David A. Schwinghammer, click here
to update your web pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by David A. Schwinghammer
Playing on the railroad tracks 7/17/2011 8:23:35 AM
The GOP seems willing to gamble with America's future almost at every turn. The recent embroglio over the debt limit is indicative of Republican election strategy: Do whatever you can to insure Obama is not reelected, whether it's good for the country or not. Hopefully this plan will backfire, and we won't have to deal with the GOOPs after 2012. They'll be a minor party like the John Birchers they seem to love. This habit of playing with fire is nothing new. The following are only a couple of instances where this has happened.
1. George Bush lowered taxes for the rich while simultaneously starting a war he didn't have to fight. He then borrowed the money to fight it from the Chinese, giving them a powerful weapon to use against us should they ever want to destroy us, something the GOOPs insist communists are sill plotting. Even if they weren't, we can't stand idly by and let the Chinese economy implode as we did with Japan. The Chinese and America seemed joined like Siamese twins.
2. Global warming. Certainly the 100 degree weather in the South and Midwest is no evidence that greenhouse gases affect the weather, but 97% of climatologists say human activity has affected the weather, and it might be a good idea to listen to them. What's the alternative? Use it as a political wedge issue.
3. Oil. Republican lobbyists are doing everything they can to insure that alternative fuels fail. Ethanol subsidies are on the chopping block while oil subsidies remain. Compact light bulbs are attacked as being an infringement on our freedoms. If you've ever owned them, you know how great those little suckers are. I haven't changed a light bulb in a coon's age. But it's not about lightbulbs. We just might save some energy. Electric cars, wind power, and solar energy are all targeted as being unrealistic. Once again, what's the alternative? We wait until gasoline is ten dollars a gallon or we wait until we run out. Australia recently introduced cap and trade. Of course they've been undergoing a horrible drought for a number of years now and finally realized it might have something to do with climate change.
4. Education. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin recently deprived teachers of collective bargaining rights. Somehow this is going to improve education in the state. It's hard enough attracting good teachers without reducing their salaries. This from a party that supports homeschooling. The idea isn't to improved ecudation; it's an attack on teachers' unions who tend to vote democratic. So what if you destroy free public education in the process. You're also reducing the earning power of 100,000 people who tend to spend their money on Wisconsin products.
5. Guns. Their are 280,000,000 guns in this country, and the number is increasing. One of these days an American drug cartel or some other radical group is going to get a hold of these and then where will we be? It's already happening across the border with guns they got from America.
6. Fox News. The first thing you want to do during a revolution is gain control over the communication systems.
Then you lie your head off, get your people elected to office (See Rick Perry) and try to rewrite history.
Our country hasn't been this divided since the
Civil War. Rick Perry even threatened to secede during the health care debate. The word "nullification" is back in the political venacular. Didn't we fight this war in the 1860's?
7. Religion. Ronald Reagan thought it was a good idea to make a deal with Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Tim LaHaye and other religious fanatics to appeal to the Moral Majority. Reagan would get votes from 20% of the population and the religious fundamentalists would have a voice in national politics. The problem is theocrats don't believe in democracy. Do we really want to play this game?
8. No new taxes. Grover Norquist's objective is to drown government in the bathtub. He doesn't seem to have an alternative. Sounds like anarchy to me, or maybe the Articles of Confederation with a bunch of bickering states who couldn't agree on anything. Or maybe we'd just have one giant corporation running things like the one in BRAVE NEW WORLD.
The next time you vote, think about the consequences of your actions. Some of you fell for the Tea Party fraud and look what that got us.
