On the Contrary

Well you are getting a great insight into the plutocracy that many Americans want to see in the White House. A spokesperson for Romney explained that we had all the tax information “you people need.” Ann Romney’s comment in regard to the tax returns, that “we’ve given all you people need to know” has gotten a lot of press because of the “you people”. But the focus should also be on “need to know,” as in we will decide what you need to know. See they have it all figured out for us and in a democracy, we should not be meddling in what they think is best for us or getting out of bounds on what we need to know.

It is almost shocking that people are just figuring out that Michele Bachmann is a fruit loop. From the $2 billion Obama was going to spend on his trip to India which she got from a reliable blogger in India to her defamation of a public servant as an Islamist infiltrator, she and her FOX news bullhorn are the new McCarthyism. Then there was her claim that the Islamist Brotherhood got elected in Egypt because the U.S. wanted that, resulting in Hillary getting tomatoed in Egypt. A Congresswoman on the Intelligence Committee wouldn’t mislead us Egyptians on her blog would she? You have to wonder what the citizens of Minnesota who elected her were thinking. Or maybe that is our state today, nonthinking.

Global warming deniers must be having a hard time these days as the mid-west drys up (as predicted by global warming), we had the warmest winter on record, the weather extremes all fit the model and the trends just continue.  But of course it must be God punishing us for gay marriage. We are a nation of numbskulls.

And of course we need better and easier access to guns as another fruit loop kills at least 12 in a Denver theater. It shows that the nuts are in charge after Gabriel Gifford’s shooting and Congress could not even limit the size of ammunition clips, which would have reduced the carnage. Just what  “well regulated militia” (2nd Amendment) was either shooter a member of?  But no, we all need access to an AK-47 to defend us from the Black Helicopters from the UN coming to take away our rights. Oh wait! Maybe he felt threatened by the families there and wanted “to stand and defend”.  Oh we are such a nation of numbskulls.

One last shot over the bow: You can’t reduce the deficit and improve the economy.  It is all the rage today to say that, but as long as they do, they are perpetuating a lie to tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.  Businesses won’t invest so government must pick up the slack, i.e., increased deficit.  Anyone who took Econ 101 and understood it would know you can’t do both according to the textbooks.  If we tried to do both at the same time, well, that is called austerity. But wait! It has been and is being tried in Ireland, England, Greece, Spain, and Europe in general and guess what? Austerity does not bring business “confidence and increased spending”. What is wrong with America that we can’t comprehend this simple idea?  The numbskull nation led by fat old white men who will pander to anyone to keep what they have.

Taxes are a four letter word plus one these days.  We seem to have this hysterical reaction to them as though they are leprosy instead of how we put away money and invest in our future so we will have one.  Oh and they are the lowest as a percent of GDP since the 1950s so what’s the big deal? Ezra Klein, siting in for Rachel Maddow, pointed out the outright lies (no hot hyperbole, but lies) that were being put out by Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and other assorted conservative liars:

Republican Congressman Phillip Gingrey:  “This indeed is the largest tax in the history of our country.”
Rush Limbaugh:  “The largest tax increase in the history of the world!”
Michele Bachmann:  “The largest tax increase in the history of the world!” (She get’s her nonsense from Limbaugh)

But Reality is a bitch:

Joseph Thorndike: Director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, says even after adjusting for inflation…”The Clinton tax hike in ’93 was substantially bigger and the Reagan tax hike of 1982 was really much bigger.”

And as Ezra pointed out, that is taking into account all the tax increases throughout the bill including raising taxes on “high end” medical insurance and removing some tax loopholes. If you just look at the fine/tax that is the individual mandate, it is miniscule. But be afraid of taxes and they might actually pay for things we need. And that is where James Kwak of the Baseline Scenario points out that both parties have become tax averse (one way more than the other):

“The economic results are obvious: With both parties allergic to tax revenues, there is little alternative to rising deficits as the dependency ratio gets worse and health care costs increase. The political results are only slightly less obvious. A message of “tax cuts for most people” has little chance against “tax cuts for all,” even if it makes slightly more policy sense.”

The underlying problem is that forty years of conservative tax revolt, abetted by twenty years of Democratic me-tooism, have conditioned the public to expect tax cuts as their constitutional right. It will take forty years to reverse this trend and will require the kind of “think tanks,” foundations, and media outlets that conservatives have and liberals don’t. Which is to say it could take forever.”

