THIS COLUMN IS BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION to the New Republican Party. Herein you will find a summary of a number of inspiring actions that surely confirm the existence in these United States of a stunning cadre of outstanding critics prepared to take over guidance of our nation in these troubled times.
As introduction, surely nothing could be more fitting than the stern judgment of Dick Cheney on the pitiful qualifications of President Obama’s national security team. As noted in a Nation of Change piece by Joe Conason, “At a Wyoming Republican Party dinner, the former vice president briskly dismissed Obama’s choices as ‘dismal,’ saying that America needs ‘good people’ rather than the ‘second-rate’ figures selected by the president, particularly Vietnam veteran and long-time U.S. senator Chuck Hagel, nominated by the president as Secretary of Defense.”
Conason points out the obvious:
“For sage advice on security policy and personnel, after all, there is no living person whose approval could be more meaningful than Cheney. It is hard to imagine a record as profoundly impressive as that of the Bush-Cheney administration, back when everyone knew that he was really in charge of everything important — especially the war on terrorism, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.
“True, Cheney’s defense command allowed Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar to escape following the invasion of Afghanistan, while American and NATO troops slogged through that deadly conflict without a plausible goal or even an exit strategy. And true, the national security cabinet run by Cheney misled the nation into war against Iraq, on false premises, without adequate preparation or clear objectives, at a cost of many thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. And true, too, the ultimate result was to embarrass the United States repeatedly while increasing the regional power of the mullahs in Iran.”
How, then, asks Conason, can Obama presume to compare his own record with all of that?
Caught up as he was in the Cheney story, Conason neglected to note the correspondingly powerful tale of the masterful direction of the U.S. economy during the same period.
In congruence with that record, we acquired with the 112th Congress the essential remedy for our present ills. It is becoming increasingly clear that if a plan, proposal or policy initiative is advanced by the administration for consideration, it is wrong, un-American and “dead on arrival.” Unless the proposal is initiated by the right, surely on its face it is clearly unacceptable. Consider the following:
First the record of the 111th Congress, prior to the 2010 election. I quote from Ezra Klein (“Goodbye and Good Riddance 112th Congress,” Washington Post, Jan. 4):
“The fighting 111th passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (better known as the ‘stimulus’), the Affordable Care Act (aka ‘Obamacare’), and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. It passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and expanded both the Serve America Act for community service and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It created significant new anti-tobacco regulations, ratified the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty, ended ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in the armed forces and agreed to the 2010 tax deal, which extended the Bush tax cuts in return for the passage of middle-class stimulus. Love it or hate it, the 111th Congress governed … No Congress in recent history has a record of productivity anywhere near it.
“What’s the record of the 112th Congress? Well, it almost shut down the government and almost breached the debt ceiling. It almost went over the fiscal cliff (which it had designed in the first place). It cut a trillion dollars of discretionary spending in the Budget Control Act and scheduled another trillion in spending cuts through an automatic sequester (looming ahead), which everyone agrees is terrible policy. It achieved nothing of note on housing, energy, stimulus, immigration, guns, tax reform, infrastructure, climate change or, really, anything. It’s hard to identify a single significant problem that existed prior to the 112th Congress that was in any way improved by its two years of rule.”
In that two-year period from 2011-13, the House of Representatives, led by a Republican majority combination of rabid tea party ideologues, religious fundamentalists and handmaidens (or perhaps, if male, toadies) of Wall Street, was, according to political scientists Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal, “the most polarized Congress in U.S. history, with House Republicans exhibiting a particular leap in partisanship. It was unproductive compared with any Congress since 1948, when scholars began keeping tabs on congressional productivity.”
The tea party representatives run the gamut from fervent conservative ideologues to rabid outliers and include a body of newcomers who not only have little knowledge or sophistication about economic and political realities, but who are also quite prepared to act boldly upon their ignorance. The debt ceiling provided a clear illustration. Confusing it with a vote for economic stringency and in full ignorance of the dire, even catastrophic consequences for the economy, some of these folks were — and are again — prepared to do a Horatius at the Bridge and vote against a raise. “Hey, we don’t have no money, we don’t pay no bills!” Pretty simple, that.
What now makes elections and the situation problematic and quite dicey for reasonable conservatives is the clear and ominous threat of primary challenges from that irrational crowd on their right. (Richard Lugar’s stunning defeat in Indiana by tea party stalwart Richard Mourdock, for whom pregnancy from rape is a sign of God’s intervention, is a dramatic example.)
