Orrin Hatch is third in the line of succession to be POTUS. I have examined both Mike Pence and Paul Ryan in previous articles. But what has Hatch done? What is he about? Well, in 1995, Orrin Hatch was the leading figure behind the Senate’s anti-terrorism bill. The bill was in response to the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma city. The bill itself, however, was harshly criticized by The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, on the grounds that it violated civil liberties. More specifically, it imposed new limits on habeas corpus in capital cases.
How a Republican does government
It turns out, this is typical behavior for a paranoid Republican. We often hear those of the GOP boldly decry government interference. Yet, these days, Republicans use the government to interfere with folk’s public and private lives and human and equal rights. Is it any wonder that the acronym, “GOP”, is becoming synonymous with the term hypocrite? Can all of that cognitive dissonance exist in one place without boiling over with hypocrisy? I could be too harsh and quick to judge. Let’s have a closer look at Orrin Hatch.
In predictable Republican fashion, Hatch opposed Obama’s health care legislation. He opposed both the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009, and the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, reasoning that the Affordable Care Act was “unconstitutional”.
I suppose it looks somewhat hopeful, at least, that he has been known to be critical of Donald Trump.
On LGBTQ, human rights, and religious freedom
So up to this point, Orrin Hatch seems a typical old guard Republican; uptight, hyper-vigilant, hypocritical and anal retentive. But when we get to the subject of LGBTQ when examining his many public positions, we find that good old boy redneck lurking.
There might even be some racist and sexist in there too, we’ll have to look. But as for his position on LGBTQ’s, we need look no further than the Salt Lake City Tribune. According to them, Orrin Hatch told Utah college students “I wouldn’t want to see homosexuals teaching school anymore than I’d want to see members of the American Nazi Party teaching school.” Yes, folks, you read it correctly.
Orrin hatch views homosexuals on par with the American Nazi Party!
On the other hand, and this is sort of puzzling, Orrin, though he views same sex marriage as, “undermining the very basis of marital law.”, he refused to lend support for the Federal Marriage Amendment which would make marriage legally between one man and one woman, and instead, endorsed same-sex couples’ right to a civil union, stating that the law should “give gay couples the same rights as married people”. This is really all gay people want, isn’t it? Equal rights? To have the same rights as everyone else?
When adding these political positions, such as his apparent support of equal, and Human Rights, to his strong defenses of religious freedom, and his vocal support of stem cell research, it could be enough to garner my vote.
He may not be a liberal or even a moderate Democrat, but I believe that Orrin Hatch would make a better President than the two that precede him in succession, and an exorbitantly better one than the current sitting President.He is to me, one of the few remaining old guard Republicans. Not great, but tremendously better equipped than the new standard in petty, juvenile GOP stepchildren.
