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peterinpa · 7 years

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Republicans Get to Govern. We should all be worried.

In 2008, Barack Obama swept into office, bringing with him impressive majorities in both houses of Congress. Obituaries were written about the Republican Party and the changing demographics that would make it difficult for them to compete on the national level. Mitch McConnell laid out privately the game plan they readily adopted: oppose everything in unanimity to try and limit Obama to one term. Conservatives were wringing their hands in worry about the liberal agenda that would ruin the country. McConnell this weekend used the Classic winner revenge by reminding us that elections have consequences by declaring that Democrats were just being sore losers and that conservatives would now force their policies upon us. Fair enough. We're not in a favorable position to stop much. But 2016 is dramatically different than 2008 in a myriad of ways, a few of which I'll speak to in this posting. First, the Democrats were partly successful by running conservative candidates in gerrymandered Republican districts to achieve the ultimate goals: power, and the perks and money that follow it. And in an attempt to retain that power, they acquiesced to their conservative colleagues and watered down what became the PPACA, or Obamacare, essentially adopting a plan the Republicans had touted for decades and that Mitt Romney had implemented in Massachusetts. A complete reliance on the private sector for-profit insurance industry, with penalties for non insurance so low that only those in higher risk health categories would purchase insurance. And even though they had advocated this very plan since the 1970's, the GOP held firm with McConnell's advice: just say no. And the signature piece of legislation intended to jump start the economy, the so-called stimulus bill, was also watered down by the conservative wing out of fear mongering by republicans over the impact on the national debt. So what should have been the massive infrastructure rebuilding program we so desperately need, and that Trump now promises, we were left with a patchwork of tax credits and ill conceived projects that replaced a boardwalk in Rehoboth that would have been replaced anyway, and gave someone like me a tax credit on a central air system. All because Republican hypocrites wailed about the deficit, and conservative Democratic congressmen clung to the false pipe dream of staying in power. Let's ignore for the moment that for all his faults, and there were many, we actually had surplus budgets under Bill Clinton that would have continued into the future, according to the non partisan Congressional Budget Office had George W Bush, who also lost the popular vote, acted in the best interest of the country and not embraced that classic Republican philosophy of tax cuts for the already well off. You know, that trickle down theory. So 8 years ago, we had a Democratic Party in power, who thanks to Bill Clinton, had become confused about what they stood for: be a centrist party and look like Republican lite and cling to power, and perks and cash, or stand up for what had made this country great: a true liberal agenda that provides a safety net for the young and old and infirm, a fair tax system that supports defense, maintains a public works infrastructure, and provides for a quality public education. Oh. And ensure that the rights of minorities are not trampled upon by the latest change in public opinion whipped up by nationalistic demagogues selling the good old days. Now to my point. Donald Trump ran AGAINST the Republican establishment and mocked Republicans as the ones who would be stupid enough to give him the nomination. He was pro abortion when convenient, anti abortion when convenient. Said on many occasions that Bill was a great president, and that Hillary would be a better one. Contributed regularly to the opponents of the men who he has now nominated to cabinet positions. And ridiculed and denounced Republican leaders every chance he got. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell held their noses when it became clear he would be the nominee and gave lip service to supporting him. I truly believe that they never thought a guy who delighted in grabbing pussy, mocked the disabled, ridiculed prisoners of war, attacked Gold Star parents, lied about previous statements, never held public office, cheated contractors, misused charitable funds, declared bankruptcy when convenient, and apparently exploited tax law that his own lobbyists ensured remained in the tax code to avoid paying millions of dollars in federal taxes for 20 years. None of us did, really. Did we? So what happens now? Let's not forget that Republicans vehemently opposed the New Deal; that they viewed the Great Society as an overreach of government; that they voted against Medicare as a government takeover. Why? At their core, the party believes in personal responsibility and believes that family and church should provide the safety net that has been cobbled together over the years. They essentially disdain any government program and ignore the racial prejudice that still exists in our country since slavery was an economic institution. They have successfully starved the government of it's ability to deliver basic services by opposing every fair tax, modest tax increase or appropriate corporate tax, and then pointed to failing education and crumbling infrastructure and dwindling anti poverty programs as examples of how government shouldn't do these things. That the private sector can do it better. The one growth industry in government today? New and expanded prisons. Why? They convinced themselves that private industry could own and operate them! Wonder who owns stocks in those companies? My humble opinion is that Mr. Trump sees himself as chairman of the board. He doesn't need the money, at least from what he tells us. But he is a narcissist, and the attention of the world hanging on his every word is going to convince him he is our god. And the true purists in the Republican Party are going to be able to dismantle our safety net and convince us we will be able to do better on our own. Look at them, after all. All self made successful men who have suckled on the spigot of government contracts and influence. Don't worry, they will say. We can do better if Medicare is just a voucher. But a better plan! Don't worry, they will say! You can invest your social security in the stock market and make a killing. And the cash left over after you die will go to your kids! They will tell us public education has failed, so we need charters so we can send our kids to any school we want. But those teachers aren't unionized, and there is no evidence -zero- that suggests charters can do better. Smaller class sizes have proven to be the answer, but that costs more money. And they will tell us that deficits don't matter as they rack up huge spending on military programs the military has said they don't need or want, but that defense companies need to increase profits. And then tell us that the fraud in food stamp programs is so wide spread that they have to cut those to reduce our deficits. And yes, they will appoint Supreme Court justices who they say won't legislate from the bench. What they really mean is that they want justices who will endorse their view of the constitution. And yes, Mr. Trump will sign off on all this. Because he is the most elite of the elite corporate ruling class that really has been the shadow government from the start. And his tax cuts will ensure that he and his friends, and successive generations of them, will remain in the top 1% of the top 1%. Because his ego will be fed beyond even his imagination, and that's what drives him. Power and ego. And the Republicans will achieve their long standing goal of a smaller government under the moralistic position that we should turn to our religious institutions to care for the needy, and our families to provide for the infirm. Can we prevent this? Perhaps. And I'll explore the ways we may be able to in future posts which will be fairly frequent going forward. But we have fallen for the very demagogue that our founding fathers feared, for what we are about to learn was very good reasons. But make no mistake. The Democratic takeover 8 years ago was achieved by the selling of the soul of the Democratic Party for power, perks and cash. The Republican Party has purged itself of all moderate voices, and the liberal wing of the party, from which I came, has been destroyed. The Republican Party today is a purest philosophy party that doesn't need to worry about the loss of power at the local level. Sweetheart deals with Democrats, worked out at the precinct level, has gerrymandered the country into districts that are essentially safe for virtually all incumbents. They hail Ronald Reagan as their hero. They conveniently ignore the fact that Reagan raised taxes not once, but when needed, both as governor and as President. And he compromised often. Because he knew that it was the way to good government. Next up: why compromise is a dirty word, and what it will take to " give him a chance". And why term limits may be the only way to save our democracy.

#republican hypocrisy #us politics #notmypresident #citizenship #good government #compromise #demagogue #progressive

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