Don’t be fooled, the Government Overreach Party (G.O.P.) loves Big Government

America faces a choice in 2020. We either continue with a President unfit for office, or we make a change. Republicans, i.e. the Government Overreach Party (GOP), have become the epitome of hypocrisy. They say they favor limited government, but it’s a lie. This lie can be exposed on three counts.

1. For years Republicans have favored big military government with bloated budgets which prevent other spending on key things like infrastructure. They say the hundreds of billions are needed to keep Americans safe, but we also need safe roads and bridges. And the big government spending on defense for things like tanks and armored vehicles should be questioned in an age where terrorism and cyber-security are the new battle fronts.

2. The GOP also favors the militarization of local police. Many officers now wear bulletproof vests and have an array of weapons on their bodies. This makes for distrust and fear in our communities when people get stopped by police with so much equipment. Republicans routinely blanket law enforcement with praise, and their equipping them with military-grade weapons has fed the “war” on drugs.

3. Most sinister of all, religious Republicans think government should control women’s bodies and tell citizens who they can love and marry. This egregious intrusion into people’s personal lives is the height of big government. A woman choosing when, or if, to have children is a vital individual right that Republicans would take away on the mere assertion that their religious opinion about what constitutes life is the only correct one. Laws preventing abortion are an appalling violation of the First Amendment’s statute that “no law respecting an establishment of religion shall be made”. In essence, these laws make women who may have no religion at all subject to religious decrees preventing them getting an abortion. On the gay marriage front, evangelical Republicans forget to “love thy neighbor” and practice tolerance when they refuse to issue marriage licenses such as the Kentucky county clerk-woman a few years ago. They feel it is government’s business to decide what true marriage is, i.e. only a man and a woman. This again violates the idea that laws cannot establish religious opinions.

We are a country founded on the principle that individual citizens can reason and make decisions for themselves. We try to ensure government makes as little intrusion into our world as possible. The next time you hear a Republican say they are for limited government, take note that it is a farce.