Republicans at War with America

A Party of Refuseniks and Obstructionists
By DON MONKERUD

Under the Republican Party's new blueprint for America, BP will no longer be required to clean up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the F.D.A. will not restrict the new diabetes drug Avandia just because it's unsafe, and donors will be required to keep their contributions to political campaigns secret.

These positions, based on recent votes in Congress, foretell how the Republicans will govern if they win in the upcoming November elections.

Republicans would prevent the unemployed from receiving Medicaid; prevent treatment, screening or compensation for Americans who assisted during the 9/11 attacks on the WTC; eliminate extensions of unemployment insurance; allow the oil industry to write their own rules for oil exploration and clean up; open all off shore areas to oil wells; and stop funding state governments to stimulate the economy.

Senate and House Republicans recently voted to prevent bills from reaching the floor, or took positions, that would: bar homosexuals from the nation's military; allow the ash from burning 136 million tons of coal to be dumped into the nation's waterways; ignore greenhouse gases and the build up of CO2 in the atmosphere, fire tens of thousands of government employee; and drastically cut welfare, food stamps, health care for children and other government programs to aid the poor.

Long-term goals of the GOP include eliminating unemployment insurance, minimum wage laws, Social Security and Medicare, most government regulations, consumer protection laws, and federal aid to education, along with many other government programs they consider detrimental to corporate-business control of the country. Republicans that are even more radical want to make Christianity the state religion, declare war on Islam, assign the death sentence for performing an abortion, and bomb and invade Iran.

Small government, lower taxes and no regulation, mantras of the Republican Party since the Reagan era, are enshrined in new promises to "take America back". The party's so-called road map-Pledge to America-attempts to win new votes for the party and put them in control of Congress, even after their policies led to the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

At every turn, Republicans hamstring the Democrats to create a totally dysfunctional governmental process. For example, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office lists over 300 bills passed by House Democrats that cannot make it to the Senate floor due to Republican opposition. Democrats overcame major Republican opposition to pass bills, often with the aid of only one or two Republicans who switched positions to vote with the Democrats.

While there are no estimates of how many of the 300 bills are progressive, a number of them involve significant changes in the areas of most concern to voters: economic recovery and job creation, consumer protection, assistance to homeowners, affordable health care, clean energy jobs, fiscal responsibility, and national security.

In the Senate, the Democrats again convinced one or two Republicans to join in passing major bills signed into law by President Obama. These laws include: a $30 billion lending program and $12 billion in tax cuts for small businesses; stimulus funds to save 3.5 million American jobs; a new manufacturing enhancement act; extension of unemployment benefits; estate tax relief that protects inheritance for 99.8 percent of citizens; Wall Street reforms; a credit cardholder bill of rights; health care extension for 11 million children; and the creation of 1.7 million jobs in clean energy. Republican opposition was almost unanimous.

"It's hard to compromise with people who are against government solutions," said Congressman Sam Farr of California, a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Republicans pushed for the election of ultra-conservative ideologues who don't want to cooperate because they don't think the government should be doing education, fire protection or jails; they want to contract out government jobs to the private sector."

The principle of democratic government-majority rule-is being turned on its head. Minority rule is especially troublesome in the Senate, where the GOP holds up bills passed by the House and threatens to filibuster every Democratic proposal. They also refuse to confirm over 240 Obama appointees, in an effort to paralyze government.

Historians haven't seen such minority obstructionism since 1917. In the 1960s, 8 percent of major Senate bills were subject to filibusters: Today Republicans filibuster 70 percent of major Senate business. Senators with few constituents are behind many of the filibusters, which point to systemic problems. For example, a California senator represents 18 million voters, while one from Wyoming represents 260,000 voters.

The country is in a deep depression, trying to recover from four large items that President Bush put on our national credit card-tax cuts for couples making over $250,000 a year, two wars, and a prescription drug program-in addition to the collapse of the housing bubble. Republicans hope their negative stance will drive voters away from the polls and allow conservative ideologues to put them in office.

Whether Americans fall for the Republican refusenik stance that's full of contradictions, negativity and faulty logic remains to be seen. The new Republican roadmap to prosperity doesn't add up. Republicans are not only at war with logic, but they are also at war with America.

Obama needs a wakeup call

As his opponents gain in strength, the president misses an opportunity in Michigan to attack GOP obstructionism
BY ANDREW LEONARD | THURSDAY, JUL 15, 2010 | Salon.com

If President Obama's speech in Holland, Mich., on jobs and the economy Thursday morning was an example of how he's going to rally the troops in the run-up to the midterm elections this November, then Democrats are in for a very tough slog.

Republicans are doing everything within their power to constrain the White House from spurring job growth or ameliorating the impact of high unemployment. The situation is tailor-made for an aggressive response, especially in a state like Michigan that has been absolutely pummeled by the recession. But Obama kept his gloves on. Except for one tepid reference to "those who would rather obstruct than lend a hand," the president barely referenced his opponents. The applause that greeted his remarks was lukewarm, and no wonder -- Obama didn't even try to get the audience riled up.

The president came to Holland to commemorate the groundbreaking of a new lithium-ion battery plant to be operated by LG Chem, a Korean chemical company. Obama had every reason to take credit for the 400 or so jobs that will be provided by the new plant, which is expected to be producing batteries for the Chevy Volt and Ford Focus by 2012. Without grants made available from the clean energy package in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, LG Chem might never have come to Holland. The groundbreaking neatly synthesized core parts of Obama's platform: clean energy and domestic jobs.

All that is fine. After all, without the Obama administration's aggressive rescue of General Motors, there might not even be a Chevy Volt ready to roll off the factory floor to make batteries for. Obama has delivered for Michigan, and he was correct to point out the vast difference in the state of the overall U.S. economy today compared to when he took office.

But we know this president knows how to inspire and to attack: We saw it in the fall of 2008. We didn't hear it this morning. I didn't hear him talk about how Republicans have blocked the extension of unemployment benefits, or refuse to allow new taxes on hedge fund managers. He didn't whisper a word about how ridiculous Republican anti-regulation rhetoric sounds in the wake of the biggest financial crisis since the 1930s.

Perhaps most disappointing, he didn't lay out any plan for future action. "We're not out of the woods yet" he said. But he didn't breathe a word about how we're going to get there, now that the Senate has made it clear that any further fiscal stimulus is a non-starter. Pointing out the benefits of the stimulus act that have already accrued for a town in Michigan certainly isn't out of bounds, but Democratic voters, right now, need a little bit more to get excited about than some hoary old legislation passed within a month of Obama's first taking office. What's the agenda now? How are Democrats going to take the fight to Republicans? If you were listening to Obama speak in Holland, Mich., Thursday morning, you didn't get any answers to those questions. That's got to change.