So here we are with a nation refusing to face the reality of its responsibilities and the Republicans becoming the lunatic fringe at the very mention of the T word.  Is this a great country or what?

It certainly is no secret that the Republican Party is not particularly happy with their candidates.  It is also no wonder why.  Rachel Maddow ran a clip of Rick Perry last Friday in New Hampshire and the guy appeared, well, nutty.  Rachel thought this was probably the nail in his coffin.

Meanwhile Michele Bachmann has sunk into the sunset, with her latest on illegal immigrants.  She was asked about the innocent children of illegal immigrants who may have been brought here as infants and have no other home, and then are sent to Mexico when their parents are caught, or are caught in no mans land and cannot attend college or become productive citizens.  This is the very injustice the Dream Act is supposed to prevent if we could get these people who say they are Christian to actually vote that way.

Her response brought to mind Charles Dickens’ description of debtor’s prison where the whole family languished until the debt was paid off.  To wit:  Her parents broke the law and they all have to pay.  It is that old Republican Puritan ethic that no one escapes punishment for being a law breaker.  It is why we can’t resolve the mortgage crisis as well as our immigration problems.  Some might actually benefit from their irresponsible behavior.  This is really funny when you recognize the hypocrisy in this.  See any bankers or Bushies who tortured being prosecuted?  The rich and the privileged are exempt, but the little people must pay.  Kind of sums up their whole ideology.

Meanwhile Herb Cain gives us a magic tax plan that doesn’t add up, explains to us that flow down will save all of us, and is dancing around a sexual harassment complaint back in the 90’s.  Remember if you are out of work it is your fault so get out there and get a job.  Let’s not forget the electrified fence or his total lack of knowledge of history or foreign affairs.  But we shouldn’t hold that against him, he is in good company.

As for the rest of them, try to focus on the booing of the gay soldier and their wanting to return all gays to the closet.  Then of course we have the, if someone didn’t buy medical insurance, then they should just be left at the side of the road.  This ignores the fact that many simply can’t afford it, but then reality isn’t on their radar.  And of course the litmus test for all these candidates is that life begins at conception.  So that would make God the biggest murderer the world has seen if you count all the miscarriages.  Oh, and if you are unfortunate enough did you cause that miscarriage by some  inappropriate behavior.  Big brother is watching you.

I am leaving Mitt for last since weather vane Mitt is probably the best description of how anyone could appeal to this crowd, be a sociopath.  He will stand for anything that is the latest flavor regardless of any logical problems or hypocrisy based upon his earlier statements.  But he will most probably be their candidate and you really have to wonder how they could vote for a guy whose “values” depend on tomorrow’s polling.  And except for Mitt, who is in a “cult” religion, they are all Christians with a capital C.

There is a trend here if you can detect it.  In order to believe the stuff that the base wants them to spout, you have to have suspended your disbelief.  You have to ignore reality.  You have to be so insular that the real complex problems of real people can all be seen as some manifestation of some bad behavior.  You have to use faith based logic in order to understand the world as they do.  Hence their tight grip on their capital “C”.  “God will lead me and if I surround myself by fellow self-delusionists, I can really believe all this nonsense.”  But in the sunlight, they are all flakes.

So conservatives, if you are unhappy with your candidates you should only look in the mirror.  In order to believe the stuff you people hang on to so tenaciously, these candidates are exactly who you are.  They shouldn’t be allowed out at night, much less run for President.  Maybe in 20 years or so, looking back on this we will laugh at ourselves, but right now I think we are being laughed at by the rest of the world.

Last week in my blog earthquack, I wondered when these nitwits that we have for Republicans would blame the earthquake in Washington on a warning from God. Well enter Michele ‘fruitcake’ Bachmann:

“Apparently God not only cares about who wins the Super Bowl and the Oscars–now he also cares about how politicians behave. Speaking to a crowd in Florida over the weekend, GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann said Hurricane Irene and the rare earthquake near Washington, D.C., were God’s warning that He’s upset with politicians in the capital. “I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians,” Bachmann said. “We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ ”

And the stupid shall inherit the earth, what’s left of it.

Oh yeah. A spokesperson for Bachmann said she was just kidding. Just like a conservative friend of mine use to tell me Rush Limbaugh was entertainment. There are people out there that listen to and believe this dribble. Like I said, the stupid will inherit the earth if we continue to to tolerate this level of stupidity.

