Why Say Yes to the Party of No?
How does the Big Business-indentured Republican Party get away with
expectations of a runaway election victory this November? If such a
victory should occur in Congress and for many governorships and state
legislatures, it will be due to a ten percent or so shift in voters who
voted Democratic in 2008 and are expected to vote Republican this year
or stay home in despair or disgust. The rest of the voters who do vote
will still stay with their hereditary Republican or Democratic
candidates.
So what is accounting for a possible ten percent shift? Let's briefly
review some of the Congressional Republicans' voiced positions:
1. They want to do nothing about unfair Chinese trade practices that
lure jobs away from our country though huge factory subsidies, and where
workers are repressed and counterfeit products abound. Imagine,
Republicans coddling a communist regime, luring the auto parts,
electronic, solar and drug ingredients industries away from America,
often in violation of the World Trade Organization rules. And, in turn,
China is exporting to the U.S. impure food, faulty tires, toxic drywall,
lead-tainted toys and medicines which are contaminated, defective or
harmful. Don't forget the dumping violations.
2. Republicans, led by Senator Richard Shelby and his banking friends,
declared their adamant opposition to Professor Elizabeth Warren becoming
head of the new consumer financial regulation agency. (To avoid a
confrontation with them, President Obama made her a special assistant to
organize this consumer watchdog.) Ms. Warren has a solid record of
exposing and communicating clearly to families the tricks and traps of
credit card companies, mortgage firms, and intermediaries that have
taken so many billions of consumer dollars with impunity.
3. The Republicans led by their House leader, John Boehner (Rep. Ohio), a
total toady of the gouging student loan companies, opposed the
Democrats successful reform of this taxpayer boondoggle that guaranteed
obscene profits and had the taxpayers absorb any student defaults.
Boehner's lobbying should upset millions of parents who had to foot the
bill for so many years.
4. The Republicans are opposed to raising the federal minimum wage to
what it was, adjusted for inflation, in 1968!! They opposed an adequate
budget for health and safety enforcement by OSHA to diminish the 58,000
American workers who die every year from workplace toxics and trauma.
They are now blocking protections for coal miners pending in the Senate
after the Massey mine disaster.
5. Republicans oppose doing anything about "too big to fail" even after
Wall Street's reckless, avaricious collapse of the economy, costing 8
million jobs and trillions of lost pension and mutual fund dollars.
Moreover, they do not support genuine enforcement of the anti-trust laws
which are supposed to break up monopolization efforts, monopolies or
oligopolies like Monsanto (seeds) or the big five banks--bailed out by
taxpayers and secure in their domination of well over 50 percent of all
bank assets, deposits and the credit card business. This is by far the
highest concentration of financial power in modern U.S. history. With
few exceptions, the GOP want very few federal cops on the corporate
crime beat.
6. Fighting for the last billionaire and multimillionaire, Republicans
are blocking ending Bush's tax cuts on incomes beyond $250,000 per year.
Yes, Republicans want to reduce the deficit yet they want to end
revenues of over 700 billion dollar over ten years of restored
super-rich taxes. They are blocking renewal of the estate taxes after
their expiration on Dec. 31, 2009 left no taxes this year on the estates
of the super-rich. (Over 99 percent of estates were already exempt from
the federal estate tax.)
7. No matter that Republicans caved to the health insurance companies
getting over 30 million new covered customers, starting in 2014, they
supported the industry's blaming the federal government, no less, for
this month's latest sharp hike in insurance premiums by Aetna and others
largely on the policies of individuals and small business. The
Republicans did this after blocking the "public option" that would have
given consumers both a choice and the benefit of some competition to the
big insurance firms.
8. Have the Congressional Republicans ever challenged the bloated,
wasteful, contractor-corrupt military budget that makes up half of the
entire government's discretionary budget?
Even the Congress's own auditing agency--the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) declares the Pentagon budget unauditable. Many Pentagon
audits document the abuses of Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater and other
firms in the deficit-driving, bloody Iraq and Afghanistan wars (both
Republican espoused.) The Pentagon's burgeoning budget, now nearing $800
billion a year, is deemed untouchable. (A few Republicans, like Charles
Grassley and John McCain sometimes object to contracting abuses.)
9. President Obama wants a counter-recessionary public works program
renovating airports, bridges, highways, rail and mass transit, drinking
water and sewage treatment facilities and other infrastructures.
Republicans sneer at this local job creation for much needed facilities.
10. Unlike any Republican Party since its creation in 1854, it has
misused the filibuster threat, and any one of its Senators misuse the
rules and block even going to a floor discussion or a nomination vote.
The Party is earning its moniker as the Party of NO. Republicans have
turned the U.S. Senate into America's graveyard.
There is much more, but enough has been cited to ask again--how are
Republicans seen by the polls as front runners in the upcoming election?
The answer my friends, is not in the stars. The answer is in the
clueless and spineless Democrats, busily dialing for the same corporate
campaign dollars.
