Somewhere along the way, the Republican presidential candidates must have really scared Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation magazine, because she believes that the GOP is anti-civilization.
“How has this Republican Party become untethered from any possible solutions to the problems this country has?” vanden Huevel asked during an appearance today on Morning Joe. The GOP “wants to repeal all the civilizing advances, from the New Deal to the Enlightenment.”
The Enlightenment was a multi-century cultural and philosophical movement that coincided with the Scientific Revolution. Some of the most renowned Enlightenment thinkers proved very influential to the American founding and the U.S. Constitution.
To describe the Republicans, she added, “they’re destroyers, not builders.” She added that Republicans “have not governed, they have tried to undercut, undermine, [and] destroy President Obama’s agenda.” She said that the congressional Republicans were “beyond obstructionism, it’s kind of nihilism.”
Chris Matthews, who was also a guest on the show, suggested that the Republicans opposing Obama follow the example of Winston Churchill when he was ousted in a post-World War II election. “Churchill”s whole strategy after ’45 was to get back in the premiership; it wasn’t to kill [incumbent Prime Minister] Clement Atlee,” he said, laughing.