Bachmann Promises Fast Economic Turnaround With Tax Cuts – Lead from NYT story dated 27 August. Between 2005 and 2010, the country plummeted from No. 1 to No. 15 in the world in terms of the economic competitiveness of our infrastructure. That was during the Bush “miracle” when he cut taxes to the lowest rates in 60 years, created no jobs, and bankrupt our treasury. So please explain to me again Michele, just how this is going to work? Considering how many people listen to this woman and the rest of them, it gives moron a whole new meaning.  Now I know how people make money selling all you can eat diets for losing weight.  There are a ton of people out there that will believe anything.

What do the lynch mob who wants to hunt down Casey Anthony and some of our Republican candidates for President have in common?  They don’t believe in democracy or the institutions of democracy.  In the case of Casey Anthony, she had a fair trial and the jury found her not guilty.  That doesn’t mean she didn’t do it.  They did not find her innocent.  They just said that given the facts, there was reasonable doubt.  In our justice system, if there is reasonable doubt, a person’s life is just too precious to roll the dice.  But the fans of court TV have voted and they want her strung up.  So I guess in a similar system where they were in the defendant’s seat they wold also object to the outcome?  It is lynch mob mentality egged on by a hyper exploitative media.  But what about our system of justice?  Do we just ignore it if we don’t like the outcome?  Then would there be a system of justice?

But in a similar vein is the more interesting phenomenon of trying to thwart democratic processes and outcomes of several of the Republican presidential want-to-be’s.  Take Michele Backmann (please take her).  She made the famous statement about being armed and dangerous against President Obama.  In other words, the people spoke, our system worked, there was no failure of any of the three branches of government, yet she rejects his legitimacy.  Take Rick Perry, probably the soon to enter the presidential ring, and governor of Texas, who threatened secession.  Now mind you, many of us thought that was a lovely idea and could he please take South Carolina and some of the other Tea Party states with him, but once again it is an example of rejecting legitimate democratic outcomes.

What we had was the nation turning away from their brand of conservatism back in 2008 (seems like a century ago as Obama lost his way), and the losers wanted to take their marbles and go home.  They didn’t get their way so they want out.  There is that pesky little fly in the ointment with this kind of thinking and that is we are in an implied contract that we bow to the will of the majority within the bounds of our Constitution.  Wonder what Abe Lincoln would say about all this?

But it goes beyond the gross hypocrisy of Republican Presidential candidates.  The Senate has this procedure (not found anywhere in the Constitution except to say they can make their own procedural rules) that allows the minority to trample on the majority (filibuster).  Now the original concept was that you could slow down an avalanche of an emotional overreach until cooler heads prevailed.  But today it is the primary tool of the Republicans to thwart the wishes of the majority.

Probably the most under reported example of the Republicans hate for democracy is their all out assault on voting rights.  Under the guise of voter fraud (which there hasn’t been any) they are trying to make it very hard for poor and disenfranchised to vote, making voter registration much more difficult, and requiring onerous identification requirements designed to disenfranchise poor and elderly, those most likely to vote Democratic.  If you think this is paranoia, read how the Republicans manipulated the voting lists in Florida back in the 2000 election if you want to see real voter fraud.

The real demonstration of their hate for democracy (if it isn’t their democracy) is the stunts they are pulling in Wisconsin.  The governor disenfranchised the unions (and how do unions usually vote?) and the people rebelled.  So to thwart the recall process they put up “fake” Democrats to run against the real Democrats who want to unseat the Republicans, forcing a primary.  They jammed tougher voter registration laws through prior to the real August recall election.  In other words, they are doing everything they can to thwart the will of the people.  Oh these are democratic loving people.

So there you have it.  The people who “love freedom” really only love their freedom and they don’t give a damn if it tramples on your freedom. Look at all the laws they have passed restricted women’s access to choice.   They have no respect for the institutions of democracy and in a society where we think the best ideas come out of a spirit debate, they only want you to hear one voice. That is why they have been on a crusade to cram the courts with conservative judges for the last thirty years.   If you don’t agree with that one voice, you are unpatriotic and un-American.  We have entered dangerous times and these are scary people.

