Republican Opposition Politics is Killing this Country

Alex Jones, the right-wing rabblerouser who once claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax "staged" by a massive government conspiracy and that no one had died, is being sued by Sandy Hook parents. These parents have faced harassment and death threats from people who bought into Jones' lies.

Jones has been trying his case in the media, trotting out his lawyer and filling his followers' heads with his typical nonsense. Now the lawyers for the parents have released Jones' deposition in the case, and it reveals a great deal about how Alex Jones -- and rightwing blowhards in general -- think and form their opinions.

For example:

Most notably, Jones refused to acknowledge whether his actions added to the grief and distress of those who had lost loved ones in the shooting, and he claimed the lawsuits filed against him were retaliatory for Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid in the 2016 election. When shown short video clips of himself from his own TV show, Jones continuously claimed they had been manipulated or taken out of context.

He also blamed his years of misinformation and spin about the massacre on “psychosis.” Jones claimed that years of witnessing “corrupt” governments and institutions made him deeply skeptical of the “mainstream media” and the “agenda hidden behind things.”

Right, Alex, right. You're crazy because "they" made you that way. The parents sued you because Hillary lost. No, you dummy, they sued you because you were lying when you said their kids weren't killed by a nut job that the NRA, the Republicans and idiots like you armed and encouraged.

During the questioning, the Sandy Hook attorneys outlined the main conspiracy theories Jones has broadcast during the last six years and provided evidence debunking each one. Jones acknowledged that some of the so-called anomalies that initially inspired his conspiracy theories were later proven to be false. But he stopped short of taking responsibility for creating those theories; he told the Sandy Hook lawyers he was simply reporting on Internet chatter and providing a platform for the free exchange of ideas.

Jones claimed that the media, corporate lawyers, “the establishment” and the Democratic Party tried to make it seem like he was obsessed with the Sandy Hook massacre and that it was his only “identity.” They “tricked” him into consistently debating it, he said.

This is the common thread on the right: the Democrats "make" us do and say these idiotic things. We don't make up this crap, we just "report" on nonsense we see on the Internet.

In essence, whenever the mainstream media or a Democrat says something is true, they are forcing Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the conservative horde to say it is false, because they must reflexively oppose and contradict anything that their perceived enemies say.

This also seems to be the pattern shaping up for Republicans to deny responsibility for their obstruction on climate change. Now they're claiming that Al Gore "politicized" the issue when he took it on during the 2000 presidential campaign and the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Because Al Gore said climate change was a problem, Republicans were forced to say it was not, because they must oppose Democrats on every issue that Democrats think is important.

This shows the how utterly corrupt and empty Republican philosophy is. They aren't for anything: they simply have to oppose everything that the Democrats believe or support, no matter how important that issue is to the welfare of the country.

If Democrats are for abortion, Republicans are against it. If Democrats want to tackle climate change, Republicans literally want to burn more coal. If Democrats want to take guns out of the hands of wife beaters, Republicans want to put guns in every purse and waistband. If Democrats want to outlaw carcinogenic chemicals like Roundup, Republicans want to spray them on like perfume. If Democrats want birth control, Republicans want women barefoot and pregnant. If Democrats want to show immigrants compassion, Republicans want to throw them in prison -- even though people like Donald Trump are the ones hiring immigrants to do everything from building his golf courses, to cleaning his bedroom and ironing his shirts, to driving his family's car.

This is why American democracy is failing. It isn't that Democrats won't compromise. It's that the Republicans reflexively oppose everything the Democrats support.

Democracies work by negotiation: one side gives something the other side wants in exchange for something they want. Nobody gets everything they want, but everyone gets something.

We should be thinking of the country as a big family that doesn't always get along. If Joey gets a new pair of $300 basketball shoes, Lizzy should get that crappy phone replaced. Mom and dad -- the president and Congress -- should make sure everyone is treated fairly.

But Republicans have made everything into US vs. THEM, and turned government into a warzone, with no holds barred and no prisoners taken. And they're proud of this. They brag about how inflexible and dictatorial they are. They are so wrapped up in opposition politics that they would take the side of a corrupt foreign power that has actively been trying to destroy the United States for the last century -- Russia -- over their fellow Democratic countrymen.

These tactics may give Republicans a temporary tactical boost among their most virulent supporters. But they are ruining this country, undermining its moral authority around the world, alienating us from longtime allies and destroying the social fabric that holds us together.