Back to the Basics
Over the past decade, Republicans have shown that they do stick tight to one principle above all others: do anything and everything to grab more power. To win an election, get it any which way, from smears to pandering; disenfranchise voters from the other party, trick them into not voting, try to get them disqualified by any means. In blue states, demand justice by dividing the districts and electoral votes “objectively” and “fairly,” but by all means claim that this is not needed in red states.
If you lose an election, do everything you can to tie it up or reclaim it. In Minnesota, Coleman knows he’s lost, but is tying up the seat in court for as long as he can–if a Republican can’t have the seat, then simply remove his people’s right to have a Senator for as long as possible. Recalls, recounts, whatever works. If you win by even a single vote, claim victory and say that a recount is not needed and is somehow robbing the people; if you lose by a small margin, call for recounts and court battles till the cows come home.
By this principle, we now witness Republicans, roundly slapped back by angry voters stung by GOP mismanagement, desperate to get seats back. Recognizing that this is hard to do by honest means, Republicans are looking eagerly forward to an alternate means: gerrymandering. Already they see the 2010 census as favoring them, with blue states losing population and red states gaining–and when the time comes for redistricting after the census, the GOP wants to be in place for controlling how that works. With the recent Supreme Court ruling that even non-census gerrymandering is A-OK, they are ready to be as shameless as they can be is shaping those districts.
Other than Coleman, the most blatently pathetic has been how they’ve tried to white wash the past.
First, two weeks ago, they were saying that Roosevelt’s new deal actually prolonged the Great Depression and made it worse. I’m sure that’s why Roosevelt won 4 terms.
Now they are saying the New Deal actually began on Hoover’s watch.
They have no qualms to simply have it both ways. I find this striking.
But it’s good politics. Maybe a few people will buy their Roosevelt claim. And maybe a few more will buy the Hoover claim. Along the way they get to attempt to white wash Hoover’s reputation too, which is how they are being branded these days.
Now in truth the New Deal was not successful because it was too timid to begin with: In 1937 Roosevelt tried to balance the budget and the economy tanked, while Japan, Germany and England began Keynesian economics in 1932, 1933, and 1934 (respectively) and were out of the depression by 1933, 1934, and 1935 respectively – Japan kept at it and doubled its industrial production by the end of the decade and Germany had a labor shortage by 1936. So the lie isn’t that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, the lie is that Keynesian economics doesn’t work. It does, provided that the package isn’t too timid, as I strongly suspect the current package is. (And Obama let the Repugs get away with diluting the current package, increasing the odds that it wont work – as I’ve said before: I caught the hope, I’m waiting on the audacity). In regard to Hoover, their is some truth that he began some public works during his administration, but it was paultry to Roosevelt’s programs, which as I said, were themselves too paltry.
More disturbing is that Republicans are able to do this at all. Recent reports I’ve read show that Republicans are appearing on news and talks shows at a rate of two to one over Democrats. The Republicans have gained control of the media narrative. I suspect this is because Corporations own the media, and other corporations buy advertising time on the media. To the extent that the public doesn’t buy this suggest that the public doesn’t trust the media, which is understandable. Republicans created the mess and their only solution is to use the same policies that got us here in the first place. The pubic is finally starting to figure out who these people really are and who they really represent. And since it is pretty much the same as 1929, their movement is likely to become ever more so discredited. Perhaps that’s part of the belated move to whitewash Hoover and the great depression.
I am now convinced that Obama is playing for the 2010 elections. He’s giving the Republicans lots of rope to hang themselves. For them to run up huge depts for Bush’s campaign to ‘feed the rich by starving everyone and everything else’ and then to turn around and say that stimulus spending is too fiscally irresponsible is the hight of hypocrisy. Americans are slow on the up take, but they’ll be slow on the release too.
Beyond the current crisis, there are two main pieces of legislation that have long term consequences for fixing America: The Fair Labor bill and Health Reform. Those two pieces of legislation would turn America inside out. If Obama can achieve big majorities in congress, he can begin to reverse the ‘feed the rich, starve everything else” policies. The stimulus must be paid for and it must be paid for with the trillions that have been given to the ‘supply-side’ rich. Those trillions need to be moved back to the demand side.
Aside from all of the trash talk about this and that verses left, right, and the middle; let us compose ourselves and use common sense and look to maintaining our constitution and bill of rights as American citizens for this is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. It really does not matter what political party we hold allegiance to so long as we maintain our rights and standards as Americans in our pursuit of happiness. The problem that we have is non-apheliotropic in that we have taken our eyes off of that glorious mark that our for-fathers directed us towards. This is happening because we let emotions blind what is right for the American dream. We cannot afford to let special interest groups derail the hope and dream that lies in the genius of an inspired document that we base all of our lives in for ourselves and for coming generations. We cannot seek to use the constitution as an experiment for it has proven to be sound and it is Heavenly directed.
No man or woman should ever be allowed to stand at the head of this country with bias or vain ambitions to alter its course. They are to protect and maintain the standard that is within that document without seeking to alter it from its main purpose. The problem is not the constitution of the United States of America; it is within us to focus and keep the dream alive for all who seek to embrace our way of life. We are in trouble because we are allowing enemies to destroy our freedom and our lofty dreams by embracing immoral ideologies that are corrupt and destructive to this republic. Be warned that we cannot survive the on-slot as the dog wags his tail to hide the bite. There are principles that are eternal in nature. Ideologies are very important to pay attention to for there is truth and falsehoods that are blurred because we want change so bad we are willing to through the baby out with the water.