You know everything we need to know about the way forward is lodged in our past.  The problem with that basic truth is that for most of us, we either don’t know our history, or have reinvented it to define us in a better light.  Let’s face it, America can’t even remember the 1980′s.  The image and memories of most people about Ronald Reagan are just factually wrong.  He grew government, created (with his tax cut) the biggest deficit of that time, and then he consistently raised taxes after that.  And when he raised taxes, our economy did fine.

But that is just one example of many.  As we watch Republicans and some Democrats trash bargaining rights of unions, we seem to have forgotten how we got a self-sustaining middle class that was and is the basis of our economy.  We totally ignore the history of the robber barons and the way they enslaved the worker, and yet we are heading down that same road.  We certainly have forgotten how we finally got out of the Depression.  It was massive deficit spending that fueled the machinery of World War II.  We seem to be the nation of amnesiacs.  We have a whole culture that is now trying to reinvent what happened to fit their political philosophy and we do it at our own peril.

What really got me thinking about this was watching the HBO special, “Thurgood” with Laurence Fishburne.  This, of course, was the dramatization of Thurgood Marshals rise to the Supreme Court.  Our history of racial discrimination is just disgusting.  Listening to some of the arguments in the Supreme Court for the separate but equal status quo was most distressing.  The evil of it all, justified by “good” people, is just beyond comprehension.  It is a part of our history we should never forget, nor let the South rewrite it as some philosophical difference of opinion on state’s rights.  The rights of gays and lesbians is the same fight all over again.  Soon it will be the rights of the common working man and woman if things continue on their present path.

The injustices that were done with the best of intentions is the real lesson here.  And like the other history mentioned above, there are lessons about how we justify evil with the best of intentions.  But if the Texas school book debacle is any lesson, then the lesson is we reinvent history as quickly as we can to forget the lessons of history that ought to be seared into our souls.  We are truly destined to repeat history as our own times so forcefully are demonstrating.

I guess what really makes this so evident is the Sarah Palins and Michele Backmanns of the world.  They have their facts about 90% wrong.  They reinvent and reinterpret history to suit their political philosophy, and they are woefully ignorant of history.  You know that liberal intellectual view of the world, that gets in the way of small town values and folksy wisdom that ignores the lessons of history.  We have a  whole segment of our population that wallows in their arrogance and ignorance of the lessons of history.  And we do this while our country slowly sinks in the sunset, while those who think they have a fix on our future haven’t a clue about our past.

Sadly Shakespeare (literature) and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (history), are being pushed out of the classroom for more pragmatic things that can be used in the market place.  Doubly sad is that great literature and history are where the real wisdom is, and our hope for the future.  Soon, for a few, they will be able earn great piles of money, but they will also find that their life is surrounded by things they could buy but just doesn’t satisfy them.  The great lessons of literature and history will be discovered too late by old people who have wasted their lives chasing false gods, money and simplicity of thought.

For me great beauty in life is in its complexity, not in its simplification.  It is in a fine wine, a love, appreciation, and empathy for the human condition, and Pavoratti singing Nessun dorma.  There is a connection to it all.  We learn about our fellow man through great literature and history. Our own experiences are way too parochial.   We develop our palate when we learn to really stop and smell the coffee, to really listen, hear, and taste.  Then the beauty of a great wine unfolds it complexity to us.  We appreciate the great arts by exposure to them.  They expand our horizons and make us realize that there are so many shades of grey.   Sadly all of that is being lost.  Complexity is the spice of life, not the bane.  This is the lesson of history and we are ignoring it.

There were two stories on Wednesday that demonstrated that probably the majority of Americans have no idea what we stand for.  Freedom to them means the tyranny of the majority.  Now we know that the Tea Parties and those who worship Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann haven’t a clue.  I say this because they lost an election, the government continued to function under the other guy as it was suppose to, yet they want to resort to guns to protect their “rights”.  They want to have the Constitution restored, but then it never went anywhere.  Sadly they are the ones who least understand our Constitution.  They get lumped in there with the religious zealots who want to legislate their religion on the rest of us.  My two examples are those that fought the Mosque in New York and those who lost on Wednesday with the ruling against the Constitutionality of Proposition 8.  Let’s start with Prop 8.

I turned on the local news and heard this quote from a supporter of Prop 8.  “They don’t understand that this is a civil rights issue.  We voted and now the courts are denying our rights.”  Well there you have it:  A total misunderstanding of our system of government.  Actually the courts do understand.  It is a civil rights issue and therefore your vote can’t void our Constitution.

