Inside the hypocrisy killing Republicans

Lately, I have been thinking about the word “freedom” and how that word has been twisted into unrecognizable wreckage by a Republican Party that uses it as a sad excuse to brutally hammer tens of millions of Americans into submission, including themselves.

America is supposed to be the land of the free, but try telling that to a pregnant woman who is faced with a crushing decision about what’s best for her, or Alex Pretti or Renee Good who were shot dead in the street by government thugs for freely standing up against violent authoritarianism. (Government thugs, incidentally, who are still free among us to kill again as I type this.)

I was finally spurred to put words to my thoughts about freedom after attending a casual meeting of do-gooders here in North Carolina last week, which veered into the importance of cleaning up our coastal waterways, so marine life are free to flourish without the man-made threat of being violently choked to death.

A younger woman told the story about how plastic bags had been banned in the Outer Banks of the state in 2009, because their overuse had become a hazard to beach life such as sea turtles. The ban was actually popular among a majority of the residents and businesses, and worked just fine until a Republican representative on the island, Beverly Boswell, decided she’d seen enough of all this good, and decided that telling people how they should sack up there groceries was an infringement on their freedom to be just as disgusting as they wanted to be.

Well, no surprise this stirring Braveheart moment caught on like wildfire with Republicans across the state, and by 2017 the ban was repealed by the GOP majority in the legislature in the name of freedom.

It became known as North Carolina’s ban on bans.

You read all that right.

I have grown weary hearing about this cultish party’s distrust and full-blown hate of our government in the name of freedom, but lack of distrust in the head of that government, Donald Trump, who is easily the most dishonest, self-serving man in United States history.

It is impossible to describe just how stupid and weak they look and sound, but I’ll take a whack at it ...

You see, the Republican Party wants us to believe freedom exists to give them the right to do whatever the hell it is they want when they want, and oppress people they don’t like all in the name of some perverted notion of law and order.

Well, we simply have to know by now that Republicans don’t stand for law and order or freedom. In fact, they absolutely loathe them. Why, they helped give a 34-count convicted felon, who stood up the most violent attack on our Capitol since 1812, the keys to finish us off for good.

That isn’t called freedom, it’s called treason.

Freedom isn’t the reason they absolutely love our U.S. troops patrolling our U.S. cities. Control over those cities is.

It gets worse (more pathetic), because these so-called freedom-loving Republicans inside our Congress have handcuffed themselves to Trump’s altar, and are told what to say and when to say it by their shriveled up, 80-year-old, orange wannabe king, or else.

Such freedom, eh?

They have been stripped of original thought, and believe only what they are allowed to by an abusive slob, who is mentioned in the Epstein Files tens of thousands of times, has lied hundreds of thousands of times while in office, and regularly beats Republican legislators into submission.

Picture Lindsey Graham …

Now picture the dangerous, anti-American tongue-draggers at the J-6 insurrection attempt, who were given the freedom to do it all that again, after being pardoned by the dangerous slob, who was given the freedom by our busted Supreme Court to do whatever he likes without consequence.

That isn’t freedom, it is authoritarianism.

Of course the damndest thing about all of this is just how freely these low-wattage idiots are hurting themselves in their never-ending quest to oppress everybody else.

Best I can see, Trump has not done a single thing to make their lives better, except hate the very same people they do.

Otherwise, he has made it harder for them to get the most basic things in life like affordable medical care, broadband access, unbiased news, clean air and water, and matching funding to keep their schools, parks, ball fields, libraries, streets, buildings, and neighborhoods thriving.

Even the gasoline they chug by the gallon is more expensive now.

And, say, what about freedom of choice or freedom of speech?

What about the freedom to read what they want?

What about freedom of the press, or freedom from all that religion they are throwing in our face?

How about the freedom to be who you want to be, or freedom from these damn billionaire-run monopolies who choose what we buy and where we can buy it?

All this freedom they seek is killing them and us.

Still not convinced?

Their warped sense of freedom has allowed them to finally unshackle themselves from all this dreaded science that has saved millions and millions of lives over the years from things like the Measles, which they believe they should be free to spread again.

Science used to be relied on to increase life expectancy, but thanks to all these Republican freedoms that is on the decrease, too.

They have given predatory insurance companies the freedom to ignore our claims, and raise our already sky-high premiums — that is if we can even afford to carry insurance in the first place.

By giving our government the freedom to deregulate corporations they are free to once again kill generations of people and animals from toxins that the scientists warned were lethal.

Their march for freedom has led to cuts in disaster relief that aids and comforts them when their towns are blown to pieces by catastrophic storms and fires that are far more severe than they used to be because of a rapidly changing climate. Republicans will look you straight in the eye and swear that isn’t happening, even if those predatory insurance companies are using the very science they distrust to defend devouring their savings.

That isn’t freedom. It is willful ignorance.

Look, I could go on here, but 1,000-plus words on this subject is enough for now, and you should be free to go.

Republicans’ bastardized notion of the word freedom, is slowly strangling all of us, and that is by design, people. The truth is Americans have never been less free in my lifetime, and it is getting worse by the minute as fascism runs through the GOP’s hardening hearts and into our democracy’s veins.

All of which has led me rather unintentionally to all-time liberal Kris Kristofferson’s immortal, obfuscatory lyrics that were belted out by the incomparable Janis Joplin in the hit single, Me and Bobby McGee:

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose … Nothin', don't mean nothin', honey, if it ain't free …”

Fifty-five years later I finally get it …

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here, and follow him on Bluesky here.