The decline of America in the crosshairs of a gun

 

When you announce publicly that your primary goal as a public servant is to make sure your president fails, you are not a patriot. Nor are you truly a public servant. Republican and Tea Party spin may not be the only reason six people were killed at a political rally in Arizona last Saturday, but it cannot be overlooked either.

Sarah Palin had gun sight cross hairs pasted over 2010 democratic candidates on her website. Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was one of them. She was shot in the head on January 13, 2011, along with 16 others. Six were killed, including a nine year old girl.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell, along with other outspoken conservatives, have spent the past two years blocking Obama Administration appointments, and every piece of legislation and they can by using the filibuster more than any other legislative body in a generation.

This what America has become.

We are no longer a nation striving toward self-improvement. We are a land of power-mongers who will stop at nothing to seize control of our government.  Their goal is to redistribute wealth, and only protect those who can afford to buy their own protection.

America is on an untraveled road that is taking her into a dark forest. In the dense shadows, our freedoms are being dealt away, because the power-mongers are willing to harm many for the gains of a few.

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Looking beyond the political revolution of 2010

If ever there was a year of political upheaval it was 2010. The Tea Party steamed into Washington with newly elected Kentucky Senator Rand Paul at the helm. The arch conservative is a political rogue who seems ready to rattle the foundation of the GOP, and he just may give Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a few lessons on how far right the Republican Party can be pushed.

However, changes in the political environment go farther than Rand Paul. In the battle of ideologies, President Obama has been as much a victim of the GOP filibuster as the American public. But it doesn’t have to be that way and when America got a taste of what a productive Congress looks like, they liked what they saw.

In the last weeks of the Lame Duck Congress, years worth of legislative hopefuls were pushed through the republican blockade with blazing speed. In just one day, America saw the repeal of DADT, the START treaty and a bill that would provide health care for the heroes of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Clearly, people are happy when something gets done in Washington, even if it is not an exact fit with their party’s platform.

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Analysis: Obama vs the Republicans

For the past two years the American people have been virtual bystanders in the legislative process of their representative government. Republicans in the minority have been blocking every hint of forward progress that has come across the Senate floor in an effort to make President Obama ‘a one term president,’ according to republican leader Mitch McConnell.

But after making a deal with leadership on tax cuts for the rich, the gridlock that had been strangling Congress for the past two years suddenly stopped, much to the surprise of the country. In a single day, DADT, the military ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the US military, the START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, and health for 9/11 first responders, became law. The Obama victories made the outgoing 111^th Congress the most productive body of lawmakers in nearly one hundred years.

The American people finally got what they have wanted for a long time. They got their lawmakers to accomplish what the majority of them wanted. If the 112^th Congress follows this path they may well win the White House in 2012. If they go back to spending their energy blocking progress, voters may regret giving the GOP control of the House and take it back with a vengeance in the next election.

The republican rebellion against Mitch McConnell surfaced in the defection of a his party on the 9/11 health care bill. An MSNBC text poll said republicans were ‘shamed’ into supporting the continued care of rescuers of the September 11 attacks. Perhaps they were. Will they also be shamed into continuing to help the unemployed?

What Americans took away from the most inspiring success of lawmakers in generations was the power of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and the fulfillment of President Obama’s campaign promises. 

On the republican side, actions since the 2010 elections have been just the opposite. They campaigned on the promise of getting the deficit under control and their first major action since the election added $800 billion in borrowed money to the deficit in the form of tax cuts to just 2% of the wealthiest segment of the population.

Republicans may believe that if they had held the entire county hostage on behalf of a select few before the November 2 mid-term elections, the outcome would have been very different.

Regardless of political party, it appears that the residents of Capital Hill base their decisions on little more than whether or not it will win them the next election. That is not how the Constitution was designed, but it is one of the ways today’s politicians manipulate it.

Senate republicans block both votes on tax cuts for middle class

Republicans in the Senate defeated two bills on Saturday that would have extended tax cuts for the middle class. The first vote was to extend tax cuts for those earning up to $250,000, the second vote, which immediately followed would have extended the Bush tax cuts for incomes up to a million dollars a year.

