Even with Libya and Muammar Gaddafi dominating the news and journalists from MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets each evening patting themselves on the back for their courageous coverage (leaving one to wonder why they checked out of Afghanistan and Iraq so quickly), our domestic politics are teeming with aggrieved Republicans and Tea Partiers whining and complaining about how their voices aren't being heard.
I caught on C-SPAN a brief glimpse of Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) speaking to a small Tea Party rally in the capital where they continue to talk about "taking the country back" and so on, their cries similar to those of Newt Gingrich and other GOP presidential hopefuls who bemoan their insufficient influence on the direction of the nation.
Yet this Republican ire is confusing because for quite some time now the Right has set the agenda and has defined the parameters of what is politically possible in this country. The "conservatives" and "Tea Partiers" are quite convincing at playing the aggrieved victims, but what, exactly, do they have to be "aggrieved" about? For example:
They wanted tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and they got tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
They wanted to privatize government services (including the military), and they got the privatization of government services (including the military).
They wanted to roll back anti-trust enforcement, and they got a rollback of anti-trust enforcement.
They wanted NAFTA, "free trade," and the WTO, and they got NAFTA, "free trade," and the WTO.
They wanted SUVs to be listed as "light trucks," and they got SUVs listed as "light trucks."
They wanted to deregulate the telecommunications industry and establish their own "conservative" news outlet, and they got the deregulation of the telecommunications industry and their own "news" outlet.
They wanted to deregulate the financial services industry and gut Glass-Steagall, and they got the deregulation of the financial services industry and the gutting of Glass-Steagall.
They wanted zero government regulation over the trading of derivatives, and they got zero government oversight over derivatives.
They wanted a strong Chief Executive vis-à-vis Congress, and they got a strong Chief Executive vis-à-vis Congress.
They wanted the Medicare Part D $400 billion give-away to Big Pharma, and they got the Medicare Part D $400 billion give-away to Big Pharma.
They wanted the Iraq war, and they got the Iraq war.
They wanted no limits on corporate campaign contributions, and they got no limits on corporate campaign contributions.
They wanted an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and they got an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
They wanted easier access to deepwater offshore oil drilling and an anemic federal regulatory agency overseeing offshore drilling, and they got easier access to deepwater offshore drilling and an anemic federal agency overseeing offshore drilling.
They wanted a Supreme Court that would serve capital over labor, corporations over people, industry over concerns for the environment, and one that would hand over to their candidate a contested presidential election, and they got a Supreme Court that serves capital over labor, corporations over people, industry over concerns for the environment that handed to their candidate the presidency in a contested election.
They wanted to block the Employee Free Choice Act, and they blocked the Employee Free Choice Act.
They wanted to weaken the Dodd-Frank financial re-regulation bill, and they weakened the Dodd-Frank re-regulation bill.
They wanted subsidies for Big Oil, Nuclear, and Big Coal, and they got subsidies for Big Oil, Nuclear, and Big Coal.
And right now they want draconian budget cuts in programs that benefit middle and low-income people, and they're getting draconian budget cuts in programs that benefit middle and low-income people.
They also promised that if we, as a nation, enacted these policies -- cutting taxes for the rich and corporations, freeing capital to exploit the land and labor of the country, and privatizing vital government services -- we would usher in a period of peace and prosperity. Instead, we've gotten war and recession, home foreclosures and deficits.
So what, really, does the Right have to complain about? Like spoiled children they've always gotten their way but it's never good enough. Give into one demand and they have ten more; give in to those ten demands (as it seems is Obama's "strategy" for dealing with the opposition) and they have a hundred more; give into those hundred demands, and they have a thousand more, ad infinitum.
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Doug Schoen: Democrats' Part D Opportunity
Basically, the Republicans have the mentality of selfish bullies. The destruction of our economy is because we let ourselves be dominated by selfish bullies.
This is all amazing since the Tea Party believes Democrats caused these problems and the GOP will fix them, when the GOP really caused the debt crisis and other problems. The country needs to be taken back, but back from the corporations. Groups like the ACLU or ACORN that don't have the resources to control the agenda and make policy.
Why is the GOP still unhappy? Yes, they have won on economic issues that benefit the largest corporations. The other side of the political coin is social issues that they can't win or don't want to win. Gay marriage, abortion, prayer in school, stem cell research, and immigration policies are recycled each election cycle to rally the right against the supposed bias of the left wing Hollywood media and "gay agenda".
They have had nearly 40 years to overturn Roe v Wade, and while the GOP has had incremental success in various states, they have yet to deliver on the promise to outlaw. They want to kick out anyone without proof of citizenship. They would rather continue to lose these issues in the political arena and keep as campaign issues to yell about.
For a full solid year following 2008's election, "professional left" so-called progressives, on websites like this, were utterly BESIDES THEMSELVES with totally unalloyed, unbalanced [by any prudent examination of any ACTUAL ongoing American political realities] quite self-deluded GLEE, that said so-called progressives had in fact completely, irrevokably, and once and for all TOTALLY TAKEN OVER the political life of [and an all-consuming political power in] the United States of America, on a permanent "no ifs, ands, or buts" basis.
And all that uncontrolled, completely rationally delusional exceeding giddiness, that "We [the ultra-left] have simply TAKEN OVER the political life of this country, once and for all, and nothing will or could ever happen to change that !", was entirely accompanied, I noticed, whenever I visited this site following 2008's election, with an ever replenishing stream of innumerable different "complete and total obituaries" for the Republican party, from both lib bloggers and posters, all of which obituaries were imbued with characteristically overbearingly patronizing/condescending lib hyper-obnoxiousness, to the effect that "It's of course entirely unnecessary to even mention that what little remains of the Republican political party will never again even be able to DREAM of ever even COMING CLOSE to winning an American national election again, and though that's just totally obviously exceedingly self-evident, let's just go over the innumerable reasons WHY the GOP'll never ever win a major American election again, in great and abundant detail."
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*at the very least right up until the time the 2009 off-year election results were in.
When it suddenly became obvious to at least a handful of the "brighter" and more realistic libs here [at least in the sense of their not wishing to be persistently self-delusional, but instead wishing to be brutally realistic and practical about the actual political lay of the land], that even the results of the rather limited # of 2009 elections, such as Governors Christie and McDonell's elections in N.J. and Va., that what they showed was that the crucially important Independent voters, in America, had already flipped IN DROVES, from most tentatively supporting Obama and "Obamism" in 2008, to voting for significantly conservative Republicans in 2009.
At least a good number of Democratic political professionals, "who do that for a living", took that "most troubling" sign, of how Independents voted in the 2009 off-years, MOST seriously, and their very worst fears, stemming from that trend they'd noticed in 2009, were fully realized in the "shellacking" [Obama's word, not mine] Democrats took at the hands of Republicans in the 2010 Mid-Terms.
1 - How many R's go on teevee to complain?
2 - How many protests in the streets - like Madison - of R's have you seen?
3 - How many D's are being recalled?
4 - How many REAL questions and follow-up do your hear on Sunday shows that only have R's on?
5 - How many job actions to protest unfair labor practices and wages have you seen about R's?
Also, shown on billboards on ads on bumper stickers and t shirts.
But don't believe that Republican anger is 100% about policy, it is at least 60% about power. And what anger there is fueled by the housing and unemployment troubles. I believe this because of the timing of the increase in shouting levels post 2008. See what happens if the the economy gets better, or if the Republicans capture the White House in 2012.