To clarify and document the incoherence of the “tea party message,” we have but to look to the relationship between that cohort of irrationals and Wall Street. Or have we forgotten, from its very early days, the tea party’s declaration of war on fraud and abuse in our banking and financial system and bank bailouts?
Since that time, of course, the tea party has — through the intercession of skillful operatives funded by the Koch brothers and similarly financially gifted sponsors — become sufficiently attuned to the needs of Wall Street and the financial industry that they have become its ardent protectors against “the enemy.”
By this new catechism, it is not the banks and financial institutions that have created our problems; “the enemy” is government regulation and public interference with the wisdom of the market — that same market that despoiled our economy and brought us near to breakdown. The enemy is government.
Only when we understand this GOP “reality” will we be able to grasp the powerful rationale behind the problems of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, its painful journey to enactment and legitimacy. Its supporters saw it as an agency created to help prevent the lending and trading excesses of the banking industry that led to the great recession. The GOP first refused its initiation and now refuses to legitimize its leadership, and legal challenges present problems for its functioning.
Lest you think me unduly alarmed or critical, consider the following:
According to Ian Millhiser, writing in Think Progress, “The Seventeenth Amendment, which guarantees that voters will elect their own U.S. senators — rather than having those senators chosen for them by state legislatures — is strangely unpopular in tea party circles. Both Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., believe their own elections to the United States Senate should be unconstitutional. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) called empowering voters to elect senators a mistake and even Justice Antonin Scalia lamented the “decline of so-called states’ rights throughout the rest of the 20th century” as a result of the Seventeenth Amendment.”
Following this lead, six Georgia state lawmakers have introduced a resolution calling for the amendment to be repealed, noting that “repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment would help to prevent the many unfunded mandates and unconstitutional laws passed onto those states by the federal government …”
David Gans notes there is one very simple reason why conservatives may prefer pre-17th Amendment America — repealing the Amendment would be like Citizens United on steroids.
“The system (prior to its enactment) led to rampant and blatant corruption, letting corporations and other moneyed interests effectively buy U.S. senators.”
But isn’t just such a market economy exactly what our country needs?
Jerome Page is a Benicia resident.
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Well stated, Jerome. Dick Cheney was a wasted space. George Bush was a non-existent President. Walt Kelley and Pogo were right: “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.” Could be we are a species or nation of pawns and fools, or idiots. I hear a Second Noah building a boat. Save the Polar Bears and other brighter animals first this time. I’m sure Cheney’s stock in Halliburton rose well during his two illegal and senseless wars. Congress’s salaries and benefits should be reversed if they don’t produce results. Mediocre dolts should be sent home penniless. PB
Well stated Jerry Page. The only problem is you are wrong. Jerry why is the country 16.6 tril in debt? Possible moving to close to 20 tril. Is that Cheney’sfault? Why is unemployment at 7.9%? Is that Cheney’s fault also. Who put the Social Security payrollo back to 6.2%? Try President Obama not Cheney. If you are aware of financial issues you would understand that President Obama just turned his back on the low income and his so called middle class with that 2%. Is was not Chenhey. President Obama without warning his beloved middle class just set them and the economy back again. Obamacare in 2014 the first full year of this not well thought out plan is already seeing big issues. Just who is going to pay for the increased enrollment in state Medicaid? The federal government with huge tax increases. Was that also Cheney’s fault? Believe me Jerry it will not be the rich this time it will be the expanded middle class that will be facing fees and tax increases. Was the Keystone pipeline also Chaney’s fault? President Obama has no choice but to approve it and also more fracking. His idea of a Socialist country is not working. None of this is Chaneys fault. It is President Obamas fault. The banking problem and home loan issues I guess you also think is Cheney’s fauly also. No. Try Barney and Chris. Barney now has even admitted mthat. President Obama is now in his fifth year as Presiden. Just when are the Liberal Socialist going to start taking ownership and stop blaming others. Was that not the reason President Obama was elected. The Liberal Socialist want to blame the Republican controlloed House on everything. Just not true. It is the upper house where the real problem is not the lower house. Who controls the Senate? You got is Jerry the Liberal Socialists. Jerry tell me just where are the Liberal Socialist reaching out? We know it is not spending cuts. I do beleve Jerry you and all the other Liberal Socialist better start looking around at just what is happening. The Conservatives in the House is about the only protection left in this fine country for the over 300 mil very fine folks. President Obama has no intention of bring low income out of provery. He will lose a solid voting base. The same for the middle class. The only hope these two groups have is the Republican Party. They are now seeing that. The Hispanic vote will be back in the 40% range by 2020 if not sooner. Sorry the blame game is over. This President needs to get to work and get this country back on top. There are things that could make it happen. Energy and manufacturing. That is not a strong suit for President Obasma. That is where the Republicans win big time. The game is over for the Liberal Socialists.
