Party Accountability

The pendulum swings back on its arc. The path becomes clearer now. Public accountability and practicality appears to be looming out of the mist of cantankerous verbiage. Bloated claims and hysteric fear mongering lingers but lessens even as some die-hards raise their voices to choking shrieks.

John McCain even says so. He’s fed up with the nonsense. Bloviating obfuscation to the nth degree.  Good for him!

As a reminder here are some points:

1. Affordable Care Act began enrollment October 1. This week, Tuesday. That didn't stop Senator Cruz form a 16 hour rambling speech in the form of a self-styled filibuster to support de-funding Obamacare.  First, it’s not Obamacare; it is the Affordable Care Act; second, although Obama proposed the act, Congress trampled all over it before approving it; third, congress did approve it so now it is CongressCare; fourth, the House of Representatives is in the control of Republicans, although fitful control due to the Tea Party wingnuts.

It’s time for Congress to accept responsibility for the program and make it work. Implement now; tweak it to improve it in future years. Like Social Security and Medicare before it, the Affordable Care Act will likely be viewed as a major reform movement over time. No one wanted to fix the broken health care delivery industry and its runaway costs. It had to be tackled sometime. Now is the time. Our generation is the people. Congress is the elected body to do the work.

Just do it!

2. Fiscal responsibility has been shrouded in moral platitudes of national debt ceiling policy.  Here’s some interesting quotes that may open eyes:

“Would like to go over who has raised the debt ceiling:

            Reagan 17 times

            Clinton 4 times

            Bush 7 times

            Obama 3 Times

But let’s just be outraged about one.”

                        ~Facebook/StopTheWorldTheTeabaggers WantOff

Another quote, this one from dailykos.com:

           

            “I didn't cause this deficit.

             Old people who got sick didn't cause this deficit.

 Hungry children whose homes were foreclosed on illegally didn't cause

 this crisis.

Your damned war profiteering did, tax cuts for the super rich did, and corporate welfare did.”

           

Still another quote, this one anonymous:

            “Annual revenue for US churches: $220 billion

             Real Estate value of US churches: $232 billion

             Annual income taxes paid by US churches: zero

             Annual property taxes paid by US churches: zero”

These two quotes demonstrate the imbalances forced on the economy and the role of government. We pay for these imbalances every day. The hidden morality and value structures which favor some but not all. They cost us. We pay for them. And we then wonder why we have crisis points from time to time. These points continue unattended. No fix put in place. Just blame heaped on someone else, usually the innocent!

3. Entitlements are strewn over a broad landscape. These are used as weapons to assign blame for the troubles of others. Here’s quote that might, just might, help you understand a broader point of view:

“When the poor come to the government for welfare, they are stigmatized and degraded. When the rich come for welfare they convince everyone that they earned it.”         ~someecards

Rich welfare consists of tax deductions only they are entitled to, use of public infrastructure to make their fortunes (yes they paid taxes to help pay for that infrastructure, but the rest of us paid the lion’s share!), election laws to secure favorable legislative outcomes favorable to them alone. The list goes on. Don’t let me continue!

4. The fiscal repairmen who are not. Eric Cantor is one, so are Boehner, McConnell, and many past failed presidential candidates from the Republican party.  Cantor gave rise to this quote:

“What we’re trying to do is to help people. We’re trying to do it to help the moms and dads.”  ~Eric Cantor

However, Cantor…

Voted Against:

            Unemployment Insurance

            Funding for Public Education

            Disaster Relief for Families

            Bringing troops home from Afghanistan

            Prosecuting hate crimes

Voted For:

            Federal funding of NASCAR events

            Repealing Obamacare

            Keeping Wall Street’s golden parachutes a secret

            Increase to student loan rates”

Now that’s a record worth reporting!!

The pendulum is moving public sentiment and support toward getting things done. Congress is held in very low esteem these days. Maybe the lowest approval rating ever in its history. It is a well earned failing grade! Rather than work together they continue to fight for ‘king of the hill’ status and the power that comes with that status. 

They probably should pause a moment and see who’s watching this cat fight!  Maybe then they would sheepishly retreat to a safe harbor while other more responsible members of the Congress actually work to get things accomplished.

We shall see, won’t we?

October 3, 2013