Friday, November 23, 2012

Enough!

Republicans lost the 2012 presidential election. Yet, they still seem to believe that they are entitled to rule this country with an iron fist. I'm talking about Grover Nordquist and his pledge - signed by the majority of Republicans in Congress- never to raise taxes at all. What a foolish pledge, swearing never to compromise one iota, no matter what. Did it not occur to these people that they might not control the government forever?

These Republicans have pledged themselves into a corner. They now have a choice between violating their oath or making themselves irrelevant. Having lost the White House and the Senate, they cannot expect the Democrats to simply roll over and give up on even one penny of new revenue just because the minority party made a unilateral promise. This pledge will eventually spell disaster for the Republicans who will be shown up as the extremists they have sworn to be.

And for what grand purpose did these Republicans swear never to compromise? To protect the very wealthiest among us from having to pay their fair share. Taxes on the wealthy are lower than they have been in decades, way lower, and our government is deep in debt - in very large part because of wars started by the last Republican administration. We also have a failing infrastructure, declining educational system and inadequate health care. These things cost money to fix.

Yet, the Republicans insist that not raising taxes on the rich is more important than any other priority: balancing the budget, funding education or defense, health care, roads - none of these are as important as making sure robber barons like Jack Welch and Mitt Romney don't have to pay taxes at the same rate as the people who pick up their garbage. It is simply disgusting.

Furthermore, these Republicans are, for the most part, Christians. In other words, they purport to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christ would be sickened by the policies of these Republicans. What hypocrites!

It is time to say "Enough!" to the Republicans!