Andy Marquis is our guest blogger of the day. He used to consider himself a Republican but not any more.  He changed his voter registration to Independent in 2011 and says that’s how it will remain.

Here’s his latest guest post:

The World They Live In

A young girl was raped by the star players of a high school football team someplace, somewhere. Nobody tried to stop it. A child, wondering whether he or she is attracted people of the same gender, has been bullied and harassed by others in his local middle school. Nobody tried to stop it and the child has killed himself. An honors student is not able to pursue her dream because she was brought here, illegally, by her parents when she was just a child herself. A mother and father are burying their child because a madman that had access to war weapons has gunned them down while they were sitting in their elementary school classroom. That’s the world we live in.

Republicans don’t live in that world. Their world is black and white, right and wrong. You’re either a friend or an enemy. There is no middle ground. They do not see the world in color. The girl who was raped isn’t responsible for her actions because she should’ve known that boys will be boys and she shouldn’t have taken that shot of vodka. The child who is bullied should be grateful to those who tear him down because it somehow makes him stronger. The honors student should be sent to Mexico to be gunned down by a drug kingpin because she should bear the burden of her parents’ decisions. Those children gunned down are merely collateral damage in a war in the streets of America. That’s the world Republicans live in.

When it comes to guns, they see an armed society, not as a fearful society or a society that will be embolden to confront others with violence, but as a polite society that will magically do the right thing. They see everyone who owns a gun legally and think they will be the one to stop the rape of a girl in an alley in Downtown Baltimore somewhere – not as someone who will sit back and do nothing. Those parents who bury their child shouldn’t mourn their loss and expect government to do anything to stop it from happening. They should think about the gun that was used to murder their child in cold blood and think about how it might save someone else’s life someplace somewhere. That’s the world they live in. And if you do not live in their world, you are the enemy of freedom.

The couple that has been together for 27 years and wants to get married shouldn’t be allowed to because it goes against someone else’s moral beliefs. If a criminal is in illegal possession of a firearm, we shouldn’t take that firearm away because the Second Amendment should be absolute. We shouldn’t limit the access to weapons of war to the public because it might eat in to the profits of an American industry. We shouldn’t do anything to promote cleaner, sustainable energy resources because BP cannot profit from it right now. That’s the world they live in.

If a man rapes a woman against her will, well, imagine what she could have done if she had access to a loaded firearm. Weapons of war should be available to the general public because they will have to shoot an army of seven intruders in their home one day or because they will need to take up arms against Barack Obama. That’s the world they live in.

Republicans live in a world where Americans do the right thing. They don’t see the rape culture that exists, or the gun culture. And they sure as hell don’t give a damn about the child who was brought here when she was a child. They believe that gay marriage will lead to the destruction of a society that is already beyond saving while ignoring the social destruction that comes from divorce and addictions to drugs, alcohol and pornography.

Our society is cruel and heartless. We don’t live in a society where others will split up the fight or stop the bullying. We live in a society where a girl being beaten up in the suburban streets of America is met, not with those who intervene, but instead those who pull out their smartphones to record the video for entertainment. The poor boy that is starving is greeted with those who tell him he should fend for himself and display their practice of their religious beliefs by eating at Chick-fil-A instead of donating to a food bank somewhere.

There are good people in America. I do believe in the compassion of those. But it’s become a minority since the start of the Bush Recession. Our society has become fearful, selfish and paranoid ever since Wall Street manufactured a recession.

No longer do “compassionate Conservatives” act out of compassion for others. Instead, they act out of greed and selfishness and push for laws that benefit them by saying other people will be generous. No longer do we invest in our infrastructure or our schools because it’s more important to Republicans that we cut taxes for Donald Trump instead. They see the world in simplistic black-and-white when the world is truly complicated and colorful.

I can only envision what would’ve come if this mentality had controlled the national conversation when I was a child. When two maniacs armed with war weapons were gunning down women and children at gas stations and high school parking lots in Washington, DC, what would they say? Would they have told me that we needed more guns in the streets? Would they have gone on television and stood up for John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo’s “Second Amendment” rights?

We need to quit blaming rape victims for the trauma that’s been forced on them by another human being. We need to feed our poor. We need to tell those who boost their egos by preying on the vulnerable that it is not okay. We need to tell our children that guns do kill people and that life is not a videogame. We need to give the college student who was brought here when she was just a child herself a break and a chance to pursue happiness. We need to protect our children (and yes, this includes putting armed police officers in schools – among other things). We need to care for the weak, the vulnerable and the poor – not blame them for the problems in our society.

Conservatives don’t believe in that America though. They think the woman who was raped in a dark alley should be forced to have her rapist’s child – only for her and her child to be cast out in to the cold. Education should be something that only those born in to privilege should achieve. The poor child who is starving should be left to die. That’s the world they live in.

The world we really live in really does prey on the vulnerable. The banks caused the recession, not poor minorities. Barack Obama was born in America. Sandy Hook really did happen. Bullying does cut people down, not make them stronger. Rape does happen and it does cause pregnancy. Guns don’t kill people but they sure make it a lot easier for people to kill people. That’s the world we live in.

Republicans don’t care that they are disconnected. They don’t give a damn. Their “principles” are more important to them. And their principles are simple: The government should leave me alone and do so by treading on the minorities and on the gays and the college students and anyone else who, realistically, don’t subscribe to their beliefs. As for the Constitution – they don’t give a damn about that either. Listening to the NRA push for a mental health database, the same type of database they oppose when it comes to guns, and listening to them push against the background checks that would enforce that database shows that Republicans truly only care about the Second Amendment.

A world where we scapegoat minorities, Muslims, gays and poor people and stand up only for the rights of gun owners and billionaires – that’s the world they live in. And it’s the world they will push for as they continue to rig elections and disenfranchise voters.

As they do so, our infrastructure will continue to fail. Our poor will become poorer. Our dependency on unsustainable fossil fuels will increase while other nations prosper with sustainable energy solutions. The poor will continue to starve while the rich become richer. Those college students won’t contribute to our country and we will rely on the spoiled sons of privilege who care only about themselves. And all this is because a segment of America sees only black and white.

The survivalists and the greedy, people like the NRA and the big bankers – they’re the bad guys. And we cannot sit back and do nothing and let them win.

Andy Marquis: www.race22.com; Twitter: @amarquis32 ; Facebook.com/amarquis