If the hearing word bipartisan makes you want to commit senseless acts of violence, chances are that you are probably one of those pacifist liberals. Just like so many words in American politics, bipartisan no longer means what we think it means. It would also seem that "progressive action" has come to mean being in the constant state of erasing lines in the sand.
All this time so many Democratic supporters were thinking that Social Security and Medicare represented the backbone of the Party of FDR but in the spirit of bipartisanship our Democratic president recently appointed a Republican as the chairman of the euphemistically named National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. That way the former Republican Senator from Wyoming can "save" the United States from "insolvency" by hacking away at Social Security and Medicare.
Yesterday there was this story by James Ridgeway and he seems to have understood what to expect from the beginning. It really helps to redefine bipartisanship and understand where progress will be going under "bipartisan Democrats."
In an article that was collaborated upon in Newsweek by Katie Connolly, Michael Hirsh and Weston Kosova entitled "How the GOP Sees It. What Republicans would do if given carte blanche to run the country", the differences between Democratic supporters and the Republican supporters regarding the issues facing us today are explored.
It is not pretty and it does include some information that has to make one step back a bit and wonder how the Democratic Party has squandered a Congressional Majority that would make most Presidents smirk more than George W. Bush after a speech on WMD's.
I keep hearing from the President and other party leaders how our country needs to get past "partisanship". Well, sometimes it is a very good thing to work together and try to agree but the times we live in do not call for that particular solution. Yes folks, what we need right now is a good round of ugly, nasty, bitter partisanship to achieve progress for the working class.
I found an article today that sums the times up for Progressives quite nicely. It seems that the administration may be "weighing" a fee to recoup taxpayer dollars from the big banks. You know, those very same banks that took advantage of Bush Administration policies to crash the economy and recieve a huge taxpayer bailout after causing huge unemployment among the American people?? Those very banks that are back to business as usual raking in huge profits and paying fatcats excessive salaries. Why are we "weighing" anything??
One thing that Democrats have always proclaimed about our party is that we have a "big tent". Within this big tent we have always excepted many different people from different walks of life. However, recent developments should show us all that sometimes a "big tent" is not the greatest thing in the world, especially in the world of politics. Perhaps we should consider the fact that quite possibly our "big tent" has outgrown itself.
It is no secret to many of us that this country has needed a Progressive direction to correct many of the problems it faces for some time now. I was born in 1970 and have seen exactly three Democratic Presidents in my life. The damage done by Conservative Presidents has been disasterous, and the Democrats elected have seemed to only keep us running around in circles while no real change is imminent to repair the damage.
The right just loves to fear the dark. After falling for the propoganda of fear constantly pushed during the George W. Bush years, it seems as if they have a new leader to whip them it to paranodic frenzy. Yes Sarah Palin, the Queen of the foolish, and of right wing loons everywhere, has struck yet again.
I realize it's a strange title, and an even stranger theory, but bear with me a minute. If I'm completely wrong, please let me know. I'm more than willing to accept it if everyone thinks I'm all wet. I would like to let everyone reading this know beforehand that there won't be any links or anything like that. This is strictly my own pondering on the subject. Follow me below the fold for more.
You know, one thing that led to so much disaster in the Bush White House was that Republicans refused to speak out when their leader was wrong. Instead of trying to change some of the mistakes he was making, they rubber-stamped every single wish of that President. That was particularly dangerous to our country when the Republican Party controlled both the Congress and the White House. That attitude caused many of the failed policies that got us into two wars incompetently, and crashed the economy.
Today, there was a lot of news on the Healthcare front. It seems as if everyone is having some kind of problem or another with the way things are going. We have Corporate Democrats and Republicans who seemingly want no reform and are stalling for time, we have others calling for the states to take responsibility for a public option, and we have union middle-class workers crying foul for being expected to sacrifice even more as the drama rolls on.
One way you can tell whether something is a good idea is to see exactly who opposes it so vehemently. On the Public Option you see the Corprorate Republican Party and their enablers in the Democratic Party opposing it and trying to get Corporate Welfare which asks the shrinking middle-class to sacrifice. Likewise, now that new regulations are being discussed on the folks that irresponsibly crashed our economy into a ditch and got bailed out by the outgoing Bush Administration while the rest of us suffered, the Chamber of Commerce is fighting it tooth and nail.
