Monday, August 31, 2009

There can be no bipartisanship

NOTE: There has been a lot of very interesting commentary on this item, so I moved it back to the top. Click "Comments" below the post to see what people have added.
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There was a time in the not too distant past when cooperation between Republicans and Democrats often occurred. That was back when there were Southern "Dixiecrats" in the Democratic Party and "Moderates" in the Republican. All that has changed, since the Dixiecrats have long since been driven out of the Democratic Party because it believed in such things as equality for the races. Such miserable people had to go somewhere, so now they're all in the Republican Party.

That doesn't mean there are no bad guys in the Democratic camp. There are plenty.

What it does mean, though is this: The Democrats are never going to win the support of the Congressional Republicans on any issue, no matter how successful or necessary to the public good it might be. Officially, the Party has sold itself out to the evil and to the bitter; and they won't cooperate with any devils except their own.

Derrick Jackson has recently said:
"WHEN THE Republicans can not even support Cash for Clunkers, bipartisanship has no horsepower.

In all the doom and gloom of the recession, this was the one economic and environmental program that was a smash hit, prompting Congress to add $2 billion to the $1 billion that was about to run out. The Department of Transportation said that 184,304 sales have been made so far under the program, where customers receive up to $4,500 in rebates to trade in an older car for a more fuel-efficient new vehicle.
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But the Republicans? The Senate voted 60 to 37 to extend the program, with 33 Republicans voting against it. This was worse than the 31 Republicans who voted against Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. And, of course, the Republicans have declared war against meaningful healthcare reform, despite the fact that the nation has 46 million uninsured people, one of the greatest travesties in the developed world.

The mentality is best summed up by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, who recently said about healthcare, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.’’ In a talk-show interview, DeMint rationalized his transparent motives and the obvious agenda of the Republicans by saying, “I’ve never seen Americans more angry and more concerned about the direction of our country.’"’

9 comments:

Irene said...

What do you do? The Democrats are too nice and will never win these battles vs the Republicans, who try every desperate scare tactic without any conscience. There's no thought for anything except blind ideology - government=bad. What makes me furious is that most of these people call themselves "Christians" yet I don't see much in the way of Christian values in denying people the RIGHT to health care. Yes, every other Western country considers health care to be a basic right of citizenship. Not that many Americans really care what anyone else does or thinks, they are right and everyone else is wrong. Plus, they seem to think they are God and have the right to judge people as deserving or undeserving, usually on the basis of whether they have a job or the colour of their skin. Sorry - I've had enough of being Miss Nice Guy - I've been reading some nonsense on Facebook from long lost acquaintances that should have stayed long lost. (I curse the day I signed up to the stupid thing.) Anyway, they can have their opinion, but they can leave out the vitriol and lies. If not, I'll have to start giving them my two cents.

Irene said...

Whew - I feel a bit better now.

Bud said...

"I'll have to start giving them my two cents."

Yes, you should! Your two cents is always worth a lot more.

Dashmann said...

Irene;

Couldn't have said it better myself.
I haven't yet figured out why losing someones job somehow makes that person unworthy of having basic health care.
How can these so-called Christians sleep at night, knowing a burst appendix could send any one of 47 million uninsured Americans, at best into deep debt or at worst to their deaths ??
Basic free care for everyone should be as available as a free K - 12 education.
Just think how competitive we could be world - wide if we weaned ourselves from the paradigm of employer furnished health care.

Irene said...

The cost of health care certainly adds to the cost of labour. I suppose the problem is that the insured fear they are going to lose something - the quality and availability of health care. Other people are simply greedy and don't want to see there ride on the gravy train come to an end. Others just don't care and don't want to have to "pay" for other people's health care. I guess they never stop to consider that they someday may lose their coverage. The thinking here is exactly as Dashmann put it - health and education are available for all. You pay 1.5% of your taxable income as a Medicare levy (it is means tested, so lower income people pay nothing or a smaller percentage), and you are covered. As examples, I've had three children in the public system (cost=$0), and my daughter broke her ankle last year and we did not pay a cent for emergency treatment and all follow up appointments with the orthopaedic specialist. Americans are fooling themselves if they think they are getting better care. They certainly aren't living any longer than everyone else, and it's costing the nation twice as much. They are putting people's lives to waste - in such a wealthy country, how can that be smart or productive in an economic sense, and justified in a moral sense?

Irene said...

I spelled their wrong.... hate that.

Alice said...

Wonderfully written, Irere. I am getting very disgruntled to hear constantly out of the mouths of the "Christian right" that the Dems. need to compromize & no, no, no. Who needs to compromise? There can be no compromise on a moral right!!!!!!!

margaret said...

The red font gave me a little headache.

Alice said...

Maybe we should let California burn up and stop the damn Socialist fire assistance; or maybe we should eliminate socialist police,arm everyone and let the best shots survive; and get government out of highway systems and on and on and on.