An hour ago word came through that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, by a vote of 256 to 171, passed a bill extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts through 2013. But of course, there
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 06: Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) holds a brief press conference after the weekly House GOP caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol June 6, 2012 in Washington, DC. The House Republican leaders said that letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthest Americans expire would be harmful for the economy and proposed the cuts be extended for a year so Congress could reform the tax code. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
is no chance that the measure will pass the Senate. So the Republicans have once again wasted precious time with window dressing while neglecting to address any substantive issues (unless you count abortion, which is substantive to the members who still can’t get past the Roe v. Wade decision in the early 1970s).
This current flock of snake charmers and con men (and women) who fashion themselves legislators have been a bitter disappointment. They have done literally nothing to find any small clod of common ground with the Democrats that might actually help the rest of us. Obama’s jobs bill, which incorporates so many Republican ideas of yesteryear (read 3-5 years ago) has not even been taken up for discussion. Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns!
Eric Cantor – Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)
It is embarrassing to have a Congress this dysfunctional, this unable to agree on something to improve the economy and tackle the twin ogres of tax cuts for the super rich and Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security reform. Each time I see John Boner and Eric Can’tor striding purposefully through a congressional hallway, I bristle because I know they are on their way to do nothing once again. And what is this fixation with contraception and abortion? Why aren’t they screaming for laws forbidding vasectomies? Maybe they have a castration complex?
This checkmate scenario has gone on too long, and there is no question that the Republicans have been behind it. It’s hard to believe that the public will not see them for what they are, a cowardly crew running scared from the fanatics and lunatics who somehow won election in 2010. Boner can’t control his caucus, Can’tor is sharpening his knives, just waiting to plunge them into Boner’s chest so he can have that prize title of Speaker. Do the people need to rebel to stop this madness? Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Abigail Adams in February 1787, said:
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong but better so than not be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.
Perhaps it’s time for the rest of us to stand up and oppose this nonsense.
Related articles
I think a rebellion may be in our foreseeable future. Especially if we have to say “President Romney”……UGH, that was tough to write.