Along the lines of Newt Gingrich’s Contract on America in 1994, the Republicans have issued a Pledge to America if they win the elections next Tuesday.
There is much nonsense in there. Much of it is focused on deficit reduction, but one of their ways to deal with that is to cut taxes (LOL). This is your brain on Republicanism. They are always talking about reducing deficits, and then their project is always to cut taxes. Guess what? Cutting taxes raises deficits, idiots. The Bush tax cuts blew a massive hole in the US budget for no good reason that we are still paying for now.
At the same time, they pledge deficit reduction by cutting programs. Cutting spending in the middle of an economic downturn is a terrible idea, but it’s being promoted all over the media and by the rightwingers and deficit hawks. The result will not be economic growth, but economic destruction. The combination of tax cuts and spending cuts in the middle of an economic downturn promises economic harm more than anything else.
In an economic downturn, consumers are saving and not spending. Unemployment is high. So there is a lack of activity in the private sector. This lack of activity must be made up for by increased spending in the public sector to keep the economy moving, to keep people employed and to keep the economy from falling into depression.
As long as the financial mess remains unresolved, we will be running deficits no matter what. High unemployment by itself causes deficits. The spending cuts rightwingers are advocating will only hurt millions of Americans, slow down economic activity and GDP and will do nothing at all to help the deficit, since the deficit is caused by the financial crisis and poor economy and not by excess spending. Only 10% of the present deficit is caused by stimulus spending or excess spending as the deficit hawks screech.
They also pledge to undo Obama’s excellent health care reforms, which were a good start on what’s needed for the country. Much of the current federal deficit has its roots in high health care costs. To the extent to which these can be driven down by health care reforms, hopefully all the way to Single Payer, we can reduce the deficit. Republican plans to unravel health care reform will only make deficit problems worse, while reducing or eliminating health care options for tens of millions of people.
In addition, Republicans pledge to undo Obama’s financial sector reforms. Clearly, these reforms did not go far enough, but they were an excellent start towards reigning in the out of control criminal financial sector, the capitalist failure of which blew up the economy, causing the economic crash and the current high deficits. By undoing financial reform, Republicans will set the stage for more raping and destruction of the economy by the parasitical financial sector, more economic blowups like we just had, and consequently worse deficit problems.
Republican Pledge to America
1. Legalize family inbreeding – The Utah Initiative
2. Make legal “Strike a woman marathon” – Paul Amendment
3. Legalize bigamy – The Georgia Model
4. Close public schools – The Alabama Project
5. Bring back the Dixie Confederacy
6. Change the Fourth of July to “Flat Earth Day”
7. Make Witchcraft legal – O’Donnell Amendment
8. Make science illegal – The Texas Model
9. Make oil spills legal
10. Start 3 new wars
Think when you vote next Tuesday.
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Werent these guys just in power? They didnt fix America in ’94, why do people think theyre going to improve anything this time around?
Finance reform you term an “excellent start” which compliment is not shared by many on the
hard/prog left.
Health care? Well, check the Kucinich speech on the day he switched and voted for it. He said he saw nothing in the plan which gave him hope it would be improved upon toward the goal of single payer.
Parody comments:
But the Dems can be equally accused of catering to
pussywhipping-fem anti-male politics (contrasted with genuine left-class policies).
Then there is the Dixie tendency. If true, why oppose it? Secessionist politics weaken the US Police State and the Palestinians and Afghanis will thank you.
Public schools? Another wash at best considering the multiculturalism the Dept of Education is
pushing.
Politics is the art of the possible, as my father used to say.
Finance reform was as progressive as they could get through at the time, and Republicans fought it every step of the way.
Health care reform was as progressive as we could get at the time, and Republicans fought it like wildcats all the way.
You push policy in as progressive enough direction as possible at the time. There’s nothing else to do. You have to settle for what you can get.
Many hard-progs accuse Obama of early bankster-friendly collaboration in his appointments, which set an intital bargaining position-and tone-not conducive to the goals of the progs. Assuming his anti-elite poses had any credibility to begin with.
Sure, he’s surrounded by a bunch of rightwing finance neoliberal types, but nevertheless, the Right screams that he’s a socialist, and they are about to make big inroads in the next election on that basis.
This is what is so insane about the US Left. It’s always, If only the Dems had pushed some *real* liberal programs, then they would have one! But instead they pushed some mushy liberal halfway stuff that isn’t even very progressive, and even that got slammed to high heaven by the Republicans and the rightwing US media as “socialism.” See? The American people are deeply reactionary. They’re no good. That’s the shit clay we have to work with. We have to take that US public shit clay and try to fashion some sort of sculpture, as progressive as we can, out of it.
This whole, If only they would have been more liberal, then they would have won, crap is just so lame. It’s ridiculous on it’s face. Think about it.
Then you don’t really identify with such as Ian Welsh, though you recommend him.
Yeah, he’s a typical idiot on the Left. If only Obama had been more liberal, then everything would be going great now! LOL.
These same clowns say that the reason the Dems are going to get creamed this election is because they are not liberal enough. LOL.
It’s so ridiculous.
You’re not consistent enough to be an activist for an organization it seems, as one might deduce from your previous praise of Welsh. His big weakness is gender/ethnic politics of course. Setting aside the complicating aspect of these, he’s right on the broad
tactics of how the Dems should have tried to smash the GOP when it was weak. That is also to say, if it or any substantial change happens it’s ultimately going to be accompanied by very aggressive pols with populist appeals.