Intro to Peace

Wednesday, August 16, 2006  -  reddit

I'm doing a long piece on politics that has me a bit stumped. Today, Republicans call Democrats obstructionists for using filibusters to stop legislation they don't want passed but can't stop with votes alone. They also like to say that we have no ideas of our own, that our only idea is to disagree with their ideas. Of course these things aren't true, and they know they aren't true. But it makes a good sound byte.

So I looked back to 1994 when our positions were reversed. There was a fresh Democratic face in the White House that would soon reshape the economy in a staggering way, at times creating as many as 250,000 new jobs per month. Teams of people in the West Wing were working on ways to streamline the federal government, reducing redundant jobs, cutting costs, turning 3,000 page laws into 200 page laws that were better than what they replaced in every way imaginable, with the side effect of being easier to understand.

Our ideas were passing laws to reduce crime, put more cops on the street, bring health coverage as close to 100% as possible, invigorate the economy, increase education spending while also increasing education quality, and bring peace to places like Ireland and the Middle East, just to name a few. We compromised with Republicans by cutting taxes, but we cut them for the people that needed them, not for the rich. Republicans who were true fiscal conservatives voted with us to cut spending where needed, while still finding the cash to keep pension funds alive.

The result was swift. We all got kicked out of office, replaced by the following ideas:

• Peace at the barrel of a gun.
• Cause massive job losses.
• Aggravate the already growing problem of terrorism.
• Let more guns onto the streets.
• Cut funding to Medicare, and Education.
• Inject religion into Government.
• Never, ever compromise on anything.

I though illustrating the hypocrisy and bull would require more effort than it really did, but I find myself in a position where I don't have to stop if I don't want to. History is filled with numerous examples of Republicans being so near sighted that if left to their own devices for a long enough period of time, they would literally return us to caves. They try their best to bankrupt us, they get us into more fights than we can handle alone, and they divide the country at every opportunity, then laugh about it as if Americans hating other Americans was not only acceptable, but good thing. Worst of all, they don't care about any of that, only getting their way.

It's almost too much to believe, because it happens every time we let them run the country. By every possible measure, the country was near one of its best runs ever under Clinton. Maybe he wasn't the best we've ever had, and surely not all of our good fortunes can be attributed to Clinton and Democrats during that period, but you better damn well recognize that most of them can be directly traced back to them eventually. Life was so much better than it is now, and the country turned their backs on Democrats because we gave them such a good way of living. Our sin was being too successful. We were replaced simply because Republicans didn't like us.

Now here we sit, on the verge of taking power from the hands of the teenagers that weren't ready for the responsibility they were given. They never are, and in a dozen years when the country is back on its feet, it'll happen all over again. Republican voters will be back to enjoying the good life we provide, and then they'll remember that they don't like us very much, and we'll be right back where we started. And this time, I have proof.