What they fail to comprehend is that civil rights are not up for a vote, which is kind of why the court turned over Prop 8.  If we voted on civil rights, there would be no mixed marriages, black Americans would still not have their rights, and of course we would still be persecuting Jews, not to mention the Chinese or anyone else who looks different..  Minorities would lose every time.  That is why they are enshrined it in our Constitution in the 14th amendment regarding equal protection.  Maybe that is why they call it a Constitutional Republic (or Constitutional Representative Democracy).  And of course this civics challenged individual thinks the courts usurped his vote, but what they did was uphold our Constitution against him and his fellow citizens in their attempt to deny others their rights.  It is what they are supposed to do.

The other instance I raise is where some of our citizens and religious groups want to deny a Mosque in the area near the site of the World Trade Towers.  But on this day, Mayor Bloomberg stood tall for all real Americans as he stood up for our Constitution and those who would trample on it.  His defense of who we are was  so eloquent that I let him speak for himself:

“The simple fact is, this building is private property, and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship, and the government has no right whatsoever to deny that right. And if it were tried, the courts would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here.

This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan.

Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values and play into our enemies’ hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that.

For that reason, I believe that this is an important test of the separation of church and state as we may see in our lifetimes, as important a test. And it is critically important that we get it right.

On Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than 400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked, ‘What God do you pray to? What beliefs do you hold?’

The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended not only our city, but our country and our constitution. We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked.

… Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God’s love and mercy, as the religious leaders here with us can attest.”

It is sad that so many of our citizens have forgotten who we are and what we stand for.  It is why we seem to have been lost as we mired ourselves down in immigrant hate, torture, religious intolerance, and violations of our most basic rights.  But we must never let these people win, or we will have lost what it means to truly be an American.

At the Governor’s conference, many governors, including Democrats, raised concerned about the Obama Administrations lawsuit to halt the immigration law in Arizona from taking effect (Governors Raise Grave Concerns).  They fear that the debate will be about immigration, a divisive issue, instead of jobs, jobs, jobs.  What a bunch of moral cowards, not to mention idiots.  I guess country first is only a slogan when you are running for President or not scared to death you might lose an election if you stand up for what you really believe is right.  This is why Democrats lose, lose, lose.  They have no idea how to stand up and fight for principle.  They spend their time gaming the system and it always fails.

On the immigration lawsuit, the Obama Administration had little room to maneuver.  The law is clearly unconstitutional with the state usurping powers specifically reserved for the federal government.  But we are going to ignore that because we are afraid it might be inconvenient.   Attack you morons.  Point out that it is not only obviously unconstitutional, but it begs for racial profiling.  And while you are at it, ask just how are we going to secure our borders if the Republicans won’t even negotiate.  Okay, lets close our borders.  What would that cost and where is the money coming from.  And if you are really afraid of terrorists why are we ignoring our northern border?  Oh and we have had a war on drugs now for 50 years to no avail so maybe enforcement is not the solution, and maybe dealing with demand is.  Where the hell is your backbone?

I watch these sniveling little pipsqueaks whine about doing the right thing and I realized why Democrats can’t win an election.  They retreat at the first sign of conflict and cede the battlefield to the nutcakes in the Republican Party.  Then, as George Lakoff pointed out in his wonderful article, Disaster Messaging,  they hoe to the right to try to attract some more moderate nutcakes and they play right into the Right’s strength.  They simply strengthen the Right’s argument which is exactly what these governors did.

It is so sad.  The one time we stood up and fought, we won (Obama election) and since then it is back to hiding and trying to be non-confrontational.  It doesn’t work, it weakens your position, and you lose.  When, oh when, will you learn this lesson?  Right now the Democrats should be attacking.  Every time a Republican opens his mouth go after him.  You want to be in charge again but you voted how for deregulation?  You want to get control of the deficit but you voted how on expansion of drug benefits (largest unfunded entitlement this century), tax cuts, and the war, all unfunded.  You want small government and you think BP is being picked on?  You don’t think we need to pass an extension of unemployment benefits and just how many millions are you worth?  Come guys get off the fucking bench and go after these people by name.  They aren’t your friends and they are destroying our country.  Michele Bachmann once again made some ridiculous claims about the new Obama appointment to head Medicare and Medicaid Services once again invoking death panels and denial of care (Michele Bachmann Revives Death Panels).  You guys and gals should be on every talk show eating her for lunch.  But your not, you are hunkered down somewhere hoping not to stir up the rabble. She should be shown for having only one operating brain cell and instead she gets a pass which allows the other one-brain celled citizens in Minnesota to keep re-electing this nut job.

