REPUBLICAN WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS

CURRENT BATTLEGROUNDS

            Unabashed and unashamed, the Wisconsin Republicans celebrated their illegal victory over the middle class with a huge fundraiser in Washington DC, hosted by the lobbying firm, BGR Group.  So, if Governor Scott Walker is right when he says his policies will benefit “the Badger State’s hard-working taxpayers” then why do they have to travel out of state to raise money?  And, why is it that the major contributor to his 2010 gubernatorial campaign was Koch Industries, which isn’t even based in Wisconsin?  It isn’t a big mystery for any of us who can actually see what is going on not only in Wisconsin, but all over this country as the Republicans wage their war on the middle class.

            In Indiana the Republicans are trying to push forward union stripping measures while thousands have been protesting at the state capital.  Additionally, they are attempting to shift public school resources into private hands.

            In Boise, Idaho union rights for teachers were stripped away last week.  And in Ohio the same thing is happening.

            In Lansing, Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder is putting forth legislation that will redistribute funds with a tax hike of $1.7 billion on seniors, low-income earners and on donations to schools.  And then he is going to take that money plus a little more--$1.8 billion--and give it to businesses in the form of tax breaks—making no impact whatsoever on his state’s budget deficit.  The AARP in Michigan is leading demonstrations there.

            There is an almost identical story in Florida.  Newly elected Republican Governor Rick Scott is planning to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from K-12 education in order to give it away as corporate and property tax breaks--$1.75 billion in education funding cuts and $1.6 billion in tax breaks.  The state deficit will stay as is.

            And that’s not all.  The Republicans are also hammering away at one of the most basic foundations of democracy:  the idea of one person, one vote.  How can that be, you might ask.  Simple—make it harder for people who are likely to vote Democratic to actually vote.  Who are likely Democratic voters?

• Low income voters
• Minority voters
• College students
• First-time voters

In Florida, the previous governor, moderate Republican Charlie Crist in 2007 mandated that convicted felons who completed their sentence and paid their debt to society could have their voting rights restored.  And 150,000 did so.  New Republican Governor Rick Scott, after determining that demographically these voters were more likely to vote Democratic, immediately rescinded that policy and now requires them to wait five years before having their voting rights restored.

      In Wisconsin those very same Republican legislators are trying to pass a bill saying that Wisconsin Student IDs would no longer be sufficient identification to be allowed to vote.

      In New Hampshire, one Republican lawmaker was caught on tape saying, “…the kids coming out of the school and basically doing what I did as a kid.  Voting as a liberal.  And that’s what kids do.  They don’t have life experience and they just vote their feelings.”  So, he introduced legislation that would end their policy of Election Day registration.  And who benefits most from Election Day registration?  College students and first-time voters.

      And lastly (at least for this column), Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry has introduced five bills which he says must be considered on an emergency basis due to the $27 billion dollar deficit in his state.  But isn’t it odd that one of those bills requires the state to spend millions to force pregnant women to get ultrasounds before they can be allowed by Governor Perry to obtain an abortion?  Apparently, that is an emergency fiscal solution to their budget deficit.  Another of the five proposed emergency bills is a restrictive new voter ID law which again targets likely Democratic voters, with two major exceptions:  the elderly and gun owners—oddly enough, two demographics in Texas which overwhelmingly support Republican candidates.  No doubt, on some planet besides Earth, this bill could be construed to help a budget deficit.

      I can’t help but wonder what would happen if the Republicans, the Koch Brothers and the rest of the wealthy and powerful are successful in annihilating the poor and the middle class.  Who would they tax then to help them become even more wealthy and powerful?  I guess they would have to eat each other.

           

PRINCIPLED REPUBLICANS—WHERE ARE THEY?

(Hint:  It’s not Wisconsin)

(Column written 3/9/11)  

          If we didn’t know before (although some of us did), we now know without a doubt what the real agenda of the newly elected Republicans is:  to completely annihilate and completely render extinct the entire middle class.  This effort is clear in Wisconsin where the new Republican Governor Scott Walker is making a complete joke of his office as he insists on eliminating collective bargaining for state workers under the guise of cutting the budget when, in fact, his real objective is to break the unions altogether.  If it were really about the budget, the stalemate would have ended weeks ago when the state workers agreed to his demands to pay more for their health insurance and into their own pensions.  But, as we have clearly seen, that was not his real objective.  If we had any doubts left at all, they were certainly erased when the recording of his conversation with the fake David Koch came to light.  He not only admitted he had thought of planting goons in the midst of the demonstrators to cause trouble, but he also suggested to the fake Mr. Koch that he should spend more of his billions on ad campaigns supporting the Republicans in “swing” districts.

