'Pledge To America' sees Republicans vow to cut role of government.
Could the Republican Party be any dumber or treat the American public with more disdain than they are currently doing?
Leaving aside the fact that this is simply a clumsy rehashing of Gingrich's Contract with America, what they are essentially offering is more of the same. They are offering the exact same policies which led to this mess in the first place.The Republican party has launched a mid-term election manifesto designed to play on voter anger at big government and what is seen by many as a Congress corrupted by corporate money and vested interests.
With the Republicans poised to take control of the House of Representatives and to cut the size of the Democrats' majority in the Senate in November, A Pledge To America makes dozens of commitments including slashing taxes, severely cutting government spending and repealing Barack Obama's health reform law.
The Republicans would also scrap the economic stimulus programme that the Democrats say saved the US from a far more severe recession. But at the heart of the document, which is modelled on the party's "Contract with America", which helped it to win control of the House in 1994, is an attempt to portray the Republicans as being radically against big government.
If it proves nothing else, this "Pledge" proves that the Republicans have learnt nothing from the financial collapse or from their own defeat in 2008.
They are bringing the same cards to the table and asking that we should all expect a different result when they play them.
It's simply bunkum. Since when do the people who lost the election get to speak out for "the governed"? And when did this bunch of millionaire, corporate lobby representatives, imagine that they, themselves, are not actually "elites"?"In a self-governing society the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent," the pledge says.
"An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many."
Just how naive do they imagine that people are?
The saddest thing is that I know that some Americans will swallow this junk.
"The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country's compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common good."Yeah, serious problems like making sure that America's richest citizens don't see their taxes raised. These are the problems which actually concern these people. Even as they imagine that they are speaking on behalf of "the governed".
Even as they have the balls to refer to others as "elites".
Why do so many working class Americans fall for this bullshit? Surely the fact that they are standing in hardware store doesn't fool anyone into believing that this group of rich right wingers represent working class Americans?
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2 comments:
Sadly, many Americans do fall for this bullshit. Apparently, one beating with the stupid stick was not enough for us; we seem to be determined to get us some more of that abuse the GOP refers to as governance.
Sometimes I wonder if it might be just as well. Democrats are not doing anything particularly different. Maybe with Republicans back in charge the frogs/people will actually feel the water boiling.
I find it profoundly depressing.
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