The Republican Party is a Pro-Death Party

Joni Ernst Simply Told The Truth

I promise I won’t spend my whole column talking about Joni Ernst’s gaffe…by now, if you can read, you know what she said and how offensive and elitist it was. What I am more interested in at this point is understanding how Joni’s comments reveal the true depth of degradation and twisted distortion of the character of the Republican Party. MAGA Republicans have been having a masquerade party for decades…and now Joni Ernst has revealed the truth.

The Republican Party Masquerade “Pro-Life” & “Born-Again”

For decades, the Republicans have masqueraded as the “pro-life” party. They have used abortion like a cudgel to beat their opponents over the head and ride the emotional vibes of “murdering babies” all the way to elected office. They are so righteous and puffed up with moral superiority, but beneath the self-righteousness is a message of death and degradation.

Anyone with even an ounce of critical thinking ability understood the game they were playing. It wasn’t about abortion and it wasn’t about morality…it was about winning elections. Notwithstanding the true pro-life believers out there, the Republican elite understood what the game was about and willingly played along. Sacrificing the lives of pregnant women who needed an abortion was incidental collateral damage to the goal…winning power.

We are all going to die anyway…right? So why not die during a pregnancy, even when an abortion could save the mother’s life? At least we win more House seats.

So, what Joni Ernst did for us was to reveal the truth. “We are all going to die anyway” isn’t just a biological truism, but is a justification for enacting death-inducing policies to hasten the process for many, like ending effective pregnancy healthcare or Medicaid for millions.

The Republicans are not a pro-life party, not in the slightest. The Republicans are a pro-death party, willing to sacrifice lives on the altar of political power so they can enact crass, selfish, and self-promoting tax policies for their oligarchic masters and themselves.

Joni said out loud what many of us already know. The Republicans and MAGA are only interested in pro-life policies if they enhance their lives…not the lives of the masses and the working class, the middle class, or marginalized communities.

“They are going to die anyway.” Republicans are “pro-life for me, but not for thee.”

The truth is out, and now we know! Thank you, Joni Ernst. You have shown the true face of the Republican pro-death party.

The second part of the masquerade has been the evangelical-born-again trope that MAGA-Republican politicians use to try to justify their hateful and death-inducing policies. In Joni’s non-apology apology, she concluded her cemetery death stroll with the line, "We're all going to die on this earth, but if you're interested in eternal life, I urge you to accept my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

And there it is…the “trump” card. (Pun intended) Again, thank you, Joni, for telling us the truth.

The Republican masquerade party includes the born-again costume charade, which means we will take your healthcare, food assistance, and other essentials away while telling you how pious and religious we are while doing it. “Just come to Jesus!”

(thought-bubble, sarcasm alert)

After all, you are going to die anyway, but you might as well become a born-again MAGA Christian before you do, so that you don’t end up like a heathen Democrat and go to hell for eternity where you suffer the torments of fire from the hands of loving God.

Of course, you will die prematurely, but…you are going to die anyway, but look at how pious we are by offering you eternal life. You should be grateful for your miserable existence and be glad that you will die at age 45 instead of 80.

That is the Christian Nationalist-Republican death cult…it is real, and it is deadly.

Beyond my rhetoric, however, let's talk about policy. Is there any evidence that Republican policies are more harmful or deadly to humans? I’m glad you asked that question, because there is plenty of evidence that Republican policies harm people and even lower their life expectancies.

Read on.

Republican Policies Lead to More Deaths

Which policies? Let’s review a few of them and then cite some peer-reviewed studies that show the results and impact of these policies.

Gun Safety:

Researchers have observed strong associations between certain domains and specific causes of death, such as between gun safety and suicide mortality among men. The Iowa Dispatch reported on February 13, 2024, that:

All of the evidence suggests that adopting gun control policies makes people safer. Iowa should consider implementing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), more expansive and enforceable storage laws, and an assault weapons ban. These foundational policies have repeatedly proven effective at preventing mass shootings and gun suicides.

Over the past two decades, states with the strongest gun safety laws have seen a decreasing rate in gun suicide, while states with the weakest laws, including Iowa, saw a 39% increase. In addition to ignoring their effectiveness, the Republican Legislature is also quick to dismiss gun control measures as unpopular. This is far from the truth.

Despite the research, Governor Reynolds has expanded concealed carry with no permits and lowered the age for acquiring high-powered weapons to age 18. Governor Reynolds has bought into Republican pro-death policies.

