Fear of "Purism" Bringing America Closer to Ruin
People especially Obama supporters are good and ready to argue a number of things will happen if Republicans are elected. But, how many of these things that are feared are already manifesting themselves in politics, government, or society in America?
One could say the Tea Party will be bad for gay people, but Democrats and President Obama have done very little to shift the consensus on rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in America. Obama has contradicted himself by expressing his view that he is a "fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians and then asserting that he is opposed to same-sex marriage because marriage is between a man and a woman. Even worse, in a legal brief filed in June 2009, Obama's Justice Department "compared gay unions to incestuous ones and that of an underage girl in the sense that states have the right to not recognize marriages that are legal in other states or countries." This happened days before the Democratic National Committee was to hit up the LGBT community for cash in a fundraiser featuring Biden (perhaps, he told them to "stop whining" then, too).
President Obama's Department of Justice continues to obstruct a rescinding or repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." That's as conservative pundits like Bill O'Reilly and John Stossel genuinely or opportunistically express condemnation for the Obama Administration's continued legal defense of the anti-homosexual military policy.
One could say the Tea Party will ensure that future-eaters continue to reign over America and imperil a world's population because the Tea Party does not "believe" in the science of global warming. That supposes that Democrats would take steps that would begin to truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lawyers with the Environmental Protection Agency, Laurie Williams & Allan Zabel, wrote in the Washington Post on current legislation on the table:
"The House and Senate climate bills are not a first step in the right direction. They would give away valuable rights in cap-and-trade permits and create a trillion-dollar carbon-offsets market that will not lead to needed reductions. Together, the illusion of greenhouse-gas reductions and the creation of powerful lobbies seeking to protect newly created profits in permits and offsets would lock in climate degradation for a decade or more. The near-term opportunity to create an effective international framework would also be lost."
One could say the Tea Party will privatize Social Security. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has already opened the door for privatization by allowing Alan Simpson to lead a "Catfood Commission" or Deficit Commission to find ways to reduce America's deficits. Simpson has displayed sharp ignorance about Social Security by promoting the Republican idea that Social Security is going bankrupt and is a burden on government. How could anyone have faith in an Administration's effort to fight the privatization of Social Security when a man who said Social Security is "a milk cow with 310 million t-i-ts" is involved in putting together policy recommendation that will determine Social Security's political future?
One could say the Tea Party will put food stamps programs at risk, but Democrats have already cut food stamps. They made cuts to fund education and health care. They chose austerity and cut the social program instead of taking money from defense, which is about 57% of the federal budget and could be significantly reduced.
On jobs and the economy, the top issue in the midterm election, the Tea Party's gospel of free markets with a twist of Ayn Rand ideology would surely be bad for Americans. The GOP plan would raise the deficit $4 trillion. But, the Democrats are not a guaranteed panacea for fixing unemployment and making the economy work for all Americans instead of just the top 1%.
The Democrats are split on the Bush tax cuts, despite a Moody's Investors Service report that "U.S. companies are hoarding almost $1 trillion in cash" and "are unlikely to spend on expanding their business and hiring new employees due to continuing uncertainty about the strength of the economy." Lest you be optimistic about the split, the last time Democrats were this divided the people lost the public option or a Medicare buy-in. Conservative Democrats or Blue Dogs won the battle over what would be in health reform and would likely win the battle over tax cuts.
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