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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 11/29/12

Fiscal Blackmail

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Message Kathy Malloy
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Cross-posted from Mike Malloy

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How can Republicans/Libertarians/Tea Partiers on the one hand denounce any kind of tax increase (on the wealthy in particular) which will pay for public services they use so freely themselves? Is there a person among them who would turn down federal disaster relief if their home was wiped out by a hurricane or earthquake? If they needed an organ transplant, would they choose to empty their savings accounts and sell their homes rather than let Medicare pay for it? Do they return their Social Security checks each month?  

Recent polls  indicate the overwhelming majority of Americans would rather see the tax cuts on the rich expire and protect the social safety nets of Medicare and Social Security. How is it that our elected leaders hear only the minority voices and ignore the rest of us?  Do the super-rich have that much power over our political processes? 

Grover Norquist must have a stash of naked photos somewhere to enforce his juvenile blackmail over Republican Congress members. Adding to the pressure on any brave Republicans who might dare step outside Grover's cage is Brent Bozell, the conservative head of the Media Research Center. Bozell has plumped up his beard and threatened to steer his considerable list of GOP donors away from any Republican candidate who dares consider a compromise fiscal bill that ends or reduces tax cuts on the wealthy.

This is from The Hill:

"Bozell sent a letter to Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Wednesday pledging to make it his mission to counsel conservative donors to shun the party if its leaders in Congress agree to raise taxes.

"'Reince, it pains me to say this, but if the Republican Party breaks its word to the American people and goes along with President Obama with tax increases, it will have betrayed conservatives for the final time,' Bozell wrote. 

"'I will make it my mission to ensure that every conservative donor to the Republican Party that I have worked with for the last three decades -- and there are many and they have given tens of millions to Republican causes -- gives not one penny more to the Republican Party or any member of Congress that votes for tax increases,' he warned.

"In his letter to Priebus, Bozell warned of dire political consequences if GOP leaders fail to stand their ground against Democrats. 'If the GOP again abandons its pledge of fiscal responsibility, including the promise not to raise taxes on ANYONE, again conservatives will walk,' he wrote. 'Pure and simple, in the ongoing debate over the so-called  'fiscal cliff,' the Republican Party is giving new definition to the word 'surrender.' The GOP is signaling a desire to abandon its solemn commitment to advance fiscal restraint,' he added."

Americans deserve politicians who can't be bought, bribed, and blackmailed by special interest groups run by the likes of Grover and Brent.  They should all be ashamed of themselves for taking an oath to serve the people, when in reality the only serve their corporate masters. We can hope the voters remember this in the midterms.

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Kathy never expected a career in radio as a talk show producer. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Kathy was completing her nursing degree when in 2001 - in an emergency - she was asked to fill in as the producer of Mike's program. Within a few (more...)
 
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