The Tea Party of old versus the Tea Party of today

Whatever infantile world some so-called libertarians are living in, it’s clearly not the world that the rest of us are breathing in. According to one author, the furloughing of 800,000 federal government employees hasn’t caused a tangible disruption within our society. Another chestnut is the old Tea Party fallback quote, “Obama’s…just pure distilled Marxism.” Not only can a man not be a system of thought, President Obama’s policies have come nowhere near socialism, let alone Marxism.

These common beliefs among the Tea Party base (i.e., government employees, on the whole, serve no critical function in our society and President Obama is a shady Marxist/socialist/communist (?)) have continued to be a distorted but nonetheless real set of beliefs that only increases in severity with each political move that President Obama makes. That is, President Obama can do no right in the eyes of some within the Tea Party movement.

As such, it’s no longer acceptable for President Obama to negotiate with a group of individuals who would no sooner trust our nation’s elected president than they would Joseph Stalin, a group of individuals who would no sooner honor their commitments to a deal(s) reached with President Obama than they would with the Devil.

Perhaps a big reason why we are even in an unnecessary situation of government shutting down is President Obama has handed this tiny group victories in the past, emboldening them to take ever more drastic steps. We’ll never know if this situation would have played out differently had President Obama held firm in the past.

The point is not to place blame at President Obama’s doorstep, however. It is to argue that the Democratic Party’s bending position to the crazies of America has left the door open for the kinds of drastic political moves that the Republican Party in the House is taking. If the Tea Party wants their voice to be heard, they better mediate through the saner elements in their party and let them filter what is and isn’t appropriate.

Government is about running the everyday affairs of society to ensure its longevity and prosperity, not to lay dynamite under its foundations and watch it crumble to pieces. The Tea Party of old was fighting a true monarch. The Tea Party of today is fighting a ghost manifested by its own fears of change and uncertainty. In an ironic twist, it is today’s Tea Party which is the real tyrant. 

Two new polls show Terry McAuliffe ahead of the libertarian who wasn’t, Ken Cuccinelli

Unlike America’s elected officials in the U.S. Congress (i.e., Republicans in the House of Representatives), two recent poll that puts Terry McAuliffe ahead of Ken Cuccinelli by 5 points in the governor’s race demonstrates the sanity of the electorate of Virginia.

One could of course argue that given Cuccinelli’s extreme views, McAuliffe should be ahead by more than 5 points. But the allure of the Republican Party in Virginia has not receded even with the clearly inane views of Virginia’s attorney general.

With the exception of Cuccinelli’s surprising position on the government shutdown and the need for government funding, Cuccinelli has been the poster boy for the extremists in the so-called Tea Party (whatever and wherever these individuals are). The right of gays to marry? Nope. The right of individuals to choose how to have sex in the privacy of their own homes? Not on your liberty. And the list goes on.

This leads to the paradox that is Cuccinelli. On the one hand, he holds identifiable libertarian views, but these are mixed with a toxic brew of conservative beliefs that informs his politics and contradicts his otherwise ‘hands off’ ideology that has placed him in the libertarian camp, according to some political commentators.

The primary argument against McAuliffe, on the other hand, is essentially that he has made mistakes. Is there anyone on this planet who hasn’t made a mistake, or lots of them? The difference between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli, however, is that the former is willing to admit when he’s made a mistake. I can’t remember when Cuccinelli gave a hint during his time as attorney general that he could have made a mistake along the way.

More importantly, though, McAuliffe is willing to listen to different viewpoints with a relatively open mind. 

This has not appeared to be true of Cuccinelli. While much of the country appears torn into bitterly partisan camps, Virginia still possesses a strong sense of respecting the viewpoints of others, even if those viewpoints are different from our own. In this way, McAuliffe is clearly a better choice for governor of Virginia, and according to the recent polls mentioned above, most Virginians think so too.

The fiscal kamikazes: how Americans can prevent this situation from ever occurring again

In the ongoing discussion about the U.S. government shutdown, Americans from every layer of our social fabric have assessed the causes and exhibited the frustration of throwing our way of life into an unnecessary tailspin. The political party that takes the lion’s share of the blame for this latest economic and political debacle is clear: the Republican Party. What’s less clear are the reasons why the Republican Party has chosen to sabotage the greatest economy in world history.

Frankly, however, I’m not concerned about the reasons why the fiscal kamikazes in the Republican Party have chosen to disrupt what appeared to be a modestly growing economy. The only concern I have is allowing millions of American workers to get on with life as usual, without the prospect for a repeat of this economic fiasco every time the debt ceiling needs to be increased.

