“No, No, No. Dig up stupid!”—Chief Wiggum and the GOP

Today there were two great pieces in the NYTimes Opinion section. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist dedicated his piece to the childish actions of the Republican Party. As the current minority, they are orchestrating Tea Party demonstrations in the streets all over the country to represent their anti-tax principles. The GOP has succumbed to “socialist” name calling and theatrics like the Tea Parties in response to the actions to likely be taken by the Obama administration. Tax rates for the rich (over $250K) will return to pre-Bush rates; which are 10% points lower than the tax rates under the GOP Jesus, Ronald Reagan. Krugman states that these Tea Parties and other Obama attacks are not grassroot movements as presented but products of Freedom Works, a rightwing group run by Dick Armey, former majority leader, and promoted exaggerated by Fox News. Krugman goes on the point out more immature rhetoric such as Rove’s insistence that Democrats want to repay the terrorists for 9/11 with “therapy”. Childish actions such as questioning Obama’s Hawaiian birth and stating he is a secret Muslim do nothing to expand on legitimate policy differences the opposing parties may have.

The childish responses of the Republican Party have also been characterized by a failure to learn from mistakes. They have failed to realize that raising taxes can be a necessary “evil” in some cases. Bush Sr. learned this; however, his broken promise of “read my lips: ‘no new taxes’” led to his reelection loss in 1992. Bush Sr. had to break his tax promise and GOP plank partly in response to the lack of government revenue caused by Reagan economics. Part of the reasons that we are currently in the economic mess that we are in is due to the GOP mantra: deregulation and tax-cuts. Republicans have also failed to see their failures and grow in regards to foreign policy. A second piece in the NYTimes by Roger Cohen has shown that lack of communication in the past 8 years with Iran has resulted in an increase in nuclear centrifuges from “a few dozen to close to 5,500 centrifuges and 1,000 kilos of low enriched uranium.” The past administration failed the entire Middle East by not communicating with one of the region’s major players because they were considered part of the “Axis of Evil”. We worked with the Russians in WWII, why not the Iranians during the Iraq War? Lack of direct communication with the North Koreans has also resulted in numerous testings in violations of international agreements. Actions of Iran and North Korea are not the result of a poor foreign policy but a lack of any type of foreign policy at all. How can America help direct nations that we deem need direction towards American and international goals unless we work directly with them? Republicans must realize that ignoring problems don’t make them go away, yet during the 2008 presidential campaign this was their stance. If they do not agree with Democrats on foreign policy, they need new ideas not the same old ideas that have proven ineffective.

The GOP has not learned from history or from their mistakes and they continue to dig deeper and deeper. The Republicans have not learned from the 2006 and 2008 elections that have taken them out of control. The country is currently turning left in response to 8 years of moving hard right. This does not suggest Republicans should jump the fence and play for the Democrats but it should show them that the country wants them at least closer to the center. They cannot successfully continue to present the same ideas of the past 20 years and expect a different outcome or expect the public to support them. Obama is wildly popular and Democrats are posed to pick up more seats in 2010. A moderate improvement in the economy will solidify Whitehouse supporters in congress while destroying non-constructive nay-sayers. The Republican Party needs to take heed of all the signs and give a little more if it is reelection they seek. If they legitimately differ in ideology they should have new ideas and concrete alternatives, instead of empty budget plans as submitted by the House Republicans last month (another example of childish politics). Working with the majority does not mean go along with every desire of the Democrats or President Obama; however, they should be able to realize that failure to concede that they are solidly in the minority and cannot completely have their way could very possibly cost them the next election results