            That little tidbit is causing Governor Walker an even bigger headache because he is now up on ethics violation charges due to that conversation.  You see, it is illegal for a politician to solicit independent expenditures from a donor because once a politician asks for it; it is no longer “independent”.  Aside from that, it is also illegal to solicit campaign contributions from your state-owned office.  Purportedly, he was in the Governor’s office at the time of the call.  Oops!

            Apparently, the Republicans in Wisconsin (like most Republicans everywhere) are not all that concerned about the law—only union busting, tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations, and, of course, morality policing.  And the latter, in my opinion, is only to hoodwink millions of God-fearing Middle Americans into buying what they are selling, not for any real concern for morals.  But, I digress…back to Wisconsin Republicans…in another of their desperate measures to get the 14 Democratic Senators to come back to Madison, they exercised an option that the Wisconsin Constitution clearly prohibits—thus, my point about their lack of concern for the law.  They declared the 14 absent senators in “Contempt of the Senate” and ordered Wisconsin state troopers to arrest them on sight.  The Wisconsin Constitution gives state lawmakers an “exemption from arrest and civil process … except treason, felony and breach of the peace…”  As much as King Walk…I mean, Governor Walker would like to believe that defying him is tantamount to treason, I don’t believe that would really hold up in court.  Not yet, anyway.  But, if Republicans and the Koch Brothers continue to have their way, it might in the not-too-distant future.

            In the midst of this all-out war, there was a bright spot to be found.  I discovered that, indeed, there are some principled conservatives to be found in the great state of Wyoming.  Wyoming—arguably the most Republican of all 50 states due to the fact that their state legislature consists of 76 Republicans and only 14 Democrats—recently defeated an intrusive “big government” anti-abortion measure and followed that up by defeating an anti-gay marriage bill which would have virtually nullified any “marriage other than that of a male and a female person.”  It is interesting to note that Big Government Republicans brought these two measures to the floor in spite of the fact that the official slogan for the state of Wyoming is “The Equality State.”

            Republican State Senator Cale Case (who is also an economist and a Ph.D.) said this while arguing against the passage of the measure and making reference to the Wyoming Constitution:

            “You, right now, have to vote on this in light of Article 1, Section 3, that says ‘Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex or any circumstance or condition whatsoever.’  It doesn’t say ‘except for a marriage or civil union from another state.’  Doesn’t say that.”

            Republican State Senator Phil Nicholas, also referencing the state’s constitution said, “Let me just read you two things that are just compelling—‘Article 1, Section 7:  Absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of free men exists nowhere in a republic, not even the largest majority.’  These people are our neighbors, they’re our friends, they’re our brothers, sisters.  And to suggest that they don’t have the rights, at least to access the courts…”

            One of the four Democrats in the state senate, Chris Rothfuss, said “Now I know this group believes in small government and I know this group believes in individual rights and freedom, but I’m not seeing that on this issue.  I’m not seeing that sense and that will because what I’m seeing here is the heavy hand of government once again saying ‘this minority group is not equal.’  Our role as legislators is not to legislate morality; it is not to bring our religion into politics.  Mr. President, our role is to have a good system of education, fix the roads, that’s why people send us here.  This is not our authority, Mr. President, and I don’t think we belong here.  I urge the body to vote against House Bill 74 and I can assure you every “no” vote on HB 74 is gonna feel good.”

            So, in Wyoming we have witnessed Republicans not only claim they are for “small government” but stand upon their principles and take action proving they are for “small government.”  Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans could learn a few things from their Wyoming counterparts…that is, if they weren’t so darn sure that they already know everything.

