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Right-Wing Hardliner Quits GDP

Written by Subject: United States

Right-Wing Hardliner Quits GOP

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

On July 4, hard-right former House Freedom Caucus member (formerly the Tea Party Caucus he co-founded) Rep. Justin Amash left the GOP, explaining why in a Wapo op-ed, saying:

"The Republican Party, I believed, stood for limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty" — congressional code language for serving privileged interests exclusively, what the vast majority of House and Senate members support, Amash adding:

"In recent years…I've become disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it." 

"The two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to American principles and institutions."

What principles and institutions does Amash mean? From inception, the US has been and continues to be run by powerful self-serving interests.

Its ruling authorities lie, connive, misinterpret and pretty much operate ad libitum, discharging their duties as they see fit for aims counter to the public welfare and world peace.

Governance since the Clinton co-presidency featured neoliberal harshness, responsible for the greatest wealth disparity in the nation's history, worsening annually, the US transformed into an increasingly tyrannical oligarch-run plutocracy.

Demagogues like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bush/Cheney, Obama, and Trump convince many people to believe their harmful policies benefit them. 

DJT especially promotes the Big Lie, his regime more one-sided for privileged interests since the robber barons age.

The US is governed by one-party rule with two extremist right wings, elections farcical when held because dirty business as usual wins every time. 

Ordinary Americans have no say over how they're governed, why the US is more hypocrisy than democracy. It exists in name only, the real thing not tolerated by the nation's ruling class at home or abroad.

Leadership of both wings of one-party rule, and most of their members, are against democratic values and rule of law principles. 

They support endless wars of aggression, corporate empowerment, crackdowns on nonbelievers, and government using its resources to benefit America's privileged class exclusively. 

"Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party," Amash announced, adding: 

"No matter your circumstance, I'm asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us." 

"I'm asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it."

The America he supports is hostile to the rights and welfare of most people at home and abroad.

He's the only (now former) GOP member calling for Trump's impeachment. He claimed the Russiagate witch-hunt Mueller report "reveals that (DJT) engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment" — despite no evidence in it proving obstruction of justice or collusion with Russia to defeat Hillary.

What's not in the report is clear grounds to impeach, remove from office, prosecute, and convict most US presidents and the vast majority of others in Washington — for committing or supporting high crimes of war and against humanity, the highest of high crimes.

Neither Amash, others in Washington, or establishment media will go anywhere near this reality.

He represents hard-right governance — whey US neoliberal/neocon groups give him high marks.

He supports tax cuts for the rich, is "100% pro-life," opposes a balanced budget, is against environmental regulations, and favors war if declared by Congress.

He's against wasteful military spending and opposed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), imposing illegal sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, calling the measure "too broad and undefined."

He opposes universal healthcare and supports repeal of Obamacare. He backs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) harshness against unwanted aliens.

He opposes federal funding for Trump's border wall and a national emergency declaration unjustifiably justifying its construction.

He opposes Big Brother watching everyone — on the phony pretext of protecting national security. He's against the repressive USA Patriot Act.

He opposed Trump's ban on Muslims from the wrong country, saying it "undermines our constitutional system."

He opposed Trump's 2016 nomination as GOP standard bearer. He criticized DJT's July 2018 joint press conference remarks with Vladimir Putin, saying his remarks sounded "like the head of a vassal state."

Asked to describe his voting methodology, he said the following: "I follow a set of principles. I follow the Constitution. And that's what I base my votes on."

Throughout the nation's history, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, interpreted and reinterpreted by countless jurists, academics, politicians, and others, including Supreme Court justices — disagreeing on its interpretation.

Amash is on the far-right of US politics. Leaving the GOP to become independent did nothing to change him ideologically.

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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

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