For those who’ve been following what has been going on in DC, it should come as no surprise that there is a tremendous focus on Congress of late. Our Congressional leaders, with 192 Democrats and 242 Republicans holding tightly to the purse-strings of this country, have never been so criticized for their actions, or lack thereof. And one has to wonder what will happen in the coming elections.
For those who haven’t been paying attention, here’s a brief history leading up to our current situation. In 2007, our Congress, that had been under Republican control, turned predominantly Democratic. Considering that the president of the United States was Republican (and many blamed the fact that we had a Republican controlled Congress and White House for the ease at which the much hated war in Iraq had been approved) it seemed like the obvious choice to counter the Republican White House was with a Democratic House and Senate. The moderate opinion is that separating the power amongst the two parties helps to temper a lack of constraint that always occurs when the legislative and executive branches can conduct business with unfettered partisanship. But then, another mistake was made.
A Democratic President took control of the White House and the Congress and Senate remained under the control of the Democrats as well. Some considered this a benefit, and I have to admit, I thought it could help to overturn the lack of regulations on Wall Street as well as curtail the practices that had caused our country to spiral into economic disaster. But the new legislature was less than effective.
They seemed disorganized, lacking direction and, at times, even ambiguous. They seemed to be their own worst enemy. They argued amongst themselves and didn’t support measures that would further the best interests of this country. It appeared to the outside world that we had replaced the Republican stuffed shirts with vat of Democratic shrimp, struggling for positioning, willing to cannibalize their own. It wasn’t pretty.
What this country needed more than a legislator of a specific partisan position was a legislator with commonsense. That was when the Tea Party walked in. People were tired, all of us were tired, of the greed and corruption that was allowing our elected officials to act as if they were above the law. We all wanted something more, someone whose allegiance was to the people, not to their wallets. So it wasn’t a surprise when, in the following elections, the country took a turn in the opposite direction. The 112th Congress was taken over by, not only the Republican Party but Tea Party Republicans. And, once again, it was seen as a good thing. However, we have discovered how wrong we were.
The new Congress has brought a group of legislators whose allegiance was purportedly to the people of this country. They were organized and focused, not lacking direction in any way, so why the lamentations? The problem is more in the direction in which they were and are focusing.
The very first declaration that came out of this new Congress was the intent to make Barack Obama a “one term president.” And all I could say was… Really? Your main goal isn’t to get this country back on its feet again? You aren’t intent on passing bills that would put Americans to work and to stimulate our economy? I was angry and I know I was not alone.
Last evening I watched the interview on 60 minutes of Republican House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor. He went on the program to try and shore up the foundering support of their party by explaining the purpose and direction of the House Republicans and to show himself in a better light. I’m not sure that he accomplished what he had hoped for.
In the interview he repeatedly said that the Republican leadership is trying to do what they think is the best for this country. The problem was that he wasn’t convincing. Leslie Stahl was the host who interviewed him and she was effective in calling him on the many inconsistencies that I have noted as well over the past year. He wasn’t able to effectively explain their reasoning for the expectation that those in this country who are struggling should tighten the belt and struggle even more, even suffer in some cases, while those who would be least affected are given tax breaks in order to “create jobs” they hadn’t considered creating over the past several years and after any of the previous tax breaks. And at one point during the interview, Cantor’s Press Secretary shouted out in the background that Leslie Stahl was lying when she reminded Rep. Cantor that Ronald Reagan raised taxes during his term as president as a compromise. Something CBS was easily capable of verifying with a video clip of Reagan’s television address stating his intent to do just that.
There are many people in this country who are desperately searching for work. So far the data has shown that cutting taxes has not stimulated the creation of any jobs and there is no indication that it will change in any way in the not too distant future no matter how low taxes may go for the ultra wealthy. So why are the Republicans beating this Trojan horse to death?
The fact has escaped them that in the past, when taxes have been raised on the wealthiest 1% of America but lowered for the middle to lower classes, our economy improved and jobs increased due to increased spending. It has been completely erased from the memory of Mr. Cantor as well as those who are defending allowing tax cuts to end for the lower and middle classes while renewing tax cuts for the wealthy. It is also a fact that when consumer spending is up that even the billionaires make more money above and beyond what they are paying in increased taxes. There is overwhelming data that is being ignored and the losers in this struggle for partisan superiority will be every person in this country, including the very wealthy. And the desire to push such a destructive agenda just may create another volatile turn in the party that predominantly represents us in Washington come next January.
Although I would be hard pressed to mourn the loss of certain legislators who have been more obstructionist than constructive, I also have an overwhelming hope that we are more thoughtful in who we are electing. To rid ourselves of one scourge, only to replace them with another that we are ill-equipped to immunize ourselves against would not only be foolish but potentially devastating to this nation as a whole. I admonish everyone to use constraint and commonsense when electing our next President, Congressional and Senate leaders. The radical rhetoric that has become the popular discourse of the moment is merely a Trojan horse being whipped for our benefit and is nothing more than a distraction from what this country truly needs-- sound leadership.
No comments:
Post a Comment