Failure & Bacon

(This column was written 2/19/11)

            Since the Republicans claimed victory in last November’s elections by campaigning on jobs, jobs and more jobs and also on cutting the deficit, last week I devoted this entire column to what they had so far achieved on these matters under the leadership of John Boehner and Eric Cantor.  It made for a very short column; non-existent, in fact, other than my introduction.  The fact that they have done nothing on these two issues does not mean that they have stopped talking about them.  They have continuously told us that jobs are their number one concern—up until this week, that is.  This week, Speaker John Boehner called a press conference to tell us

“Over the last two years since President Obama has taken office the Federal Government has added 200,000 new federal jobs and if some of those jobs are lost in this, SO BE IT.”

So now we know how he really feels about jobs.  Aside from his callous attitude, let me also point out that he is flat out lying about the 200,000 new federal jobs.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose job it is to actually keep track of things like this, in January, 2009 there were approximately 2,792,000 federal employees.  In January, 2011 the number had increased by 58,000 to 2,850,000 federal employees—a far cry from Boehner’s made-up figure of 200,000.  And, by the way, in case anyone cares, proportional to the population, the size of the Federal Government is at a 50-year low right now.

            In the six weeks or so since the Republicans took over the house and under Speaker Boehner’s and Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s leadership it has been nothing but a litany of failures.  On the very first day there was the “Reading of the Constitution Failure” when parts of it were left out because pages got stuck together and other parts were left out just because.

In that same first week there was the “Swearing in Failure” when two Republicans (veteran incumbent, Pete Sessions and freshman, Mike Fitzpatrick) missed the swearing in ceremony and instead attended a fundraiser and stood in front of a television set and raised their hands to take the Oath of Office.  They later voted on two issues on the House floor—a major Constitutional no-no.

            Then there was the promise they made to cite Constitutional Authority for every bill they introduce.  They immediately broke that rule on the first three things they did.  I’m calling this one the “Constitutional Authority Failure.”

            Next is the “Cut-Go Failure.”  This refers to their promise to cut spending for every bill that adds to the deficit.  The very first thing they did was exempted from this new rule.

            They promised to post a list of members who attend every committee hearing on-line, so we could know if our Congressmen & women were actually showing up for their work.  Sad to say, they discarded that idea as soon as they convened too.  This is the “Committee Attendance Failure.”

            The “Jobs-Jobs-Jobs Failure” was already covered in last week’s column and the first paragraph of this one.  Instead of jobs, they have introduced (count ‘em) THREE sweeping anti-choice bills that would allow Big Brother to sit in with women when they go to their doctor.

I can’t help but question the competency of the leadership of Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor when apparently there was no cohesiveness in their party after the State of the Union Address when they had dueling responses—each claiming to be the “official Republican response.”  But, that’s not the biggest reason to question their competency.  I guess “Basic Legislating Failure” is what I would call it when they lose 3 votes that they brought to the floor in one 24-hour period.  How does that happen????

            The “$100 Billion Budget Cut Failure” happened practically the day after the elections when they started walking back their promise to cut the budget by $100 billion in their first year.  They settled on $30 billion and then last week they held an emergency meeting and upped it to $61 billion—still a bit shy of their campaign promise.

            But speaking of fiscal responsibility, which John Boehner and his pal, Eric Cantor oh so loves to do; is anybody else curious about those extra engines for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter jet?  In case you aren’t aware, this is the plan to have an extra, back-up engine for this new jet that the Pentagon does not want or need.  According to Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, “We consider it an unnecessary and extravagant expense…American taxpayers are spending $28 million per month for an excess and unjustified program that is slated for termination.”

            Undersecretary of Defense, Robert Hale said when asked about Secretary Gates’ comments, “What he said is that he will look at all options to terminate the program and remains strongly opposed to the extra engine.”

            Oddly enough, Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor want to keep the extra engine program to the tune of $450 million, no matter that the military doesn’t want it or need it.  Do you suppose it could have anything to do with the fact that part of the spare engine is being built right outside Boehner’s district in Ohio?  Or, that the other company involved in making the spare engine is Rolls Royce, who just built a giant plant in Eric Cantor’s district in Virginia and is slated to build part of the engine?

            Can you spell PORK?  Hey wait a minute!  Aren’t these the guys who are always yelling about PORK?  They hate PORK! … Don’t they?  Aren’t they the fiscally responsible ones in Washington?  That’s what they are always telling us.

            Oink.