Yesterday the Republican party released a booklet called the "GOP Pledge to America." You can read it here if you want.
It's everything you'd expect. The first page is literally filled with accusations that the arrogant, elitist Democrats hate freedom. "What's worse, the most important decisions are made behind closed doors, where a flurry of backroom deals has supplanted the will of the people." It almost sounds like they're describing John Boehner. Or, you know, their entire party. Because the booklet was written by a corporate lobbyist.
How about this? John Boehner is a corrupt pile of shit. I think it's a good idea to not elect a Speaker who openly passed out bribes on the House floor.
In addition to recycled propaganda, the Pledge to America also contains the same policies of the Bush administration that were responsible for the economic collapse. Yesterday morning, Boehner said himself that “We are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.” Like we needed to be reminded.
I want to know why Republicans claim to be fiscally responsible. The Pledge claimed that some unspecified budget cuts will save a trillion dollars over the next decade. But they don't justify how they can support the Bush tax cuts, which will add 3.7 trillion dollars to the national debt (not to mention tax cuts don't do jack shit for the economy anyway).
As Paul Krugman mentioned, Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has taken a look at this pledge.
As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”
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And the G.O.P. itself used to make more sense than it does now. Ronald Reagan’s claim that cutting taxes would actually increase revenue was wishful thinking, but at least he had some kind of theory behind his proposals. When former President George W. Bush campaigned for big tax cuts in 2000, he claimed that these cuts were affordable given (unrealistic) projections of future budget surpluses. Now, however, Republicans aren’t even pretending that their numbers add up.
So how did we get to the point where one of our two major political parties isn’t even trying to make sense?
The answer isn’t a secret. The late Irving Kristol, one of the intellectual godfathers of modern conservatism, once wrote frankly about why he threw his support behind tax cuts that would worsen the budget deficit: his task, as he saw it, was to create a Republican majority, “so political effectiveness was the priority, not the accounting deficiencies of government.” In short, say whatever it takes to gain power. That’s a philosophy that now, more than ever, holds sway in the movement Kristol helped shape.
But as I make abundantly clear in this blog, I vote primarily on social issues. The pledge didn't mention social issues very much, aside from "We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values." I can't even describe in words how much this pisses me off. Liberals are not anti-family, homosexuals are human beings who deserve rights, abortion will never be illegal, and America is not a theocracy. They couldn't be more god damn wrong on these things. If social issues were brought to the forefront of political discussion, there's no doubt in my mind Republicans wouldn't stand a chance in November. But unfortunately, Americans don't really give a shit about human rights in the middle of a terrible economy. Instead, emotions run high in a terrible economy, and Americans are susceptible to blatant lies. It's a god damn miracle no one has emerged from the GOP with any actual charisma. America would be so fucked.
This video is making its rounds on reddit. It's a clip from the West Wing. It's pretty self-masturbatory, but god damn, does it feel good.
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