I’m not concerned with the reasons because they are so numerous and varied that putting Humpty Dumpty back together would prove a far easier task. Furthermore, it’s not as if knowing their reasons would make their motives any more reasonable to the average American who could care less about ideological purity, reelection strategies, the pitfalls of the Affordable Care Act, and so on.  

What we should be focused on is not the “why,” but how to make sure that these individuals and this strategy never see the halls of congress again in our lifetimes. Regardless of whether or not this reckless “strategy” by the House GOP works, it’s very likely that it won’t be the last time a group of congressional Republicans pull it out of their proverbial hats and threaten America’s economic viability.

Once this latest round of economic chicken has passed, the Democratic Party in particular must do a better job at aggressively undermining and showcasing the absurdity of the Republican Party’s ‘solutions’ to some of our country’s most pressing challenges. The Republican Party so often wins the war of words because they scream their message so loudly that it becomes the message(s) to defend against and not quickly shrug off.

I’m not suggesting that the Democratic Party sink down into the rhetorical cesspool of GOP political strategy. Rather, I’m suggesting the Democratic Party find issues that a large majority of the party can rally around (e.g., universal health care), and unapologetically advocate for their positions. 

League of Conservation Voters a “Radical” Organization? Yes Indeed, according to the RPV

Cross-posted fromhttp://bluevirginia.us/diary/10208/league-of-conservation-voters-a-radical-organization-yes-indeed-according-to-the-rpv">Blue Virginia

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According to the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV), protecting Virginia’s environment is a radically liberal thing to do, especially if it entails the Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate consulting with the League of Conservation Voters, that horrendous organization that has charged itself with conserving the natural beauty left in Virginia.

In its latest example of insanity, the Republican Party of Virginia “is reminding voters that Terry McAuliffe's experts at the anti-coal League of Conservation Voters have already praised the new regulations.” The regulations being referred to are those being enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), requiring new coal-burning power plants to limit the carbon dioxide that is released. According to the Republican Party of Virginia, the new coal-burning regulations will “kill jobs.”

But instead of throwing the full force of its rhetorical slime at Terry McAuliffe, the Republican Party of Virginia has settled for criticizing McAuliffe for being allies with the League of Conservation Voters, who has praised the new EPA regulations. For McAuliffe’s own part, he has said he’ll make a decision in the near future about whether to support the regulations or not.

Oftentimes I wonder whether or not the Republican Party has a secret (or not so secret) death wish for future generations of Americans and planetary inhabitants. I can’t quite wrap my head around the idea that a political party would be on the wrong side of just about every issue, not least of which is clean energy and global warming. Can Republicans read, do they care about anything or anyone but themselves?

No one that I’m aware of has argued that disrupting the coal industry’s workforce is an easy decision. These are individuals who have mouths to feed and mortgages to finance. But on the flip side of the coin is the fate of our entire planet. Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.

If we continue down the road that King Coal has paved (with coal ash), life as we know it could be irrevocably disrupted. Unlike the fear that the Republican Party attempts to sow in the minds of Virginians and Americans, this consequence is very real and is getting more so by the day.

So while the Republican Party of Virginia continues to play games with the future of our planet, organizations like the League of Conservation Voters are trying to make sure that we have a planet to call home generations from now. If this is a “radical” thing to do, call me Karl Marx. 

I’m sorry Mr. Jackson but I am for real, Virginia’s corporate income tax is a necessary evil

In the midst of another unnecessary and blatantly harmful government shutdown, Virginia’s very own E.W. Jackson announced a brilliant proposal to ‘grow’ our economy: “do away with the corporate tax in Virginia.” Absolutely brilliant.

Twas at a political stop in Mechanicsville on Thursday that the minister from Chesapeake uttered these unfiltered words: “We [the Republican ticket for governor and lieutenant governor] support reducing the corporate income tax ... from six percent to four percent.” Jackson went on to add, “Now, this is something Ken won’t talk about, not because he’s not willing to, but because he’s only got four years, of course, and he’s term limited out.” Ken Cuccinelli won’t talk about it because it’s an idea founded by the wealthy, paid for by the wealthy, and will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy.

But, you may argue, eliminating the corporate income tax would benefit Virginians of all socioeconomic stripes (or at least the middle class). If this is the case however, show me the evidence. Individuals on the right of the political spectrum like to assume that corporate income taxes inevitably fall on the consumer, the shareholder, and/or the employees of these corporations, but there is no consensus among economists as to who the tax burden ultimately falls on.