In the aftermath of the school shooting in Perry, Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds responded to a question about whether Iowa gun laws should be reconsidered. She discounted the role of gun laws in contributing to gun violence and appealed to the moral argument, which is no argument at all.

“No additional gun laws would have prevented what happened,” Reynolds said. “There’s just evil out there.”

The standard Republican pro-death response: “There is just evil out there,” and there is nothing that can be done about it, so we don’t need to do anything, except expand the right to buy more guns. It is a response that is as disingenuous and incorrect as it is disrespectful to victims of gun violence.

These decisions are costing lives right here in my home state of Iowa. The Dispatch also reported that “the rate of gun deaths [in Iowa] increased 59% from 2012 to 2021, compared to a 39% increase nationwide. The annual cost of gun violence in Iowa amounts to $1,334 per resident in police investigations and criminal justice proceedings.”

Iowa Republicans promote death, not life.

Need more evidence? Those states that voted for Donald Trump (red states) have far higher mortality rates from gun deaths than do states that voted for Democrats. Out of the top 10 states with the deadliest gun rates, all are Trump states except one, New Mexico. These states have some of the most lenient gun laws in the country. (see chart below)

But according to Republican logic, we are all going to die anyway, so let’s just increase your odds of dying with a gun.

Medicaid

Having adequate healthcare is a primary factor in longevity, healthy living, and the right to “pursue happiness.” Republicans are opposed to expanding healthcare to all Americans, which leads to untimely death for millions.

But…we are going to die anyway, aren’t we?

The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion to adults with low incomes, which covers more than 20 million people, and Medicaid covers nearly 72 million people. It is a prime target of the current GOP budget bull, I mean bill. (sorry)

Forty states plus Washington, D.C., have adopted the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, helping adults with low incomes become healthier and more financially secure. Health coverage through expansion improves people’s access to preventive and primary care, provides care for chronic illnesses, prevents premature deaths, and protects people from catastrophic out-of-pocket medical costs.

Providing healthcare to more people is the true pro-life policy.

These are benefits most Americans take for granted if they have a job that provides healthcare benefits, but the irony of the GOP Death Budget is that adding work requirements to eligibility rules means millions risk losing their coverage. Most recipients already work (jobs that don’t provide healthcare), while the others are children, the elderly, or disabled.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes:

Having health coverage also makes it easier for adults to work or to look for a job. Considering that Medicaid supports work and that 9 out of 10 Medicaid adults are already working, caring for family, attending school, or are ill or disabled, work requirements are unnecessary and burdensome. Proposals to use work requirements as a way to take away Medicaid coverage from certain adults are just another way to undermine the Medicaid expansion.

So, what will be the impact of Republican policies on the lives of people? A recent JAMA study revealed that tens of thousands of people could die due to losing their healthcare. Studies indicate that;

Medicaid expansion has been linked to a decrease in mortality, with each additional person gaining insurance potentially saving a life. For example, one analysis suggests that proposed changes to Medicaid and Medicare could lead to over 25,000 additional deaths. Specifically, work requirements could lead to an estimated 8,000 deaths among people under 65.

Once again, the Republican orthodoxy is that they are going to die anyway, so let’s cut their benefits and hasten the inevitable. Can you hear the echo of Ebenezer Scrooge? If they would rather die, they "had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

SNAP

Republicans hate the SNAP program. During recent budget deliberations in the House, slashes to this life-sustaining program went from $230 billion to $300 billion over the next ten years.

SNAP helps 41 million Americans afford food; it costs the federal government around $115 billion in 2023. The program helps put food on the tables of some of the most vulnerable people in the country: data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that the majority of SNAP recipients—80 percent—live in a household with a child, a senior citizen, or someone with a disability.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that these work requirement changes and shifting the cost to the states could take food assistance away from a staggering 1 in 4 SNAP recipients (25%). That represents nearly 11 million people who are at risk of losing the meager benefits they receive. The difference may cost them their lives.

In my home state, that would amount to around 29,000 people having food taken off their table. And who are these folks? They are older adults, parents, grandparents, and their children; veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and former foster youth who, under the bill, would lose their current exemptions starting in 2030; and people living in areas without sufficient jobs, namely rural areas. Iowa will be hit hard.

While it's impossible to quantify the exact number of deaths, it's clear that losing SNAP would have a profound and potentially devastating impact on public health, particularly among vulnerable populations.

