The Republican Party claims to be the party of Christian beliefs, in tune they say, with the Bible and exactly what the good book claims. But are they really?
The very act of choosing to go along with the Republican president’s political wish to shut down the government at Christmas over funding for a wall that logistically cannot be built along the entire southern border speaks volumes.
Here is a Grand Old Party and its leader who are willing to let fellow hardworking Americans go without pay at Christmas, simply to prove a political point to the so-called base.
What is the point? The president is tough and will deliver what he promised to his base and his base only. He will build the wall!
But whatever happened to the other claim that Mexico and not U.S. taxpayers would pay for this wall? Why is he now willing to shut down the government because it does not include $5 billion for his “big beautiful wall?”
That’s the question Americans need to be asking of their lawmakers and ensuring they do not earmark taxpayer dollars to this proposed white elephant monstrosity that will solve nothing.
If lawmakers can possibly find $5 billion to add to the total U.S. National Debt of $21.6 trillion, why can we not find that same money to use for eliminating poverty in this country?
How about using $5 billion to raise the minimum wage, provide free health care for all, pay teachers more, eliminate the wage gap between men and women and eradicate hunger and homelessness? One in six people in America face hunger according to the USDA. So why not use $5 billion to help them this Christmas?
That is the true Christian spirit of Christmas, and it is what Jesus would do and recommend. After all, the most important commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself, right? So did the GOP miss that commandment, or are they too busy being the Pharisees, so quick to crucify others for politics?
The so-called Christian right wing party, that takes a pro-life, anti-LGBTQ, anti-civil rights stance, also chooses to turn a blind eye to the social ills of the country because it does not fit into the political song and dance they feed to the unlearned in the base.
The reality is that if Jesus, who according to the book came into this world as a Jew, showed up at the southern border and applied for amnesty now, he would be kicked to the curb.
So too would his earthly parents—Mary and Joseph—who might even be detained and have their baby Jesus ripped from their arms and put into separate detention.
There would be “no room at the inn” for this family, who would be derided as poor and dirty by the likes of Tucker Carlson, who work so hard to spread the “white and pure” mantra of the party under the flag of conservatism.
Forget loving thy neighbor as thyself. That only applies when that neighbor is white or wealthy like the good ole boys club in the GOP, who keep their base largely ignorant and in poverty by spewing xenophobic lies. Values only matter when they line up with politics in the GOP. Otherwise, there is no room at the inn for anything or anyone else.
The writer is CMO at Hard Beat Communications, Inc., which owns the brands NewsAmericasNow, CaribPRWire and InvestCaribbeanNow.