Our national charter begins with three important words -- "We the People." These words were on my mind on Independence Day as I toured Berlin, a city where the echoes of history surround you. It is a history of America at its best, in which American military and economic might brought a mighty nation to its knees --only to then rescue it from a Soviet blockade with a remarkable airlift that brought more traffic to Berlin than handled today by any airport in the world.
While the ghosts of fascism and communism are never far away, Berlin today is booming and Germans are confident and proud. In contrast, a recent Rasmussen poll showed that a plurality of Americans believe that our best days are behind us -- something that would seem unthinkable to what we have called our "Greatest Generation."
These are different times and it seems that the notion of "We the People" is over. Unlike World War II, where citizen and soldier each were vital to the war effort, in the last decade we have fought our two longest wars yet no sacrifice was ever asked of the citizens. Far from it in fact, as we cut taxes during wartime for the first time in our history.
Welcome to the age of "Us the People" in which the interests of select groups trump the interest of the greater good. In pursuit of the Republicans' stated top priority of making President Obama a one-term president, Congressional Republicans have opposed initiatives such as a payroll tax break, cap and trade and an individual mandate for health insurance all of which they once supported.
Republican governors have cut spending and laid-off government workers making their states a drag on the recovery with GDP growth at half of the national average. Now they are opting out of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion even though it is 93 percent paid for by the Federal Government and would save states millions in costs relating to uninsured care. Even worse, they are also implementing voter suppression measures despite any evidence of voter fraud in order to ensure that only "us" and not "we" are at the polls in November.
Then there is Mitt Romney, the perfect candidate for "Us the People" as he hides his money in overseas tax shelters and Swiss bank accounts since "only the little people" pay taxes after all. That such a person could be elevated as nominee of a party reflects the fact that today sacrifice is a dirty word.
Consider for a moment the fact that, during World War II, Ford and General Motors converted their factories to military production to help with the war effort. This would be anathema to Romney and his fellow vulture capitalists at Bain who purchased American businesses, sold off their assets and then shipped jobs overseas.
Romney survived a GOP nomination process that clearly defined who was not included in the Republican definition of "Us" -- African and Hispanic Americans, Muslims, gays, women and the poor. Romney's economic proposal contemplates more tax cuts and other benefits for "Us" with the cost and burden to be borne by the poor and others not fortunate enough to be "Us."
World War II had a unifying effect long after Japan's surrender on the USS Missouri. I recall former Democratic Senator George McGovern talking about teaming with Republican Bob Dole on child nutrition issues. He explained while many viewed the two men by their respective partisan labels, they saw each other as fellow veterans and heroes.
In contrast, today you have Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh questioning the valor of his Democratic opponent Tammy Duckworth, a double amputee veteran of the Iraq War.
Republicans refer to Democratic Presidents Clinton and Obama as "your president" or "not my president" and reject compromise. It is ironic that the party that obsesses over including the term "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, could ignore the rest of the language about being "one nation" "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
The salient question in this upcoming election is whether we are to move forward as one nation as "We the People" or instead as the collection of tribes the GOP includes in "Us the People." The longer we indulge the perfidious tribalism of "Us the People," we risk allowing its seeds of disunity to take root and ultimately yield a bitter harvest of decline. But when we act as "We the People" there is nothing we cannot do and I am certain that as one nation our best days lay ahead of us.
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I am glad though that you and I live in America where we can have an opinion and write about it.
Romney 2012
With their "Take Back America" they have declared the rest of "US" the enemy, to be defeated. And if they did manage to defeat the rest of us " Not Real Americans" we would be treated worse than how we treated Japan and Germany after a "United America" defeated them. No matter how you look at the Republican position it would be moving in the wrong direction for America to have them in power. And Power is what they want, like Hitler and Japanese Military did.
Rich corporations are people my friend. And the 17 billionaires buying up the GOP will set the agenda.
I believe where our best days lie depend greatly upon how much power, we the people give over to the Republican Party. As your article lays out quite nicely they are not a part of the “we “ and could care less about Americans suffering in America than they do about the suffering of others in remote parts of the world.
The Republican Party is not a serious entity equal to the enormous task of governing this country, managing its future and providing for the least of us. These human lives are like pieces on a game board to these feudalistic sociopaths. And instead of governing they can only play politics. 33 votes on repealing Obamacare? Hundreds of votes on abortion. Yet these Republicans can conveniently find nothing that is overwhelmingly bipartisan to vote on for the good of the nation? One might be fooled into believing that there is nothing. Yet infrastructure issue loom and jobs are a serious problem.
Just a thought?
Obama/Biden 2012