Friday, November 5, 2010

Post 2010 Election Thoughts

Now that the smoke has cleared and we have a slightly clearer picture of the political landscape in America we should all take a step back and reflect on what just happened.
The facts are that the Republican Party now has control of the House of Representatives and they managed to shorten the gap between the Democratic majority and themselves in the Senate.
The same party who stood lock step against all things Obama and thereby brought the government nearly to a halt was rewarded for their lack of leadership by gaining that majority in the House of Representatives and that nearly 50-50 standoff point in the Senate.
The only thing that prevented them from gaining the majority in the Senate was the inherent lack of intelligence and substance in a few of their Tea Party candidates.
But just why did they make those gains in Congress?
What was the impetus that brought the party that wanted nothing to do with governing nearly into the driver’s seat of government?
Well for one thing it had nothing to do with their abilities behind the wheel.
We have seen over and over again the disaster that befalls the economy when they are the drivers.
The deficit that they so often point to as way too high is basically their baby!
One need only look at the facts (not to be confused with Fox which has no use for facts) to see that the deficit goes up whenever the Republicans are in charge.
So how could we as a nation vote them back into a majority position just two years after they left the economy in shambles?
The above doesn’t say much for the educational system in America.  Or maybe it defines it!
In order to measure ‘good’ we must have ‘bad’ and the same thing goes for smart.
The Republicans have to be quite smart and very good at doing what they do best or they would not be in the cat bird seat so soon after Bush slinked out of the White House.
They were able to twist the facts around and convince the electorate with their typical brand of fear mongering and racism that the Democrats could not get the job done.  And even though the job was to undo all the damage done by them it worked.
They now state unequivocally that their next task is to rid the White House of their nemesis President Obama.
Really?
That is job one for the Republicans?
I can think of at least a couple of other things we could do first but…
So we are giving the keys back to the group of people who should instead be called out for DUI – Driving Under the Influence of the wealthy.
And to continue the analogy just a step further note that their back seat driver, the Tea Party now has a substantial voice in the party.
But what’s done is done and we must move on lest we stagnate and fall into an economic Japan-like rut for the next decade or so.
There are so many first things that must be addressed since there are just so many problems in urgent need of attention.  But I believe we can all agree that unemployment has to be placed among the top priorities going forward.
But how can we force companies to hire people if they see no benefit in doing so?  After all they have found ways to reduce the workforce and ship jobs out of the country without penalty or tariff restrictions up to now.  And the Republicans always say they are for fewer restrictions on business so that will not change.
We can’t just force them to double the workforce in America but we can give them incentives to do so.
We can make it easier for them to pay the bills with tax breaks for hiring new workers.  But we must not extrapolate that last sentence to include all businesses.
This aid must be only for the so-called small business group, and only those who truly are small for they traditionally hire the most workers in the country.
Large corporations masquerade as small in order to game the system and reap the benefits meant for their smaller cousins.  We have to make sure they are not able to do so in the future.
For example Halliburton and many other impersonal multi-national corporations have found ways to get themselves categorized as ‘small’ by using creative accounting or sub-chapter S rules.
We cannot stop them from trying but if we institute real tough penalties along the order of double their one year profits in fines when caught they just may tone down their fraudulent behavior.  Of course if they are so arrogant as to continue their practices then we will reap the benefits when they are caught.
And if we are really serious about deficit reduction the best place to start is by abolishing the Bush Tax gift to the wealthy.
These well off people, many of whom made their money legitimately and thereby deserve every penny must be held to the same standards as the rest of us!  I personally pay taxes at a higher rate than many Wall Street men who last year made more than one billion dollars!
If these people who are spending millions of dollars in ads and possible bribes to convince politicians that they need an extension of that Bush tax gift were to get their wish the deficit would increase by over $700,000,000,000!
Just how much money do they really need to live out the rest of their lives comfortably?
I am not advocating a financial blood letting but rather a letting the sun shine in approach.
Much of the money these people would be paying in taxes would not be missed by them.  They would only be paying their fair share like the rest of us.
And that would help the economy and perhaps allow the consumer, the people who pay for the products these wealthy business owners produce, to go back into the stores with cash to spend.
So here’s the thing, the Republicans told many lies and distorted every truth they could find.
Over the last decade or so they made a mockery of the electoral process.  They can boast more than one genius among them with uncanny abilities to steal elections using dirty tricks and underhanded ploys.
But no matter how they got here the fact is they are back in the game.
It is now put up or shut up time.
The electorate they trained to lose interest in any issue ten seconds after it is introduced is now asking you, “What have you done for me lately?”
Hey Mr. Boehner, where are the jobs and how come that deficit is rising?

2 comments:

Charlene said...

It is going on 72 hours now since the election and I for one would like to know why the hell the health care bill is still in effect.

Get busy. Quit the TV appearances. Get to work! You wanted the damn job now do it! You have about 10 months to solve all the problems of the country or you can kiss the idea of staying in office good bye!

Reschzoo said...

Thanks for the comment CKL.
You have the right idea!
Put these phonies on the clock.
Of course we all, including the Repubs themselves know they have no intention of getting anything done until after the 2012 election since they hope to be able to blame everything on Obama.
These opportunistic SOB racists still want TGDNITWH out!
I just hope the new House Majority leader pulls a big boner so we can get the good guys back in place after 11-2012.