The extension of the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires has been a sticking point for the GOP. Last week, Senator Mitch McConnell sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid that said the republicans would block all legislation until tax cuts for the rich was passed.

Although there is no evidence to support suggestions that trickle-down economics creates jobs, the republicans have been claiming that the tax cuts for the top 2% will help the economy.

Since the Regan Administration began lowering tax rates for the wealthy, the budget deficit has grown and the gap between the rich and poor has widened.

“We are now living in a period when more money is concentrated in the hands of a smaller group of people. For the first time since the beginning of the 19th century, the majority of America’s wealth is held by 1/100th of 1% (.01%) of the population,” according to reports.

A Pew Research Group survey in July 2010 said, 74% of Americans believe large banks and financial institutions have been helped more by the federal government’s economic policies. 57% said wealthy people benefited most. Only 27% said the middle class has been helped by US economic policy.

Debt panel suggests cutting mortgage interest tax deduction

President Obama’s debt commission has suggested some unpopular plans to reduce the federal deficit. Among them is the elimination of mortgage interest tax deductions. With 15 million Americans still unemployed and the middle class struggling for survival, this proposal is a tax increase targeted at besieged homeowners. However, it does fit with the direction of the current wind in Washington, which is to shift the burden of paying taxes away from the rich and onto the backs of working Americans.

On the surface it appears that the republicans are not concerned with coming off as puppets of the rich. On Wednesday, GOP leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to President Obama that threatened a Senate voting blockade against all legislation unless tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans are passed first.

While Republicans are eager to add $700 billion to the deficit with tax cuts for the rich, they are balking at an extension of unemployment benefits, which would only add 18 billion, according to a statement by Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The democratic lame duck congress is raising red flags on growing class warfare between the rich and growing numbers of middle –class workers falling into poverty under the weight of the sluggish economy.

Tax cuts for rich add $700 billion to deficit: Republicans lead US down path of French Revolution

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One-in-seven, or 45 million Americans are now poor, according to new Census data. However, the true figures may be even higher. The US government’s definition of poverty is based on an annual income level of $22,050 for a family of four.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) admitted today on MSNBC, that the tax cuts the Republican Party supports would add $700 billion to the US federal deficit.

The Senate Minority Leader danced around questions from Savannah Guthrie, as to how the party that has been preaching fiscal responsibility could justify the budget-busting tax breaks for the rich. Yet McConnell’s rhetoric was a thinly veiled disguise for hypocrisy.

The Republican Party has vowed to block every piece of legislation the Obama Administration puts forth, even if they have to filibuster to do it. However, they are all in favor of signing off on tax cuts, as long as they apply to just 3% of Americans who earn more than $250,000 a year.

The right wing bias toward the rich comes on the heels of new Census data that shows 15% of the US population is now living in poverty, and the scenario unfolding on Capitol Hill is beginning to take the form of the events that lead to the French revolution (1789–1799).

“Adherents of most historical models identify many of the same features of the Ancient Regime as being among the causes of the French Revolution. Economic factors included widespread famine and malnutrition, due to rising bread prices, which increased the likelihood of disease and death, and intentional starvation in the most destitute segments of the population in the months immediately before the Revolution.

Another cause may have been France's near bankruptcy as a result of the many wars fought by Louis XV as well as financial strain caused by French participation in the American Revolutionary War. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the monarchy's military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans.

The inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both partially caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable and inadequate system of taxation. Meanwhile the conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles continued, despite the financial burden on the populace. High unemployment and high bread prices caused more money to be spent on food and less in other areas of the economy.”

Students of history with vision see many parallels between the aristocratic favoritism of 18th century France, and the direction America is taking today. The right wing of the American government has mounted a rebellion against the ruling party. As Adolf Hitler used scare tactics to blame the Jews for the woes of the suffering populous, Republicans blame Barack Obama and the Democrats for the country’s problems.

 

A right wing agenda favoring the elite, while millions continue to slide into poverty, fails to achieve the goals of representative government in a majority rule democracy. It is also a dangerous stance to take with the highest number of Americans in history now living in poverty.

The deeper the divide between the rich and poor, the closer America comes to the formula that lead to the French revolution. History can and will repeat itself, if policies that make the problems worse continue to be put into place.

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