The other answer is in the ten percent of the actual voters who need to
seriously avail themselves of the facts and a modicum of thought. For if
they don't, they will continue to pay bills handed to them and their
children by their ruling corporatists in Republican clothing.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
How does the Big Business-indentured Republican Party get away with
expectations of a runaway election victory this November? If such a
victory should occur in Congress and for many governorships and state
legislatures, it will be due to a ten percent or so shift in voters who
voted Democratic in 2008 and are expected to vote Republican this year
or stay home in despair or disgust. The rest of the voters who do vote
will still stay with their hereditary Republican or Democratic
candidates.
So what is accounting for a possible ten percent shift? Let's briefly
review some of the Congressional Republicans' voiced positions:
1. They want to do nothing about unfair Chinese trade practices that
lure jobs away from our country though huge factory subsidies, and where
workers are repressed and counterfeit products abound. Imagine,
Republicans coddling a communist regime, luring the auto parts,
electronic, solar and drug ingredients industries away from America,
often in violation of the World Trade Organization rules. And, in turn,
China is exporting to the U.S. impure food, faulty tires, toxic drywall,
lead-tainted toys and medicines which are contaminated, defective or
harmful. Don't forget the dumping violations.
2. Republicans, led by Senator Richard Shelby and his banking friends,
declared their adamant opposition to Professor Elizabeth Warren becoming
head of the new consumer financial regulation agency. (To avoid a
confrontation with them, President Obama made her a special assistant to
organize this consumer watchdog.) Ms. Warren has a solid record of
exposing and communicating clearly to families the tricks and traps of
credit card companies, mortgage firms, and intermediaries that have
taken so many billions of consumer dollars with impunity.
3. The Republicans led by their House leader, John Boehner (Rep. Ohio), a
total toady of the gouging student loan companies, opposed the
Democrats successful reform of this taxpayer boondoggle that guaranteed
obscene profits and had the taxpayers absorb any student defaults.
Boehner's lobbying should upset millions of parents who had to foot the
bill for so many years.
4. The Republicans are opposed to raising the federal minimum wage to
what it was, adjusted for inflation, in 1968!! They opposed an adequate
budget for health and safety enforcement by OSHA to diminish the 58,000
American workers who die every year from workplace toxics and trauma.
They are now blocking protections for coal miners pending in the Senate
after the Massey mine disaster.
5. Republicans oppose doing anything about "too big to fail" even after
Wall Street's reckless, avaricious collapse of the economy, costing 8
million jobs and trillions of lost pension and mutual fund dollars.
Moreover, they do not support genuine enforcement of the anti-trust laws
which are supposed to break up monopolization efforts, monopolies or
oligopolies like Monsanto (seeds) or the big five banks--bailed out by
taxpayers and secure in their domination of well over 50 percent of all
bank assets, deposits and the credit card business. This is by far the
highest concentration of financial power in modern U.S. history. With
few exceptions, the GOP want very few federal cops on the corporate
crime beat.
6. Fighting for the last billionaire and multimillionaire, Republicans
are blocking ending Bush's tax cuts on incomes beyond $250,000 per year.
Yes, Republicans want to reduce the deficit yet they want to end
revenues of over 700 billion dollar over ten years of restored
super-rich taxes. They are blocking renewal of the estate taxes after
their expiration on Dec. 31, 2009 left no taxes this year on the estates
of the super-rich. (Over 99 percent of estates were already exempt from
the federal estate tax.)
7. No matter that Republicans caved to the health insurance companies
getting over 30 million new covered customers, starting in 2014, they
supported the industry's blaming the federal government, no less, for
this month's latest sharp hike in insurance premiums by Aetna and others
largely on the policies of individuals and small business. The
Republicans did this after blocking the "public option" that would have
given consumers both a choice and the benefit of some competition to the
big insurance firms.
8. Have the Congressional Republicans ever challenged the bloated,
wasteful, contractor-corrupt military budget that makes up half of the
entire government's discretionary budget?
Even the Congress's own auditing agency--the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) declares the Pentagon budget unauditable. Many Pentagon
audits document the abuses of Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater and other
firms in the deficit-driving, bloody Iraq and Afghanistan wars (both
Republican espoused.) The Pentagon's burgeoning budget, now nearing $800
billion a year, is deemed untouchable. (A few Republicans, like Charles
Grassley and John McCain sometimes object to contracting abuses.)
9. President Obama wants a counter-recessionary public works program
renovating airports, bridges, highways, rail and mass transit, drinking
water and sewage treatment facilities and other infrastructures.
Republicans sneer at this local job creation for much needed facilities.
10. Unlike any Republican Party since its creation in 1854, it has
misused the filibuster threat, and any one of its Senators misuse the
rules and block even going to a floor discussion or a nomination vote.
The Party is earning its moniker as the Party of NO. Republicans have
turned the U.S. Senate into America's graveyard.
There is much more, but enough has been cited to ask again--how are
Republicans seen by the polls as front runners in the upcoming election?
The answer my friends, is not in the stars. The answer is in the
clueless and spineless Democrats, busily dialing for the same corporate
campaign dollars.
The other answer is in the ten percent of the actual voters who need to
seriously avail themselves of the facts and a modicum of thought. For if
they don't, they will continue to pay bills handed to them and their
children by their ruling corporatists in Republican clothing.