Theoretically, let’s suppose that corporate taxes in Virginia are eliminated. Do you think the corporations would stop prodding their paid-in-full politicians for economic breaks and kickbacks? Of course they wouldn’t, corporations would continue looking down every corner and unearthing every stone possible for the next best tax break. To add insult to injury, corporations would no doubt make the same arguments they make now: if the corporate tax isn’t lowered, we’ll have to ‘downsize’ our workforce and/or move to another location with better tax rates. In other words, the tax avoidance game would continue as before.

To say that corporate taxes create disincentives is no different than saying that our world isn’t perfect. To the progressive mind, government is constituted to allow individuals to pursue their role in the marketplace unmolested AND protect and assist those among us who, through little or no fault of their own, need some form of public assistance. As a minister, Jackson should be especially sensitive to the notion of assistance.

In other words, nothing that government does will ever please all parties. Government has been tasked with the unenviable job of attempting to do just that, however. The corporate income tax is one way that government attempts to give a little bit back to the individuals in our society who have difficulty providing for themselves while allowing the wealthy to play their money-making games. It’s not a perfect answer, but it’s the best that we’ve got. 

The Washington Post is toast and needs a new host: McAuliffe outshines Cuccinelli in every way

Yes indeed, Terry McAuliffe has been no Captain Planet during his gubernatorial campaign in Virginia, defining his opponent’s views on environmental issues instead of shining the spotlight on his own. But leave it to our so called progressive-minded friends at The Washington Post to criticize the Democratic Party candidate for his catty aversion to nailing himself down to many specific environment policies.

According to The Post, “But when pressed for detail about his own views, McAuliffe often sticks to broad outlines. Four years after his first run for governor, the Democrat has backed away from his opposition to coal-fired power, and he has newly embraced offshore drilling.” Indeed, one is truly hard-pressed to understand why a candidate for Virginia’s highest executive office would shield his ‘green’ views on the environment from an electorate who, on the whole, seems bafflingly uninterested in environmental issues.

It’s truly unfortunate that political candidates like McAuliffe feel the need to shy away from reasonable environmental policies for fear of sinking their campaigns, but that’s the way it is in Virginia. What would The Washington Post have Mr. McAuliffe do, break down into a lyrical rapture about how great clean energy is? He was the owner of a “green” automobile company. I think we can discern how Mr. McAuliffe feels about ‘greening’ Virginia.   

Not even The Washington Post could stand a four year governorship by Ken Cuccinelli, the sultan of extreme hypocrisy and radical positions. The Washington Post might have a lot more gubernatorial headlines to cover were Cuccinelli elected, but this Janus-faced monolith would no doubt write scathing rebuttal after rebuttal in what would become a conservative harem for Cuccinelli’s far-right fantasies.

If anyone at the Post truly believes that Cuccinelli would be a boon for Virginia in any way, I would love to debate them. In this contest for governor, the choice is clear who is the better candidate, even if McAuliffe hasn’t been as forthcoming about his environmental views as Virginians (and the Post) would like him to be. 

U.S. Census Bureau tells Virginians what we already knew: household income on the downs

The U.S. Census Bureau recently confirmed what many Virginians have felt since Republican Party political representatives began carrying out their brazen attempt to send the U.S. towards economic collapse: Virginia’s household income has been shrinking.

In 2012, Virginia’s median household income declined by more than 2 percent, “the most significant drop in the country at a time when most states saw their incomes go flat.” Add to this uplifting news the continued inexcusable antics of Congressional Republicans who are pulling America’s government towards a shutdown and you have a perfect set up for the demise of a dream that once was: America’s middle-class.

Through the thick of the b/s, rhetorical flourishes, embellishments, and outright falsehoods, there lies an undeniable outcome of America’s congressional woes: it’s crushing America’s middle-class into a non-entity and leaving the wealthy even more well off.

In Virginia, the economic consequences of the Republican Party’s never ending desire to “defund Obamacare” have been even starker than in the rest of the country. According to the director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, “Virginia is very vulnerable to cuts in federal spending because roughly a third of its economy is tied to the federal government.”   And for those who didn’t lose their job as a result of the GOP’s lack of concern, they most likely took a pay cut to “offset” the less than robust economic times.

Never before in the modern history of our country has a congressional body sought to undermine the welfare of so many Americans just so it can supposedly drain the life out of a law that passed both houses of Congress and was signed by the president. If there is anything worth getting upset about, it’s watching as half-crazed demagogues tilt the most powerful country in human history towards a precipice that it may not be able to avoid going over.