have perverted congressional rules to tie Obama’s hands and choke the recovery.

America must quit believing the big promises and the fear inducing rhetoric that Republicans employ. One of the tactics of abuse is to make a person believe that the people that will help them are really their enemies. In that regard, Republicans continue to tell the most outrageous lies about Democrats. This causes Americans to fear voting for Democrats even when the lies have been debunked.

Once in office Republicans have drastically altered government to benefit themselves and their friends. Yet we continue to be told that while they syphon off government treasury and our wages stagnate while government services disappear, this is all for our own good.

For America to survive, we simply must break the cycle of abuse. We can do this by seeking out real news sources, asking probing questions of our candidates and not giving up until we get answers. We need to get private money out of elections. We also need to make sure that elections have paper trails and are audited. And each of us must become involved. This is your government. Do not let them abuse you or your family. Vigilance is one of the costs of living in a democracy.

This election, we must put Republicans in a minority so they can not use our government for their benefit. We must band together once more as we did in the Great (republican) Depression to return to a government “of the people, by the people and for the people!”

And if no one else has a reason to stand up to this abuse, women surely do
IN NOVEMBER, WOMEN WILL REMEMBER!