Are You Tired of Taking Crap from Conservatives? A Call for a Pushback

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
new york city, New York, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) November 6, 2010 -- Shortly before Obama’s inauguration in January 2009, with many relishing what appeared to be a dramatic shift that would shape the nation’s politics for generations, House Republicans gathered for a PowerPoint presentation. As The Times reports, one slide read: “if the goal of the majority is to govern, what is the purpose of the minority? The purpose of the minority is to become the majority.”

This is all we need to know about the Republican Party during the past two years. And it showed. They rejected and campaigned vigorously in opposition to every policy initiative undertaken by the Democrats. Even when the economy was on the brink of collapse, and we were headed for another depression, and even though they had largely voted in favor of Bush’s stimulus programs, they unanimously opposed Obama’s stimulus package, which largely consisted of tax breaks for 95% of Americans and averted a full-scale meltdown.

And that’s what makes our predicament agonizing: the Republicans played such a brazen political game that they even demonized policies that align with their philosophy. Leaving the stimulus tax breaks aside, let’s look at health care reform. As Orzag wrote in The Times the other day, the new laws will “cut the nation’s long-term fiscal imbalance by a quarter and reduce the projected deficit within Medicare by three-quarters.” On top of this, “the legislation creates an Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel of independent medical experts who will look for more ways to improve Medicare’s cost-effectiveness.” You of course won’t hear any of this on FOX News. Instead, you’re more likely to hear about how beaurocratic measures have been put in place to “get between you and your doctor,” or how “Obamacare” is a “government takeover” and yet another example of “out of control spending that’s gonna bankrupt America.”

And the Republicans rode these lies all the way back to power.

But how could this happen? After eight years of Bush and all the calamities created by conservatives—from Iraq to Katrina to the financial collapse—and the rise of a brilliant President fresh off of an historic campaign, how could the Republicans have re-emerged at all, let alone in the fashion that they did?

The answer, I think, is that in spite of their stubborn ignorance (“global warming is a hoax,” “tax cuts pay for themselves”) and viciousness (calling Obama a “liar”) and stupidity (“evolution is a myth”), the Republicans get one thing the Democrats have apparently been unable to grasp, at least during the past few decades: politics is war. You see, the Republicans understand that the Democrats are their enemy. The Democrats and Obama don’t seem to recognize the corollary.

Consider two classic examples of how this has played out. First, when Clinton was president the Republicans went out of their way to try to impeach him for lying about getting a blowjob. When Bush was president, the Democrats didn’t even attempt to impeach him for lying about torture or weapons of mass destruction! Similarly, the Republicans’ chief agenda will be to repeal health care reform. By contrast, when Obama won in 2008 he decided not to “re-litigate the past” and put the previous administration on trial for committing war crimes.

And this is the essence of the Democrat’s failure...

This is a call for a pushback. We need to educate more people about Obama’s legislative achievements and demonize conservatives for their reprehensible refusal to contribute to and decision to wage disinformation campaigns against the stimulus and health care reform. We must revolt against their rejection of science in the cases of climate change and evolution; and we must never allow them to roll back abortion rights and separation between Church and State. All of these issues are just as much in jeopardy as at any time in American history, and it is impossible to work in good faith with people who not only cling to discredited and backward positions but refuse to cooperate even on issues that they would have embraced if their party had been in power. We cannot afford to lose again, and the sooner Obama and the Democrats start to fight and lead the way, the better off we’ll all be. ..

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