But they are going to die anyway, right Joni?

Beyond these three examples, is there any evidence that over the long term, Republican policies lead to more deaths or worse outcomes? The answer is yes. I will review several of them.

Peer-Reviewed Studies

These studies analyze the context of state-level policies. Since national policy shifts between Democrats and Republicans regularly, little empirical evidence can be gathered nationally. Many states have been governed consistently over time by one party or the other. Policy analysis allows for some interesting findings between those states that enact mostly Republican death policies and those states that implement more life-saving liberal policies. These comparisons can be conducted even at the county level.

The BMJ, Warraich Study, June 2022

Haider J. Warraich, a physician and researcher at the VA Boston Healthcare System and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, showed that over the two decades prior to the pandemic, there was a growing gap in mortality rates for residents of Republican and Democratic counties across the U.S.

The study’s longitudinal approach and county-by-county analysis replicate and extend a clear pattern, says Jennifer Karas Montez, a sociologist and demographer at Syracuse University, who was not involved in the research. “It joins an already existing, pretty robust literature showing that politics [and] polarization do have life-and-death consequences,” Montez says.

PLOS ONE study, October 2022

This peer-reviewed study showed that while working-age mortality rates have been rising for decades across the United States, premature deaths are more pronounced in states where "conservative" policies predominate and less common in states that have adopted more "liberal" policies.

Using annual data from the National Vital Statistics System, the authors calculated state-level age-adjusted mortality rates during the same period for deaths from all causes and from cardiovascular disease (CVD), alcohol-induced causes, suicide, and drug poisoning among adults aged 25 to 64.

When they merged the data on working-age mortality with data on state policy contexts, the authors found that liberal policies were associated with fewer early deaths among 25- to 64-year-olds between 1999 and 2019.

The researchers estimate “changing all policy domains in all states to a fully liberal orientation might have saved 171,030 lives in 2019, while changing them to a fully conservative orientation might have cost 217,635 lives."

US State Policies, Politics, and Life Expectancy, 2020

This study has shown a widening gap between red and blue states in terms of life expectancy. Life expectancy in the United States has generally been trending downward for the last two decades. It isn’t a happy story.

Life expectancy was rising in all the high-income countries in the late 20th century, including the United States. However, by 2006, the United States ranked last, and eight years later, in 2014, life expectancy in this country began falling. The pattern, however, varies considerably across states.

The key findings of this study are worth repeating. The researchers concluded:

Results show that changes in life expectancy during 1970-2014 were associated with changes in state policies on a conservative-liberal continuum, where more liberal policies expand economic regulations and protect marginalized groups. States that implemented more conservative policies were more likely to experience a reduction in life expectancy.

We estimated that the shallow upward trend in US life expectancy from 2010 to 2014 would have been 25% steeper for women and 13% steeper for men had state policies not changed as they did. We also estimated that US life expectancy would be 2.8 years longer among women and 2.1 years longer among men if all states enjoyed the health advantages of states with more liberal policies.

Ah, but we are all going to die anyway…sooner, better than later.

Other Studies

Much research has been done to study the state-level policy impact on the well-being of human beings. In a paper published in 2023, Patrick Sharkey and Megan Kang analyzed state-level changes in gun regulations and gun mortality from 1991 to 2016. They found “strong, consistent evidence supporting the hypothesis that restrictive state gun policies reduce overall gun deaths,” including both homicides and suicides committed with guns.

In a rare longitudinal study, Andrew Goodman-Bacon used state-by-state variations in the original introduction of Medicaid coverage for children between 1966 and 1970 to estimate health and economic effects in adulthood. He found that early childhood eligibility for Medicaid reduced death and disability and increased employment up to 50 years later. It saved the government more than its original cost because the recipients later received less in public benefits and paid more in taxes.

The evidence shows that Republican policies are detrimental to life and belies the trope that they are the “pro-life party.” They are not; they are a pro-death party.

Paul Starr, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, made this observation about the lack of self-awareness in Republican lawmakers:

What also unites conservatives is a complete absence of any self-reflection about the impact of their policies on life and death in America. The balance of power in the states has been literally a life-and-death matter. Liberals and progressives should know that the policies they have struggled to enact have not been in vain.

For Joni Ernst, who has said the silent part out loud, and for her fellow Republican death-cult colleagues, yes, we are all going to die, but we’d rather do so without your help.

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