Ethics

Character matters!


What kind of ethics have we seen displayed by Republican leaders in the United States Senate in recent years?

What kind of moral leadership has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shown? In turn, what kind of moral or ethical leadership have we seen from most Senate Republicans?

Does the Republican-led United States Senate reflect true Republican values or, for that matter, those of the majority of the American people?

The fact is, the Republican Senate has rubber-stamped virtually everything President Trump has sought.

This Republican “party before country” rubber stamp has plunged the country into a politically divisive crisis.


Let’s look at the recent track record of Republicans in the United States Senate by comparing today’s reality versus true Republican values.


Fiscal responsibility: Republicans are growing the economy by charging our children’s federal credit card

Senate Republicans, together with President Trump, are creating record national deficits, due in part to massive tax cuts for the wealthy, permanent corporate tax cuts (no wonder Wall Street supports Trump) and vast bailouts to pay for costly trade wars and tariff increases.

Following Republican passage of the massive tax cut for the wealthy in December 2017, the Treasury Department reported in September 2018 that “the US budget deficit widened to $1.067 trillion for the first 11 months of the fiscal year, an increase of 19% over this time last year.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the 2017 tax cuts combined with new spending by Congress will add more than $4.1 trillion to the federal debt by 2029.”


Free trade: The costly Republican war on free trade is victimizing millions of Americans

Senate Republicans have failed to hold the Trump Administration accountable for the huge costs of Trump’s trade war and high tariffs. Farmers have been among the biggest victims, and many are now dependent on costly government bailout payments to keep afloat.

  • This Republican bailout of farmers victimized by trade war and tariffs has been twice as costly as the automobile industry bailout (which many Republicans opposed as being “too costly”) during the last Great Recession.


Rule of law: A core Republican value is repeatedly ignored by Republicans in power

Every day in the news there are shocking new revelations about President Trump violating the Rule of Law that has made America great over the past two centuries.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a Washington-based nonprofit, has filed over 400 lawsuits against President Trump, his family members and his cabinet members over their flagrant violations of ethics, campaign finance and other laws.

What have Senate Republicans done to hold the Administration to account? Nothing!


States’ rights: With Republicans nowadays, the federal government is all-powerful

Republicans have long been ardent supporters of states’ rights. However, since states have begun to use their constitutional rights to protect their environment or their public health and safety, Senate Republicans have eagerly confirmed dozens of federal judges (and two Supreme Court Justices) and agency heads who share Donald Trump’s goals of dismantling states’ rights.


Family values: Whose families do Republicans value?

Do Senate Republicans support family values? Unfortunately, if your skin is not white, if you practice certain religions or if you are fleeing violence, war and persecution in your home country, then your family matters less to Senate Republicans, who have failed repeatedly to take cation on the costly and ineffective “border wall.”

And immigration reform is the responsibility of Congress, certainly not of the President!

If your family has suffered gun violence, Senate Republicans care more about protecting an individual’s “right” to purchase a deadly assault weapon than they do about preventing the spread of gun violence. The House has passed safety measures, but Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority have ignored it.


Individual rights: Senate Republicans believe the the rights you have are based on your wallet

Senate Republicans have shown a greater concern for the welfare of huge corporations than for individuals in our society, particularly as demonstrated by confirmation of extreme federal judges to lifetime appointments.

Women’s rights to reproductive freedom and privacy are threatened by Senate-confirmed judges. The rights of minorities are threatened by many of the same judges and by the Administration’s encouragement of violence and intimidation against political opponents and minority groups.

What have Republican Senators done to protect constitutionally protected individual rights against these abuses?

They’ve pushed through Senate rule changes that make it easier to confirm more of these federal judges against Democratic opposition. In essence, they have become enablers of oppression against certain groups of humans.


Environmental protection: Senate Republicans are selling our environment to the highest bidders. We can no longer claim to be the Party of Teddy Roosevelt!

Senate Republicans have watched silently as President Trump has rolled back at least 85 environmental rules and regulations that have helped protect the world’s climate, along with our lands, water and air, saving billions of dollars in avoided energy costs.

In a 2018 analysis, David Cutler and Francesca Dominici of Harvard University stated that under the most conservative estimate, the Trump administration's rollbacks and proposed reversals of environmental rules would likely "cost the lives of over 80,000 US residents per decade and lead to respiratory problems for many more than 1 million people.