How does the Big Business-indentured Republican Party get away with
expectations of a runaway election victory this November? If such a
victory should occur in Congress and for many governorships and state
legislatures, it will be due to a ten percent or so shift in voters who
voted Democratic in 2008 and are expected to vote Republican this year
or stay home in despair or disgust. The rest of the voters who do vote
will still stay with their hereditary Republican or Democratic
candidates.
So what is accounting for a possible ten percent shift? Let's briefly
review some of the Congressional Republicans' voiced positions:
1. They want to do nothing about unfair Chinese trade practices that
lure jobs away from our country though huge factory subsidies, and where
workers are repressed and counterfeit products abound. Imagine,
Republicans coddling a communist regime, luring the auto parts,
electronic, solar and drug ingredients industries away from America,
often in violation of the World Trade Organization rules. And, in turn,
China is exporting to the U.S. impure food, faulty tires, toxic drywall,
lead-tainted toys and medicines which are contaminated, defective or
harmful. Don't forget the dumping violations.
2. Republicans, led by Senator Richard Shelby and his banking friends,
declared their adamant opposition to Professor Elizabeth Warren becoming
head of the new consumer financial regulation agency. (To avoid a
confrontation with them, President Obama made her a special assistant to
organize this consumer watchdog.) Ms. Warren has a solid record of
exposing and communicating clearly to families the tricks and traps of
credit card companies, mortgage firms, and intermediaries that have
taken so many billions of consumer dollars with impunity.
3. The Republicans led by their House leader, John Boehner (Rep. Ohio), a
total toady of the gouging student loan companies, opposed the
Democrats successful reform of this taxpayer boondoggle that guaranteed
obscene profits and had the taxpayers absorb any student defaults.
Boehner's lobbying should upset millions of parents who had to foot the
bill for so many years.
4. The Republicans are opposed to raising the federal minimum wage to
what it was, adjusted for inflation, in 1968!! They opposed an adequate
budget for health and safety enforcement by OSHA to diminish the 58,000
American workers who die every year from workplace toxics and trauma.
They are now blocking protections for coal miners pending in the Senate
after the Massey mine disaster.
5. Republicans oppose doing anything about "too big to fail" even after
Wall Street's reckless, avaricious collapse of the economy, costing 8
million jobs and trillions of lost pension and mutual fund dollars.
Moreover, they do not support genuine enforcement of the anti-trust laws
which are supposed to break up monopolization efforts, monopolies or
oligopolies like Monsanto (seeds) or the big five banks--bailed out by
taxpayers and secure in their domination of well over 50 percent of all
bank assets, deposits and the credit card business. This is by far the
highest concentration of financial power in modern U.S. history. With
few exceptions, the GOP want very few federal cops on the corporate
crime beat.
6. Fighting for the last billionaire and multimillionaire, Republicans
are blocking ending Bush's tax cuts on incomes beyond $250,000 per year.
Yes, Republicans want to reduce the deficit yet they want to end
revenues of over 700 billion dollar over ten years of restored
super-rich taxes. They are blocking renewal of the estate taxes after
their expiration on Dec. 31, 2009 left no taxes this year on the estates
of the super-rich. (Over 99 percent of estates were already exempt from
the federal estate tax.)
7. No matter that Republicans caved to the health insurance companies
getting over 30 million new covered customers, starting in 2014, they
supported the industry's blaming the federal government, no less, for
this month's latest sharp hike in insurance premiums by Aetna and others
largely on the policies of individuals and small business. The
Republicans did this after blocking the "public option" that would have
given consumers both a choice and the benefit of some competition to the
big insurance firms.
8. Have the Congressional Republicans ever challenged the bloated,
wasteful, contractor-corrupt military budget that makes up half of the
entire government's discretionary budget?
Even the Congress's own auditing agency--the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) declares the Pentagon budget unauditable. Many Pentagon
audits document the abuses of Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater and other
firms in the deficit-driving, bloody Iraq and Afghanistan wars (both
Republican espoused.) The Pentagon's burgeoning budget, now nearing $800
billion a year, is deemed untouchable. (A few Republicans, like Charles
Grassley and John McCain sometimes object to contracting abuses.)
9. President Obama wants a counter-recessionary public works program
renovating airports, bridges, highways, rail and mass transit, drinking
water and sewage treatment facilities and other infrastructures.
Republicans sneer at this local job creation for much needed facilities.
10. Unlike any Republican Party since its creation in 1854, it has
misused the filibuster threat, and any one of its Senators misuse the
rules and block even going to a floor discussion or a nomination vote.
The Party is earning its moniker as the Party of NO. Republicans have
turned the U.S. Senate into America's graveyard.
There is much more, but enough has been cited to ask again--how are
Republicans seen by the polls as front runners in the upcoming election?
The answer my friends, is not in the stars. The answer is in the
clueless and spineless Democrats, busily dialing for the same corporate
campaign dollars.
The other answer is in the ten percent of the actual voters who need to
seriously avail themselves of the facts and a modicum of thought. For if
they don't, they will continue to pay bills handed to them and their
children by their ruling corporatists in Republican clothing.