Although Republican leaders will not openly admit it, their actions, inactions, and policies clearly indicate their belief that some American lives are expendable. While pretending to fight tooth and nail for the unborn, they knowingly and willingly trample upon the well-being of many already born whom they view as weak. Their tacit underlying worldview is for the survival of the fittest. So while they ruthlessly enact policies that strangle the vulnerable, they brazenly embark on voter suppression to prevent the expendables from voting them out of office. They deceive evangelicals into voting “pro life” when in reality they are actually supporting “pro-fittest” and anti-woman policies. Amazingly, these evangelicals have adopted views that are the exact opposite of Jesus’ teachings. I view Trump and the Republican leadership’s policies and actions as a form of legal oppression if not outright genocide. So, who are the expendables?
At the top of the list of expendables are the poor and uneducated, the majority of whom happen to be people of color still burdened by the consequences of past in present discrimination as well as current discrimination. Of course, Republicans refuse to acknowledge that giving white people a huge social economic advantage through opportunities and benefits open only to whites for most of American history has had any negative affect on the economic prospects of the average person of color. This is why they strive to severely restrict or eliminate affirmative action, labeling it as “reverse discrimination”. Even now, black and brown people who “make it” in this country have to be exceptionally strong, talented, intelligent, resilient, adaptable, and lucky. If you’re a person of color, average is not now, nor has it ever been, good enough and you are expendable. Republicans strive to keep the status quo where the lives of poor uneducated people of color remain subject to excessive policing and brutality, poverty driven crime (the theft of the desperate), environmental toxins, poor diets, almost non-existent preventative healthcare, substandard education, exploitive employers and predatory lenders.
Another group of expendables are the sick and elderly. It has been evident for several years that the Republicans are doing very little to ensure access to affordable healthcare, social security, Medicare, mental health resources, and with this pandemic, they are failing to safeguard the lives of the sick and elderly. It is not surprising that the deaths from this pandemic are heavily concentrated among the elderly as well as poor black and brown people. The Administration is encouraging a kind of herd immunity that will cost an enormous loss of life among the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. Poor black and brown people have more underlying medical conditions that are directly associated with their poverty. Their campaign of disinformation is working to speed the spread of the disease among these populations, making healthy gullible people agents of death among their family members.
I met such a person in Smart and Final on Friday afternoon. I’m grateful that masks are required to work and shop there and they adhere to strict social distancing. However, a comment I made to the twenty-something Latina who checked me out, made it clear that disinformation was spreading. She called the pandemic a hoax or at least not as bad as they were making it out to be. I commented, “Tell that to the thousands who are now dead” and left. This young woman is likely lax in her personal life and will endanger the life of her parents, grandparents, and other vulnerable family members.
Another group of expendables are people whom the Republicans deem as undesirables. These include homosexuals, drug addicts, people with disabilities, undocumented immigrants from “shit hole countries” and minority law breakers. They are happy to restrict the movement, rights, and access to opportunities for these individuals in order to feed their sense of safety, exceptionalism, job security, and false moral superiority.
In my opinion, the only people who should be behind bars are violent criminals. This includes pediphiles, rapists, armed robbers, and people convicted of assault or murder. All others should pay fines, pay restitution, get treatment, or do community service. The current system disproportionately locks up people of color, the mentally fragile, and the poor. It’s not that they are committing some crimes in greater numbers, but that they are targeted for arrest. And it has become clear that they receive harsher sentences for the same crime as their more valued counterparts. The current system benefits for-profit prisons and provides a false sense of security to white Americans while devastating the families, livelihoods, and lives of expendable people. The suicide rates among homosexuals grows as they are ostracized and discriminated against while homicides among transgender women of color soars unchecked. Republicans limited access to affordable rehab for poor drug addicts and adequate care for people with disabilities. The result is an early grave for both groups. And when Republicans dehumanize undocumented immigrants, children get locked in cages and separated from their parents. They build a wall and enact stricter immigration policies that ignore the desperate seeking refuge from danger as any human being would do.
The final group of expendables are the ignorant and the gullible. It is no surprise that Trump rallies are filled with conspiracy theorist and the uneducated. If these people who refuse to wear masks or social distance themselves don’t get sick and die, it is inevitable that people around them will. And since birds of a feather tend to flock together, Trump and the Republicans will be able to wipe out a whole segment of lower class people for whom blue collar jobs are disappearing anyway. The farmers, coal workers, and hourly workers who flock to his rallies are being lead as lambs to the slaughter because they, too are expendable. He may need them for the election, but he doesn’t need them to drive up his unemployment numbers or the number of welfare recipients. Many of his most avid supporters are evangelicals who have forgotten their basic Sunday School lessons such as “love thy neighbor as thyself” and giving to the needy and protecting the stranger. Having lost their way and given their vote to Republicans, they are blindly committing a form of suicide and homicide to pave the way for wealthier, smarter, and healthier Americans to survive without being burdened by them.
Admittedly, the assertion that Republicans view many of their fellow Americans as expendable sounds kind of cynical. But when I look at their rhetoric, policies, and the decisions that are being made on a daily basis, no other explanation makes sense to me.