R.I.P: The Once, Grand Old Party
The
Republican Party used to be the anchor with which this Nation stayed in
the safety of our democratic harbor, protected from the waves of
Liberal radicalism and its associated socialist philosophies. Today's
Republican Party though, is seemingly entrenched only in the ideological
battlefields of Christian extremism and the politics of demeaning
rhetoric against the opposing side without attempting to change this
country to the benefit of us all. Unless the G.O.P. soon finds its
focus and embarks upon a real vision for American reclamation and
prosperity for all, Barrack Obama is sure to win another term as
President of these United States.
The Republican Party has had its beginnings engraved into the idea of Freedom and Liberty for the American People.
USHistory.org tells us;
"The
Republican Party name was christened in an editorial written by New
York newspaper magnate Horace Greeley. Greeley printed in June 1854: "We
should not care much whether those thus united (against slavery)
were designated 'Whig,' 'Free Democrat' or something else; though we
think some simple name like 'Republican' would more fitly designate
those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of
champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than a propagandist of
slavery."
Today and for the past 15 years however, this great history stands in direct conflict with their present day philosophies.
The
Party that once stood against the enslavement of our African cousins
and demonstrated that Liberty was meant to encompass the ideals of a
unified Nation and not just an entitlement enjoyed by the few now has
now taken a stance that is the polar opposite of its beginning
philosophy. At every turn, Republicans have rallied behind the policy
of lessening our great heritage of supporting American hard work only to
surrender it to their financial contributors and corporate based
interests.
To
a people struggling to make ends meet and feeling the crush of corrupt,
governmental taxation, the exportation of their jobs and an out of
control bureaucracy in Washington, the Tea Party quickly became a beacon
of light in a rapidly darkening tunnel. Originally formed to represent
a middle-of-the-road approach to a return of freedom from excessive
taxation and the resurgence of individual liberty, Party members are now
enacting policies to surrender our futures for profit. Now though,
they serve only as a reminder that we can no longer trust our
politicians and their promises of change. These two sides of the
Republican Party now serve only as tools to propel the destructive
agenda of a very confused political personae.
The original
Preamble of Tea Party Movement
clearly states that it is "an all-inclusive American grassroots
movement with the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves an
equal opportunity to thrive in these United States where they may
"pursue life, liberty and happiness' as stated in the
Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the
Constitution of the United States. "
This preamble clearly was surrendered as the Party became hijacked by
corporate interests and politicians who only wanted to serve
themselves.
Today's
Republicans have all taken to imposing upon the People who elected them
into office the distressing fate of corporate favoritism in exchange
for society's financial security. Many
of their initiatives are detrimental to the future of this Nation. It
is very understandable that the fiscal dilemma facing this Nation is
great but in eliminating care for your people to favor the few on Wall
Street is a crime against We the People, bordering on treason.
The Attack on Social Programs
These
people's "representatives" keep repeating the same mantra of American
values and fiscal responsibility but recent, Republican election victors
of the 2010 Gubernatorial races like Rick Scott of Florida, Scott
Walker of Wisconsin, Chris Christie of New Jersey, John
Kasich of Ohio, Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, Rick Snyder of Michigan
and Mitch Daniels of Indiana all share the same corporatist philosophies
in their approach to conservative "fiscal responsibility" and self
proclaimed roles as "deficit hawks".
The contradiction of this stance is best described by
Greg Sargent in the following:
The
term "deficit hawk," as it's commonly used in Washington, simply
doesn't mean "someone who fully committed to reducing the deficit by any
means necessary, tax hikes included." Rather, it means "someone who is
fully committed to reducing the deficit through tax cuts, entitlement
reform and frequent expressions of general hostility towards
government. It has been arbitrarily decided that tax hikes on the rich
carry an aura of big government liberal squishiness and hence can't be
associated with whatever people think they mean by the word "hawk."
Shifting the tax burden upwards is "soft," the stuff of bleeding hearts.
Shifting it down is "hard" and "tough."
As
an example of this approach, the aforementioned, Republican Governors
each have each undermined our education system by de-funding it under
the guise of eliminating the bureaucracy of the Department of Education
and the Unions. The only eliminations though, have been teacher's jobs
and those who weren't fired, had to take pay cuts and loss of benefits
while the schools they teach in have had their funds decreased or in the
case of many
schools in Detroit, eliminated all together.
