By Stephen David Foster, Jr.
The Republicans have barely had control of Congress and already they are looking to be one of the most obstructive and dangerous Congresses in American history. Never before has a Congress been so threatening to the daily lives of the American people. The threats and “plans” have been going on since before the midterm election, revealing the hatred that conservatives have for Democrats, the President, and America. For all their accusations of corruption in the 111th Congress, the Republican led 112th is most certainly looking to actually be just that. And their corruption will only bring destruction.
Let us start with Republican Darrell Issa, the House Oversight and Government Reform chairman for the next two years. Issa seems to have an obsession with finding something on President Obama whether it exists or not. He recently stated to Rush Limbaugh that he believes our President to be “one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times.” Of course, Issa rolled that back immediately saying that he “meant” to say the Obama Administration (yeah, right). Issa intends to initiate endless investigations of Obama and his administration throughout the next two two years, keeping officials from doing their jobs properly and costing the taxpayers millions of dollars all so Issa can have his witch hunt.
The number one target for the Republicans this year, is health care reform. Republicans just hate how this law forces insurance companies to be honest and how it lowers costs and covers people who didn’t have insurance before. Meanwhile, these incoming freshmen Congressmen complain about not getting their government run health care insurance before they are sworn in. Its really sickening. Sometime this month, Republicans plan to hold a vote to repeal the law, although it would only be symbolic since Democrats control the Senate and President Obama has veto power. Republicans can still destroy the program though. All they have to do is withhold the funding, which they thoroughly plan to do. It doesn’t matter to them who gets sick and dies without insurance, as long as they get to stick it to Obama.
Another new chairman this year is Hal Rogers, who will head up the Appropriations Committee. The problem with Rogers is that he is considered the Prince of Pork of the House. America can’t trust Rogers to head this committee. How do we know that he won’t stuff his pockets or funnel funds to his home state? The answer is we don’t know. Rogers has been instructed to strip spending down to the bare minimum, meaning that all programs that Republicans don’t like will get gutted. Say goodbye to Medicare, Social Security, health care, education, infrastructure, environmental protection, Wall Street reform, DADT, food safety regulations, etc… Republicans won’t cut defense spending though, even if it would cut the deficit by over 200 billion dollars.
Republicans are also threatening to not raise the debt ceiling. Why is this important you ask? Well, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the United States will default on its debt payments and thus cripple the American economy so bad it would make the Great Depression look like a simple recession. Republicans it seems, would rather play chicken with the debt ceiling and allow America to default, rather than do their jobs to protect the financial interests of the people. And what do they want in exchange for raising the debt ceiling? Republican want a “plan” in place that would cut spending starting with Social Security which isn’t even costing us money because it has a surplus. People pay taxes for Social Security, therefore it is paid for. Let me say that louder to our intellectually impaired “friends” on the right. PEOPLE PAY TAXES FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, THEREFORE IT IS PAID FOR. How hard is that to understand? Not raising the ceiling would amount to a government shutdown as well as an economic catastrophe.
Republicans have also given dictatorial power to Paul Ryan of the Budget Committee. He has total say over budgetary matters. No one else on the committee can vote or have a say in the matter. No hearings are necessary either. He gets to decide unilaterally. That’s extremely dangerous since Paul Ryan is obsessed with handing Social Security to Wall Street. And he could kill a bill all by himself. That’s quite rare in the House, especially since the House is supposed to be the People’s House. What happened to Democracy?
Now back to Darrell Issa. If you read the earlier paragraph and came out thinking about McCarthyism, you’re obviously a student of history. But Issa is much worse than that. He is completely beholden to his corporate masters, going so far as to send them letters asking them what regulations they want him to destroy. Can you imagine that? A supposed representative of the people in the People’s House, taking orders from CEO’s. Say goodbye to the minimum wage, benefits, pensions, insurance, workplace safety, environmental protection, workplace sanitation, etc…because it will all be gone if Republicans have their way. Republicans are seeking to further destroy unions as well. And if that’s not enough, the chairman is also calling for investigations into the Wall Street meltdown, specifically trying to shift the blame from fat cat tycoons to poor people. That’s right, Republicans want to blame poor people for the recession just to take all the blame off Wall Street. Have you vomited yet?
And then, there is Fred Upton, the chairman of the Energy Committee. He intends to roll back greenhouse gas regulations that just went into effect this year. In an effort to reduce pollution and slow climate change, Democrats put in place these new regulations that require industries to install new carbon emission reducing technologies. This sounds reasonable, and Republicans were on board with these changes before 2008. In fact, every single potential Republican Presidential nominee once called for changes to reduce climate change, including Pawlenty, Palin, Gingrich, and Huckabee. Even Fred Upton once supported these regulations. This is nothing more than hypocrisy.
Last but not least, we come to Peter King. He wants investigations into an entire group of Americans. If Peter King gets his way, American Muslims will be endlessly investigated. Peter King must be a reincarnation of Joseph McCarthy, because this amounts to nothing more than a witch hunt and clear discrimination. What ethnic group will Republicans investigate next? The answer is Hispanics. Republicans have also expressed a desire to investigate the Hispanic community as well. All I see here, is rampant discrimination, racism, and hate.
Over the next two years, we can expect Republicans to turn Congress into a circus. Their aim is to destroy President Obama and his administration. And they intend to do it by any means necessary and kill any program to achieve their goal. This two year period will be a dangerous and frightening time in America. Republicans ran on jobs in 2010. But they never intended on fixing anything. All they care about is destroying the African American sitting in the White House. This is about white supremacy and Christian fundamentalism. Don’t be surprised if Republicans even actually hold impeachment hearing whether they have real evidence of corruption or not. Nothing will be achieved by Congress over the next two years. The Republicans will be too busy abusing their positions. They are drunk with power and they couldn’t care less if Americans get caught in the line of fire. At this point, they would sacrifice the entire middle class to get rid of President Obama. Ultimately, the Republicans have no real repeal power. They will simply stall everything until they lose by a landslide in 2012, and at that time, Democrats will not only fund everything fully, but they will hopefully turn the tables and investigate the entire Republican Party of corruption and criminal activity. Democrats can then take out the trash. Until that time, Democrats must stand up to Republicans and fight for the progress they made in the last two years and for the legacy that past Democrats have struggled to pass down to current Americans since the 1930′s. Americans should fear Republicans now more than ever. Because if Republicans have their way, America will cease to exist and anarchy, racism, hatred, war, disease, poverty, and stupidity will reign supreme.