It is why you lose over and over and over again.  Maybe if this is the best leadership we can get, then we deserve handing things over to the Republicans so they can finish destroying not only our country, but the world ecosystems as well.  Is there anybody out there that understands a frontal assault?  It is time to borrow George Bush’s line, “Bring it on” and mean it.

Watching the Republican Party gyrations this week and their attacks on anything Obama, I have come to the recognition that all that is left in the Republican Party are lunatics escaped from the asylum and still refusing to face reality.  But let us not ignore our misanthropic media which fails at every turn to note the hypocrisy or lunacy of these attacks and report it with a straight face as though these are valid charges.  But I digress.  Here are some of my favorites:

• Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) said that she wants residents of her state “armed and dangerous” over President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce global warming “because we need to fight back.”  But it gets worse. She said that “Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people — we the people — are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”  So she doesn’t like the outcome of the election and therefore will not abide by it.  I wonder what part of democracy she doesn’t get?  Oh I forgot, all of it.  Remember, she is the one who thinks liberals are un-American and should be investigated.
• Then there is the whole pack of them that are complaining that if the Democrats use the reconciliation process to pass their budgets bypassing the filibuster, it is a wholesale mugging of the government process.  My how memories are short.  Let’s see, there was the Bush Tax Cuts, or as Senator Sanders, an independent from Vermont asked, why reconciliation was such a good idea when it came to giving tax cuts to millionaires but such a bad one when it comes to trying to provide health care to average Americans.  Then it was used to open the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.  All this by the Republicans who thought majority rule was good enough for these issues.  Hypocrisy has no bounds.
• Then there are the claims by House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s proposal for new powers to regulate and if necessary take over financial institutions other than banks constitutes “an unprecedented grab of power”.  Oh really?  Should we continue down the unregulated path we have been on.  Should we leave these institutions in the hands of those morons who got us where we are?  Part of the problem is that financial institutions like investment firms and insurance agencies no longer act in traditional ways.  So we should follow the lead of the Republicans whose laissez-faire policies got us to where we are?
• Then there is the claim that the Obama’ budget is a giant step toward socialism.  Please!  Providing health care for all citizens is not socialism, it is our moral responsibility.  But Republicans have been on the train of prosperity for years without ever paying for a ticket.  They have gotten their free ride on the backs of every single hard working American citizen.  Now we have to face the problems that have been building and pay for our passage forward.  They don’t like that.  Paying one’s fair share and investing in the future is something they never had to do before.  It’s un-American.
• But the biggest lunacy is the “Republican Budget Alternative” which contained only 17 pages, no numbers, but to be filled in later.  The promise is a carefully crafted plan of tax cuts and capped spending to get the deficit under control.  Are these people lunatics?  The only thing keeping the economy off life support is spending by the federal government since both the States and our citizens are cutting back.  If you want to see our economy really go in the dumper, cut federal spending in a time when there is no other spending and more and more people are losing their jobs every day.  How does this compute on the “reality” scale?  But better yet is the idea of cutting taxes to save our budget and stimulate spending.  Even if businesses get a tax break, they are still going to layoff their employees if no one is buying.  Meanwhile with less money coming in, the deficit balloons.  Anybody remember the last eight years?
• Last but not least there is the RNC Chairman Michael Steele told who told CNN that he would contemplate a presidential run if God told him the time was right. He also claimed to have strategically planned his squabble with Rush Limbaugh, in which he called the radio talk show host’s work incendiary and ugly. See it is all in his master plan to end up in the loony bin.  The man is delusional.  Is this the best they have to offer?

So as we enter into some of the most important debates in our history to try to right our country, the opposition party is not making sense and has become irrational.  It is really sad when a whole national party is so wedded to their ideology that when circumstances change, they cannot adapt to change and just become totally irrelevant.  Problem is their irrelevancy is holding the rest of the nation back from our future.  Hopefully this is becoming abundantly clear.