In
addition, programs that were meant to protect We the People and our
children in times of economic distress are also falling into the hash
marks (or surveyors symbols) of the budget snipers. Under Governor Strickland's
proposed budget for example, funding for child protective services will be cut by $62 million when the case reports are at an all time high.
The Director of the Hancock County Department of Job and Family Services,
Judy Wauford,
says that she has lost a large portion of her staff and most of her
funding for protective services. Under these conditions, protective
service agencies are finding it difficult to keep up with the cases and
respond to complaints within 24 hours as mandated by the state.
Similarly,
Rick Scott in Florida, like Scott Walker in Wisconsin is cutting
funding to education and child protection services and has passed a
measure that allows insurance companies to limit sinkhole coverage,
raise rates and cover re-insurance costs. The measure,
SB 408,
also shortens the window for filing wind storm and hurricane claims.
This bill, which was backed by the insurance industry, aims at making it
harder for homeowners to collect on sinkhole and hurricane claims. In
the meantime, yachts have become exempt from taxation and corporations
reap the rewards of his
fiscal conservatism.
Politifact tells us the following regarding Scott's efforts to "help" Floridians:
"Two
of the three biggest tax cuts -- the reduction of the corporate income
tax and the changes to the unemployment compensation tax -- apply only
to corporations. So unless your household is like Rick Scott's and you
own a corporation, you'll see no direct savings under Scott's plans.
Supporters of the cuts argue that the benefits could trickle down to
average Floridians through additional jobs or cheaper prices for goods
and services. But there's no guarantee either will happen.
The
cuts to the corporate income tax and the unemployment compensation tax
make up $2.1 billion of Scott's overall $4.1 billion impact.
In comments to the Senate Budget Committee on Feb. 9, 2011, Scott budget
chief Jerry McDaniel said Scott's top tax priority was to remove taxes
that he says inhibit job creation. McDaniel said Scott particularly
wanted to reduce and eventually eliminate the state's corporate income
tax."
"Where
do these conservative ideas come from, which demand that Texas cut its
budget by about a quarter ($23 billion), to meet its shortfall, at the
expense of its children (and its future), while not raising taxes on
corporations, or millionaires and billionaires by one cent--and cutting
taxes on yachts? Even worse is the spectacle of Florida's Rick Scott,
who simultaneously lowered "business" taxes by billions, to be paid for
by corresponding billions of cuts in education and unemployment
compensation."
Where
do they come from, indeed. Where do the ideas that the top 2% should
be favored over the 98% who pay all the taxes, produce all the goods and
fight all the wars this country wages across the Globe come from? When
did we move back to pre-Civil War days of the enslavement of a people
for the profit of a few? And how long will it be before the people
revolt as in the days when
Marie-Therese said the peasants should eat cake for the lack of bread in the most cynical and dismissive of statements?
The False Renewal of American Values
These
"representatives" have en masse embarked upon a mission of depriving us
Americans of the liberties guaranteed under the Constitution while
waving our flag and holding up a Bible, claiming we must return to
family values only to gain our votes and then, embark upon a mission to
deny us the ability to provide for our families.
Sadly,
the actions these quasi, people's representatives took once in office
stands as a true testament to the destruction of today's Republican
ideals and their loss of political integrity. Everyday, we who pay
attention to the political circus suffer through the distorted views of a
Party committed solely to deception in order to enable a corporatist
agenda and support those who paid for their campaigns.
I
can only assume that these Republicans believe in their hearts and
minds that this value of corporatist enrichment stands for freedom and
equal opportunity. Why else would they so fiercely pursue them? They do
really believe in Trickle Down theory even when it has been proven to
be an utter failure. Reagan, Bush I and Bush II all vehemently tried to
make this theory work but none were able to do so. T.D.E. is nothing
more than an acronym for Total Destruction of our Economy as
demonstrated by the Bush Era and the increasingly real likelihood of
several more years of the American people suffering for it and even
longer if they regain the White House.
In
an effort to hold on to whatever integrity they do still possess,
Republicans and their TEA Party constituents have, en masse, boarded the
Christian centered family values bandwagon traveling on the road of
hypocrisy. A return to family values is the mantra of this party that
continues to distort and ignore the reality of our present society.
They condemn abortion as an immoral action, condemn homosexuality as an
immoral crime and constantly tell us all that America is in its present
position because of these social negatives. Anything to avoid looking
into the mirror.
