It seems like the Republican answer to the flaws in our two-party system is to try to turn it into a one-party system.

I used to think the years of obstruction during the Obama administration was just extreme party politics. I figured they didn’t like Obama’s agenda, and they wanted to stop Obama from getting any “wins” to prevent his reelection (Mitch McConnel said as much).

I no longer think it’s that simple.

Republicans are in power now, and the issues they have refused to deal with for the previous eight years need to be addressed. Yet, they do not seem to have any agenda besides tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, attacking immigrants, and further solidifying their control.

Healthcare? They had seven years to come up with a workable conservative alternative, but they had nothing prepared. The economy and the continued loss of blue collar jobs? No solutions besides tax cuts to the rich – which history has proven to be ineffective. Syria? No plan. North Korea? No plan. Russia? Their only action is obstructing the investigation into legitimate concerns about Russia’s actions. Education? Real improvements are needed but their only concern is finally getting vouchers approved – which charter schools demonstrate will likely damage education overall unless implemented cautiously.

At the same time, they seem obsessed with removing anything Obama did, even if they don’t have an equal-or-better solution. While our country is being torn apart over police violence against minorities, they are removing the Justice Department programs Obama created to help with the situation. While extreme-right and white supremacist violence is on the increase, they remove these groups from hate group watch lists. And of course, in healthcare, they only seem to care about eliminating Obamacare, not providing a viable alternative.

This isn’t how Washington used to work. As broken as our politics have been, both sides used to compromise and fight through solutions together, and both sides would get on board for necessary legislation even if it was not perfectly aligned with their ideals.

Watching all this, the excessive gerrymandering, the increasing attempts at voter suppression, the “liberals are not people” rhetoric, the attacks on fundamentals of democracy (such as the courts and the free press), and the stocking of the cabinet with billionaires who are completely unqualified for their office; I’ve come to realize:

Republicans do not want to govern, they just want to be in control. This is not about winning in a democracy, it is about effectively ending democracy.

They want to have absolute power to cram through laws that help the rich or appeal to their supporters, but they have no interest in solving our country’s problems or making us more competitive. They are exactly like the Russian oligarch’s. They are only there for control and to exploit the country financially.

It is no wonder Republicans have suddenly and suspiciously become pro-Russia. They want to be like Russia. They want uncompromised power. They want to attack the press if it speaks out against them. They want to profiteer for themselves and their associates. And in the process, they want to make Putin even richer and more powerful by working with their fellow oligarchs in Russia to profit from Russia’s oil reserves.