I have to ask at this point, is the Left so incapable of running a rational debate, it has to paint the other side as a bunch of hicks and loonies and Jesus jumpers in order to win?
Then there’s the horrible crime the Tea Party has supposedly committed against God and the Republic, in conditioning lifting the debt ceiling and/or approving the new budget (that was due October 1) on killing or postponing the health coverage act aka Obamacare.
Well, for one thing, as a Democrat, I believe Obamacare stinks. It creates a captive consumer base for insurance companies which still don’t need to do a thing about reducing their inflated operating costs and their cruel and callused treatment of their clients. I was saying from the start that all Obama needed to do was offer access to Medicare to all Americans. No need for all the bureaucratic nonsense associated with the program, just come in and for a $100 a month you’re covered by Medicare. Then let the insurance companies do the running around and begging and pleading.
As to holding the program “hostage” – we’ve had roughly 50 debt ceiling increases over the past 40 years or so, and every time, or almost every time—especially when the White House and the House of Representatives were under opposing management teams—it was an opportunity for re-negotiating already signed and delivered deals. Why not? It’s the oldest and most meaningful weapon in the hands of the parliament in its clashes with the king – the purse strings. You want something from us? We want something from you.
Why is that the most elementary part of the workings of parliament, and the fundamental power invested in Congress by the framers of the Constitution – why are they presented as a kind of treason?
I differ from the Tea Party on many, vast ideological issues–although it is so varied and colorful, there might be some over there with whom I agree on a lot of things. But I wholeheartedly support and applaud their right, their duty, in fact, to maximize the power given them by the voter to influence the American Republic as they see fit.
Again, I wish my Democrats were half as gutsy as those folks.