As we head into the final weeks before the election, it is time for closing arguments. Democrats run largely as defenders of working and middle class families, fighting against the entrenched special interests that have stood in the way of the changes we need. They are pushing for jobs programs, for health care reform, for curbing Wall Street, for moving to renewable energy.
By contrast, Republicans are marching in virtual lockstep with banks and corporations in resisting reform. Republicans pushed to weaken the recovery plan, and now pledge to repeal what is left of it. They opposed extending unemployment insurance. They opposed curbing Wall Street. They opposed health care reforms that would stop insurance companies from cutting off your coverage if you get sick. Now, they are holding the extension of tax cuts to middle class families hostage unless the richest Americans get an additional tax cut, demanding that the government borrow another $700 billion over 10 years to pay for an extra tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.
So what do they run on? They run mostly against -- seeking to harvest votes cast in protest against the lousy economy. But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a different idea: He wants them to run on the big lie. In a memo to Republicans, he urges them to contrast Republicans as the party of "paychecks" against Democrats as the party of "food stamps." The only problem with this formulation is that it is simply a lie.
In reality, Republican presidents have a worse record on job creation going back to Herbert Hoover and the onset of the Great Depression. And the worst record since World War II was racked up by George Bush and the Republican Congress. Manufacturing lost one in four jobs under Bush as the president remained ignorant of the China challenge and his advisers claimed that off-shoring -- multinationals moving jobs abroad -- was good for America. Then came the worst downturn since the Great Depression, with the economy in freefall, losing 750,000 jobs a month by the time Barack Obama was sworn in.
Coming out of this collapse has been brutal, with Americans having lost about $10 trillion in savings or off the values of their homes. But as bad as it has been, and despite Republican obstruction, the recovery plan stanched the fall -- and Obama has created more jobs in the recession than Bush created in eight years in office. Republicans aren't the party of paychecks; they are the party of pink slips and red ink.
And Gingrich's intended slur on food stamps is simply ignorance. As Republican Sen. Richard Lugar noted, "People now see it's necessary to have a strong food stamp program." Among families with children, nearly half of all those on food stamps -- 47 percent -- are working. Food stamps ensure decent nutrition for children in low-wage families. When the economy collapsed under Bush and unemployment soared, more people became eligible for food stamps. These not only ensure that the unemployed don't starve; they also subsidize America's farmers and grocery store owners. Food stamps are one of the most efficient forms of economic stimulus. The stamps provide customers for stores and save jobs. The least-efficient stimulus? Exactly what Gingrich and Republicans are fighting for: tax cuts for the wealthy who don't need the money, tend not to spend it and these days often invest it abroad.
Gingrich isn't a policy analyst; he's a politician. His intention isn't to inform, but to deceive. But in this case the big lie is particularly perverse. If Republicans take control of Congress and carry through on their promise to roll back spending on jobs while cutting taxes for the wealthy, we'll see even more pink slips and fewer paychecks.
Unless Republicans decide that the cost of offering $100,000 annual tax cuts to millionaires is not worth thousands more hungry children, more families will be eligible for food stamps.
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Dr. King dreamed of the day when people were not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of character....
That "big lie" is kicking democrat Washington behind.
I wonder if the proper perspective were ever given, would the "progressives" re-think their positions? I was not born into this world owing anyone anything, nor was I born being owed anything. I think that the big lie is the one that progressives spew saying that government (you and me) owe a life to everyone. It hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried and it won't work here. It's against the basic theories of evolution and after all humans are still evolving, aren't we? We need to stop living with our hands out and start taking better care of ourselves. Don't tread on me!
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0
2. Listening to the Sunday morning predictors aka commentaries, I wonder how do they know what I, (the average voter) am thinking? OR what I like or dislike without even asking me?
You know like when one (especially republicans) make statements like "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T WANT THIS OR THAT” when I am not even a republican for one thing.
3. And Why should I vote for the same party that got us into the mess we now find ourselves in??? Its Liken to cutting off one’s nose to spike one’s face. Now if they could answer the above questions, I might consider voting for their party members.
The undecided
Money is a constant and chronic problem in our government today. We now overspend by a trillion a year, have countless agencies and government programs that are of questionable value, and only represent one thing: A continuous, open-ended liability to taxpayers, and a boon and opportunity for bureaucrats to inflict themselves on that same public. Let's have a balanced budget, please, and an overall reduction in spending, and programs, and the knee-jerk government overspending reflex.
You need to go look where you left your heart and common sense.
On the flip side, had it not been for Democrats these same Americans would NOT have unemployment compensation, or food stamps to feed their children tonight.
These people, and many more in Congress have been there for 20+ years.
i'm appointing John Hagelin as president
Republicans are evil might be a good slogan for Democrats to run on
The 'comrades' on Wall Street and the 'comrades' in Beijing have already decided your fate. Watch the weak-kneed Obama bow to his masters(2%) when they demand their tax cuts. More extortion...or no jobs for you!
You fail to explain the decoupling of Wall St. from Main St. All we wait for now is the dogs to turn on each other. Obama will cure that with TARP II, and who cares because he just prints money like there's no tomorrow. Better spend those dollars in a hurry because soon they will be straw for donkeys.
Information is the new currency, or haven't you heard(didn't you get the Google memo)? Follow the money, not the politics, which is just a circus to divert attention from the massive theft of the American future. They have already made the bet that your children will be paying for their recklessness.
Prepare yourself, Rev. Jackson. There is more pain and divisiveness to come before we find out how this turns out, after all, once again, its money and power against the children of God.