The
same policies the Republican Party now is trying so hard to convince
the American people will bring us out of our current demise were
directly responsible for it. Under George W. Bush, corporations were
deregulated to encourage their trickle down economics. Tax breaks were
given to the rich, a war was begun that cost this nation vast amounts
of debt and illegal immigration increased three fold as opposed to our
current administration and the one which preceded it. Republicans
continue to make pledges to America to bring jobs in order to win
elections but to date have done absolutely nothing to bring those
promises to fruition.
Instead
of them standing up for We the People, Republican politicians in
Washington and in the States mentioned previously, have been working
tirelessly to label social support as unnecessary entitlements in order
to eliminate them in exchange for corporate enrichment. In this effort,
Unions are targeted to be destroyed so as to provide an underpaid,
non-represented work force for corporations in the spirit of an
efficient workforce model in order to encourage investment in America.
So as part of our future, we must all learn to accept the same low wage
working conditions workers in China, Indonesia and North Korea all
enjoy.
These
entities persist in claiming that Obama caused our current economic
woes while hiding behind shallow political rhetoric. A real leader does
not lay blame on others. A real leader takes the reigns and propels
actions to better the situation. The past three years have only shown
that Republicans are not leaders. They continually pass judgment on the
Democrats, blaming them for ruining our country and have taken no
responsibility for their own role in this financial debacle. That is not
leadership; that is cowardice.
The
vision the G.O.P. has for our future is one We the People should not
have to experience again. The time has come for someone to represent
our country and our individual liberties instead of enriching the few
and empowering the corporate state. The
Republican vision of tomorrow, the same vision that G.W. Bush had and
the philosophy which has brought upon this great nation the economic
disaster we are suffering for today is a sure course toward another
recession and perhaps, another depression if left unchecked.
The Solution?
What
is the most confusing in all of these quasi-efforts to fix the problems
of jobs in the country is how the Republicans think dismantling all
social programs, including education in order to give tax breaks to
corporations, is how we can bring prosperity to America again. Their
only focus has been to reduce social spending and the continued
delusions of T.D.E. Though spending control is important, there should
also be a great deal of effort to increase our Gross Nation Product.
Reactive policy in lieu of a long term plan for stabilizing our Nation
is desperately needed.
Corporatist
entitlement is what put this Nation in trouble to begin with. The
enactment of NAFTA and CAFTA with the associated decrease in tariffs and
taxes on corporations operating abroad, have enabled the exportation of
our jobs. The Republicans believe the answer is to eliminate Unions or
force workers to make less money with less benefits but that does
nothing but create a Nation of paupers.
The
only way to fix our economic problem is to negate the damaging effects
of free-trade agreements which have allowed corporations to import their
products tariff-free. We must enact a high tax on any imported goods
from other countries and close the loopholes of corporations holding
executive offices in America for tax breaks while producing their goods
in other nations. We have to make it economically infeasible for
companies to operate outside of the United States else they will
continue to operate in the same damaging fashion they have been for the
past 15 years, robbing us of our livelihoods. Only in this way will American industry rebound so our jobs can come home again.
Likewise, the Republican push to lessen
government is the right thing to do but by instituting it without job
swapping, it will only serve to increase unemployment and lessen
consumer confidence. When this occurs, the market slows and we double
dip this recession. If the G.O.P. wants to truly benefit their masters
on Wall Street, they would come up with a viable solution to supplant
the public sector jobs with privatized ones. The Federal Government is
the Nation's
single largest employer.
We cannot afford to have this type of short term thinking and political
hacking eliminating millions of jobs in hope that the short term paper
gains will elude the reality of the associative economic backlash.
If We the People truly want change, we
must show up in large numbers to take advantage of our Democratic right.
In the last election, only 33% of the population showed up and out of
that number, 75% were Republican. Is this the way you want to go out?
Lost for lack of effort? One would be served to remember that voting is
not only a right, it is a responsibility. Make your voice heard and be
a part of this great Nation instead of a bystander.
Today's
Republican Party will have us all crawling to survive the present
economic disaster after they've robbed us of the futures so many have
fought and died for in this great Nation. This
is not a Party who cares for America anymore. They have come to
embody the words of Sinclair Lewis; "When Fascism comes to America, it
will be wrapped in a flag carrying a cross". They
have lied to us and deceived us through media manipulation and false
values only to enrich themselves and their corporate contributors. To
this particular side of the two party coin deserves to have the
following words spoken in tribute to how far they have come since the
days of old; May you Rest in Peace, you once, Grand Old Party.
This is part one of a two part piece. Next time I will concentrate on the so called, Democratic Party