The Pledge of Sane Americans Against the Republican Pledge
I pledge that I will actually read the Constitution before pledging to uphold it. And I pledge that if I am too stupid to understand its intent, I won’t become a politician.The Republican pledge swears to double down on the trickle down voodoo economics that made the poor poorer and the middle-class lose ground - Robbing the Middle Class: Republican 'Pledge' Lets Wall Street off the Hook
I pledge not to start two wars, give tax breaks to millionaires, ruin the economy and then get mad when someone shows me the bill.
I pledge not to be a hypocrite or a Tea Party Republican---whichever comes first.
I pledge to remember that religious freedoms apply to all religions including the lack of a religion. And I pledge to remember that no matter how much I believe in my religion, I will remember that my neighbor believes in his religion just as much. And finally, I pledge that if I believe in my religion too much I will keep it to myself. [...]
I pledge that I won’t hate gay people in public and then sleep with them in private.
I pledge to accept the fact that John McCain really can’t pull his head out of his ass at this point. It’s in too deep. [...]
And Margaret, my dear, I pledge that I will vote on November 2. I meant it. Really.
As my CAF colleague Richad Eskow has noted, this Pact to Rob The Middle Class has plenty of other problems -- but fundamentally, it's supposed to be a discussion about government spending and the federal budget deficit. For anyone to even pretend to discuss those issues without mentioning the past decade's Wall Street excess is simply laughable. The increases in government spending under President Barack Obama have been an attempt to counter economic damage wreaked by Wall Street under President George W. Bush. They haven't been enough, but they've helped -- just ask economist Mark Zandi, former adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign .
But after watching a deregulated Wall Street pump out trillions of dollars worth of ridiculous predatory mortgages and then amplify their bets tenfold in the unregulated derivatives market, Republicans now promise to hold up any new government regulation that "costs" the economy more than $100 million.
The Destructive Con Job of the Modern GOP
If the Republicans take back the House and (in a Democratic doomsday scenario) the Senate, history will show that it was because of one of the great con jobs ever played in politics. For what is the current political zeitgeist but the result of one long game of three-card monte played for the rubes who actually think they'll know where the queen is? The con is this: Republicans and their media allies have convinced too many voters that Democrats have either accomplished nothing or have only accomplished things that will hurt them. They have done so despite the facts that: 1. a great deal has been accomplished; 2. what hasn't been accomplished is due almost entirely to Republican obstructionism; and 3. what's been passed has been watered down in order to appease Republicans and some of the asshole Democrats. The greatest part of it? That the GOP's refusal to govern is them standing up for "American" values, which, if you think about it, is about right.The polls seem fickle at best or maybe the public is ready to return to the economic and foreign policy debacles of the Republican Congress of the Bush era. Where we had uncontrolled spending, tax cuts for the wealthy, one war created to benefit the Republican party and another war that was screwed up so Republicans could get us into the one that made no sense. We can look forward to Republicans repealing health care for children, seniors and the disabled. We can look forward to government run by nut cases like Sharron Angle(R-NV) and criminals like Mark Rubio(R-Fl).
In other words, Republicans use extremist tactics and extremist rhetoric (for, truly, there's not a single thing passed in this Congress that even approaches "socialism"), and, if those fail, they lie outright. And in doing so, they make their mostly reasonable, way-too acquiescent opponents seem like despicable fuckbags who want America to become part Mexico/part Sharialand. That's an awesome con job: shutdown the functioning of part of the government through procedural chicanery that most people won't give a damn about (A hold? What the fuck is that? We don't have time for civics classes anymore) and blame the majority, which is easy to understand: "Oh, Democrats in power. Democrats must naturally suck."
The frustrating part is that, even if polls now show some tightening in races, it's worked. The con job has been successful. The ultimate plan of the GOP is to make governing in DC so impossible, so untenable, that it ceases to function except on the limited terms of a savage conservatism. And we're making it possible. The whiplash-inducing fickleness of the American electorate is part and parcel of a people who are deluded with their sense of individual self-worth and entitlement. Those who bitch about President Obama's lack of bipartisanship are idiots. Obama gave the Republicans a Marshall Plan of political cover after their devastation in 2008. And, like Germany before it, they used it to grow powerful again.
