An Interesting Few Months

 

Last November, the GOPTeabaggers had a few victories and took over the House of Representatives, as well as several Governorships and State legislatures. Most of these corporatists began their terms in January. And they began their systematic dismantling of representative government.

The governors of several Midwestern states; Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan and a few in the South; Texas, Georgia, and Florida, have begun to dramatically cut social services, attack unions and, in Arizona, actually let people die.

The GOPT reps in the House are passing mean-spirited bills, ridiculous bills, and downright Un-American bills.

How did this happen? How could these people get elected? It's simple. They lied.

The GOPT people ran on jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. With unemployment at the highest levels since The Great Depression (thanks to NAFTA, CAFTA and GATT), foreclosures skyrocketing (thanks to a housing bubble and Big Banking pulling a fast one on consumers), and a general disappointment with the Democrats and President Obama among Democrats for not passing progressive legislation over the objections of the Rethuglicans (thanks to letting the Rethugs water down Health Insurance Reform and Wall Street Reform and filibuster everything else), jobs was a winning proposition and Democrats stayed home, some, perhaps, believing the jobs line and others to “send a message” of disappointment.

Well, the message was “Elections have consequences,” and the Rethugs took the House and State legislatures. So, what about the jobs? There were plenty, if you were a Rethug politician or lobbyist or campaign donor. Oh sure, they got jobs, but not the voter on Main Street.

And the State and Federal legislatures decided to repeal the Health Care law the last Congress had passed, write new laws either outlawing abortions or making them so hard to get it was the same thing, and proposing budgets that cut deficits without raising taxes on the rich.

Collective Bargaining, teachers, and unions were under attack in the States. Stalinist appointed “Emergency Managers” who could take over cities and disband elected town councils were introduced in Michigan, anti-abortion, anti-immigration, anti-gay, and anti-same sex marriage laws were being submitted, passed and signed by Governors. Public utilities were going to be sold to private corporations in no-bid deals, creationism, not evolution, was to be taught in schools, homosexuality was not to be talked about in elementary or middle schools. The radical Rethugs were up and running and passing every corporatist and Christer and birther wet-dream, fueled by hate, fear, intolerance, racism and ignorance.

But no jobs bills were introduced. Nothing about that even came up. Why should it? The Rethugs were in power, that's all that counted.

Democrats and progressives have protested these affronts to common decency. There has even been some progress on their side. But, we have only the facts and truth on our side. Those are poor challenges to the wholesale slash-and-burn policies on the Right. Democrats want debates and dialog and reasonable solutions. The Right shouts and lies and distorts everything to fit their world-view.

We have to realize something. This isn't chess. It isn't boxing. It isn't a track meet.

This is a street fight. A knock-down, drag-out, broken bottle, brass knuckle street fight. And until we wake up and realize the other side doesn't play by any rules, and adopt the same take-no-prisoners attitude, we are going to make little if any progress, and slowly.