opinion

Opinion: Happy Valentine’s Day with hopes for better future despite today's Republican politics

February is the month of Valentine’s Day.

In this season of love, we must warn that today’s Republican party is turning cupid’s arrow into a dagger, decimating with a thousand cuts, many of the policies that we, Republicans for Integrity, carefully crafted during our years serving in Congress.

We advocate for smaller government, but smaller should not mean “crueler.”

Today, millions of Americans are suffering from inhumane budget cuts, cruel eligibility rules for nutrition assistance and a stealthy lawsuit to end protection for preexisting conditions in health care coverage.

It’s time now, to pay attention to your Senate candidate’s voting record – not their campaign rhetoric because in politics, “actions speak louder than words,” and we’ve seen that today’s political arena is filled with more “smoke and mirrors” than ever before.

So, Republican voters, pay attention:

Senior citizens

To help pay for the Republican tax cut for the wealthy, delivering a trillion-dollar deficit by 2024, Republicans are now planning to cut social security and Medicare benefits, despite Donald Trump’s campaign promises to protect them.

Patients with preexisting conditions

Despite their sloganeering, Republicans failed to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). Instead, they’ve taken their battle to the courts to slash protections for those with preexisting conditions. The court decision will not occur until after the election.

College students

Because a well-educated workforce is so important, Congress passed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in 2007 to allow student loan borrowers to have their loans forgiven after they make 10 years of payments and work in public service jobs.

This administration has quietly, but ruthlessly, rejected roughly 99% of all applications. Now, tens of thousands of student borrowers are in debt. How does that help our economy?

Hungry children

The Trump administration recently released rules designed to cut basic food assistance for low-income children as part of slashing SNAP (Supplemental Food Assistance Program). This will cause millions of children across America, the world’s wealthiest nation, to go hungry.

Families fleeing violence

Most Americans are descended from immigrants. Today’s immigrants are oftentimes fleeing terrible violence but are then subjected to heartless policies separating children from parents, placing the children in cages – inflicting pain on “the least among us.”

Trump officials admit this cruelty is “a tactic to send a message.”

Every parent knows the panic of losing sight of one’s own child, even if momentarily, in the grocery store or a large crowd. Government policies should not inflict such intentional heartbreak upon anyone.

People of faith

Most parents raise their children to be kind, in the words of Leviticus 19:18 to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

An op-ed in Christianity Today illustrated that people of faith can still be Republicans without following the false teachings of today’s party leaders. Author Mark Galli wrote:

“To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record ... remember who you are and whom you serve.”

As former Republican congressmen/women, we served our constituents – not our party. It pains us to observe that nearly every Republican senator has devolved in both word and deed.

It’s important to accept too, that you can still be a Republican, and not vote for the party – but rather for the person … as millions of Republicans like us are doing.

Former Republican President George H.W. Bush called for a “kinder, gentler nation.”

The words and policies of today’s Republican party are neither kind nor gentle.

In this month of Valentine’s Day, we celebrate our love of country, our diversity, our heritage, our health and the hope for a better future for all.

Claudine Schneider is a Republican former United States congresswoman and is a founding member of Republicans for Integrity which brings together Republican former members of Congress who seek to put “country before party.” She works with various national, non-partisan, watchdog organizations and was one of the founding members of www.VoteSmart.org.