Bob Livesay: The Repubs LOST the last election big-time…now they’re your ascending heroes? Go watch Marco Rubio sip water on TV…he hasn’t the stout courage or experience to face a TV camera. Your next big hope is Heart-attack “Chris-Chubby” from NJ, who can’t even control his own burgeoning weight. Sorry, last hero you had was Ronnie from the 20-Mule Team Boraxo commercials who let his wife’s ouija board and Astrology govern his decaying health— I occasionally read you for political comedy, Livesay, you’re a crackup! – pb
I just know that you cannot resist me Peter. I do appreciate your comments. Republican party does not need heros. We have the folks that can do the job in place already. The Liberal Socialist need folks that really care about all the citizens in this country. Peter you know the problem is spending and untill the Presidenmt gets on the job of creating jobs it will continue to be the problem. Just keep your eye on who he goes after next for fees and taxes. Yes Peter the middle class big time. President Obamas beloved middle class he is about to betray and call ot fair sharing. Now that is really something. He now wants the middle class to be part of the fix. I will repeat this statement Peter. Our under ground resources are the most in the entire world. This state and country are sittig on a gold mine. Proper fracking controls and chemical regulation will bring it to the surface and all our problems will be solved. Not some windmill or roof top panel. Believe me Peter manufacuting is coming back to the USA. President Obama in not the reason. Republicans understand the cost of labor and energy. Both drive our economy. Our high tech and clean energy supply will be the the big reason. Remember Peter Silicon Valley is on this issue big time. Not renewable slow growth wind and solar growth energy that can not even stay afloat. Stay tuned Peter and keep reading my comments. It will help you understand the real political views not just the narrow views of the Liberal Socialist.
Bobbo: Every time you write, it’s like a myth replaying on the Victrola…I’m gonna buy a ouija board and Astrology card deck so I can follow your pathway to alchemy—rave on..suppose we just fire all the useless Tea Party Crustaceans and Barnacles? What do those people really do for a living? Model for 19th Century doorstops? – pb
I do know they do not take grant money and still work at a company that is not even operating. Yes Peter they get paid for not working by the President Obama regime. Now just how nice is that. You know Peter the Chinese battery company that the tax payers are paying for. I know you do not believe in my political beliefs. But Peter I hear no solutions from you. Is the Sequester the answer? More borrowing? Just what is your solution. Four more years of debt crisis with no progress. When will the unemployment drop below 6%? What should the tax rate be on the so called rich? Do you think President Obama is going to let the middle class off the hook on new taxes? Who is going to pay for Obamacare? Peter the middle class is about to be taxed down to the below poverty group. Is that what you want? Just give me some solutions. I am waiting for your solutions Peter.
Bobbo Livesay: I have no solutions, nor do you. If yours were worth anything more than dribble in local pages, they’d hire you in a heartbeat, fly you to Washington, DC and make you King of the Planet. We are a quibbling human collection of misfits, I’m still working at age 70 as an artisan/craftsman making homes more livable for those who can afford them and bearable for those who have to rent at the mercy of others…Politicians are like the poltergeist from bad gas, here one minute and gone again, even Meet the Press is nothing more than talking heads ragging at each other…If you get to Heaven before me, send me a postcard, if you don’t make it to Heaven or don’t believe in it, find a warm bridge somewhere and try to find clean water—Cheers–Peter Bray, Benicia, CA
Peter in the past I have offered my opinions on debt solutions many times. On medicare, social security and other very costly issues. By the way most of my solutions benefited the low income and middle class. Peter you may find in this city many of my opinions and ideas have been adopted. Just for one take a look at where the city is going on employee share of CalPers. Mark my word Peter all employees very shortly will be paying the full share of there employee side of CalPers. Next keep your eye on healthcare. Pay attention to what I say. It is not all bad and other than opinions is very sound and is fact based. I do have a very good understanding of government spending habits. Peter give me a little credit once in a while.
Livesay, you sound downright GAY. Clearly to be resisted!
sorry for the typos but you got the message.
Glad to see you boys are still playing! What a waste of time…from J.P. on down the list.