Is It Time For A Real Change In American Politics?
In the past I have always believed that two (or more) strong political parties was a good thing for our country, because with strong opposing forces it prevented us from straying too far in either idealogical direction. Sure we’ve gone off course now and then over our history, but we have always been able to adapt and recover because we were never too far off center.
However, I’m about to reach the tipping point on that belief, and swing over to a “let’s destroy them” partisan position after watching the Republicans spend the last 2 years investing all of their energy into obstructionism for the sake of being obstructionists, even at the expense of the nation and citizens who are suffering.
From unprecedented misuse of the Filibuster to prevent meaningful assistance legislation from even getting an up or down vote, to their new definition of negotiating.
While it’s vogue to place blaim at the top first, the fact is on every major battle since the Obama administration took the reins, the administration has started from a left-of-center position and moved towards the center, while Republicans have consistantly began right-of-center and then moved further right throughout the negotiations.
They’re playing Lucy to The President’s Charlie Brown. Promising negotiations, pomising support in exchange for compromises, only to pull away at the last second time and again; gaining all of the compromises they wanted, without having to make any significant consessions of their own.
That is not how governing is supposed to be done. It is not leadership. It is not even politics. It more resembles stubborn schoolyard behavior and it has stunted our nation and economy as a result.
Yes, I blaim these Republicans, not President Bush, for our painfully slow economic recovery of the past two years, because they’re clearly playing politics with the economy rather than working to improve it.
As proof I offer that Speaker Boehner attempted to steal some thunder (and Press) from the President recently during the President’s Twitter Town Hall meeting, by tweeting a question that was, I’m sure, intended to embarrass the President. Boehner asked in his tweets, where are the jobs?
Well, that is the question to ask, but he was asking the wrong person. Republicans have argued for years that we couldn’t eliminate tax breaks to the wealthiest 2% or large corporations, because they are the job creators and eliminating their tax breaks would prevent them from creating jobs.
And after a decade of the Bush tax breaks they’ve been given, Speaker Boehner and other leading Republicans need to answer the question, where are all the jobs? With a decade of those tax breaks under their belts (and in their pockets) we should be overflowing with employment opportunities by now…so, where are they?
And while they’re at it, maybe those Republicans can explain why this congress, under their leadership, hasn’t allowed a single jobs bill to reach the floor for broad discussion or an up or down vote this year?
Or why the Republicans on The House Committee on Education and the Workforce voted “No” to a legislative amendment to maintain funding for job creation and training programs under the Workforce Investment Act that actually creates jobs and improves job opportunities? That seems like something we should be keeping stable (or even increasing) at a time when around 20 million Americans can use it.
They’re [Republicans] playing a sneaky game right now, of crying for cameras about the President’s lack of jobs creation, while in the near anonimity (some watch C-SPAN, few pay attention) of daily legislative process they themselves are obstructing any and all meaningful measures that would or could produce jobs for Americans, because they know most reporters won’t bother to dig deep enough to see through the hyped-spin, and so it makes them look like the job crusaders in the public eye.
But the truth is out there (almost an X-Files moment), despite Democrats being so terrible at pointing it out and making their case. The facts about what legislation and legislative amendments are being allowed or denied to reach the House floor is available. If anybody cares to inform themselves beyond the partisan leanings (left or right) and shallow coverage of major news media, it’s easily found.
And while in theory I still feel that multiple strong political parties offers the best opportunity for a centrist and strong nation, in the real world the facts are getting ever clearer to me that when one party decides to embrace a Scorched Earth policy for political gain rather than engaging in any honest diplomacy for the good of the country, then the bottom completely drops out of the multiple strong parties theory and We The People would be far better served going forward without one side’s input.
About Scott Bannon
A conservative liberal with a perspicuous perspective on American politics.
Scott's writings have been published on dozens of news and opinion outlets both online and off.
