Why do Tea Partiers and other GOP
right-wingers work so hard to alienate their less dense, less obtuse fellow
citizens?
Why do
Tea Partiers and other GOP right-wingers fail to grasp that in a democracy the
majority rules?
And
what makes Tea Partiers and their fellow travelers so stubborn, so dedicated to
the perverse and counter-productive policy against raising taxes?
They
can be assured that the majority of U.S. citizens approve the plan the President
has put forward for averting nasty problems raised by the so-called Fiscal
Cliff. It seems the citizenry backs him
even though he has even modified his plan to suit republican preferences.
Mr. Obama has tried to be fair. He has been upfront. He
has been logical, consistent, and diplomatic. He knows that most of the nation
does not want him to yield on the points he ran on in the election and that
Americans don’t want the right-wingers to have their way.
And yet
the stubborn, selfish Johnny- one-notes in the GOP keep defying the President
and the majority of Americans.
Listen
up right wingers. America knows you are
the bad guys.
The President
himself provided insight into why the rightists oppose him. He said:
“I’m often reminded when I speak to the Republican leadership
that the majority of their caucus membership comes from districts that I lost.
And so sometimes they may not see an incentive in cooperating with me, in part
because they’re more concerned about challenges from a tea party candidate, or
challenges from the right, and cooperating with me may make them vulnerable. I
recognize that.
“But
goodness….If there’s one thing we should have after this week [in which the
slaughter of the innocent children in Connecticut took place] it should be a
sense of perspective about what’s important…Right now what the country needs is
for us to compromise, get a deficit reduction deal in place; make sure middle
class taxes don’t go up….”
Though
Mr. Obama’s words have most fair-minded people nodding in agreement, the House
no-compromise Republicans dismiss them.
So on the
first day of winter, a gray, wind-whipped day in our neighborhood, the House
right-wingers have presented the nation with a bleak outlook. The President’s rational
plan is still opposed by irrational Republicans.
The President—we sincerely hope—will stand
fast. Consequently the universal tax increase and drastic cuts in government
programs will take effect at the turn of the New Year. Many of us will see
thousands drained from their incomes.
The Republicans will have
engineered exactly what they’ve been arguing against—a tax hike. They will have
infuriated the nation and proved again there is such a thing as a tyranny of
the minority. Obduracy and disregard for the common good will have prevailed.
It seems likely, though, that when
the constituents of the hard-headed right-wingers feel the sting of new taxes
they’ll howl.
But wait. You know no politicians
would be dumb enough to outrage their constituents—do you think?
---Gus
Gribbin
