Sorry, folks, but politics is too much on my mind tonight. So is indignation. I listened to a most informative Diane Rehm program this morning. The general impression I got was that the Republicans are going to shut down the government as sort of an advertising gimmick, preparation for the 2012 budget. A Republican legislator has already drafted that budget which will, in the words of one commentator, take us back to the days before LBJ's Great Society, even before FDR's New Deal. Ummm, wasn't that the Depression? And it has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood. The Republicans are using that as a weapon so they can shut down the government and blame the President. According to what I've heard and read, it's a risky tactic that may well backfire on them as closing the government did in the 1990s when Newt Gingrich and his buddies shut down the government. President Clinton gained stature in that one. May the same thing happen again.
That the Republicans are willing to shut down the government, sending military forces and government employees on forced leave, closing down everything from the Library of Congress to the Smithsonian as a grandstand move is beyond comprehension. And yet members of Congress will not be affected--they'll get their payhecks. It' time to reform Congress and the rules by which it governs itself.
To me it's also beyond comprehension that Republicans are so concerned about the life of a fetus but then so willing to abandon children once they're born. So far, they've targeted women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and the military. But never corporations. It does not make one proud to be an American.
I am hearing rumors--TV, Twitter, etc.--that many leading Repubilcans, including Governor Mike Huckabee, have urged Rep. Boehmer to let it go. Planned Parenthood, according to Huckabee, is an infintestimal issue. Some predict a compromise before midnight, but I'm not sure. I hope I'm wrong, but I think having gone this far, Rep. Boehmer is not going to turn back. It will be on his watch--and his conscience--and may the voters realize that next time they go to the polls.
I''m watching an Army wife in Germany who says her family will suffer if that have to go one week without a paycheck. "It makes no sense to me," she says. "What are they fighting about?" What, indeed? Egos? Power?
Apparently no one expects the shutdown to last past the weekend--it is after all for show and absolutely meaningless. Kudos to President Obama and Senator Reid for not being bullied.
3 comments:
Last week I emailed Senator Hutchison, asking some specific questions. Her answer was canned boilerplate and in no way answered what I had asked. I am at the point of opting out of the political process completely,It does absolutely no good. I will neither vote nor communicate with these people. The representatives in Washington don't care as long as they get paid and get their own considerable benefits. I am totally disgusted with the whole political process. They are owned, body and soul, by the special interest groups and the very wealthy.
Sally Jackson
I agree, but I decided tonight it's important to express our opinons. Remember how Germans ket quiet as the Holacaust crept up on them. I did write Rep. Boehmer last night, told him not to reply, and got a canned reply anyway. But I wasn't posting for politicians--I was posting for voters.
In Texas we liberals are stuck--writing our senators, representatives, etc. does no good--they're all party-line Republicans. Very frustrating.
I am beyond disgusted. I blame our distorted approach to campaign funding where those with the most $ (namely corporations and some people named Koch) have to be pandered to. We're turning into an oligarchy, and that's not good, for us or the planet.
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