It seems that every time President Obama and Congressional Democrats want to pass any piece of legislation, the Republicans rise up and cry out "deficit" then vow to oppose the legislation. Ironically, Republicans barely uttered the word deficit in the years that they controlled the White House and both houses of congress. The reason being is that they really don't care about the deficit. I say this because they used reconciliation to pass two rounds of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, to pass unfunded Medicare plan D, and started two wars without the funds to pay for one. All of these actions increased the deficit.
Now during the days of the Roman Empire, whenever there was an economic downturn that could disrupt order in Rome, Senators and the Emperor would promise games to distract the people and bread to feed them. From 2001-2008 a similar strategy was used by the Republicans. They got up there and promised an end to gay marriage, an end to abortion, and to cut taxes for all. That rhetoric was the bread. The two wars were the distraction. But they rarely if ever spoke about cutting spending. In fact they increased government spending. Every budget turned in by the Bush administration resulted in a bigger deficit. The Republicans were so enamored with spending, that President Bush would get up at the podium and tell Americans to go spend money they didn't have as well. Surely if the government could do it, why not you? Spend. You will be helping your country recover from 9/11. Republicans saw fit to make spending a patriotic duty. And with that the Clinton surplus of $128 billion, that was inherited by President Bush, turned into a deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2009.
The sad thing is that we have nothing to show for that $1.4 trillion deficit. Our schools are underfunded. Teachers are being laid off. Our roads and infrastructure are crumbling. And millions are unemployed and uninsured. In those eight years the Republicans did nothing to address our schools, our roads and our healthcare system. And they did nothing about the growth of government and government spending. The deficit grew larger and the so-called fiscally responsible Republicans grew silent.
But now that we have a Democratic congress and a Democratic president that are willing to confront these problems head on, the irrational Republican party, whose only uniting principle is their hatred of President Obama, have decided to speak up. That hatred has become so profound that Senators like Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky are willing to allow unemployment benefits to run out on thousands of American families just to score political points. And it has led others, like Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona, who stated that "continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work," to blame the unemployed for their unemployment during a time when Republicans are always telling us about how the stimulus has created no jobs.
Well, common sense would tell you that if the stimulus has not created jobs then the unemployed have no jobs to go to. So that would mean that unemployment insurance is even more important now. Oh, but I forget. The Republican Party in Washington isn't about common sense. And the Republicans also forget that unemployment insurance is partially paid for by the unemployed when they are employed.
The GOP will soon blame the uninsured for being uninsured. The Republicans will chastise those with pre-existing conditions for being unhealthy and they will blame the Democrats for everything else. The GOP will do this while they get paid to sit in congress to do nothing and enjoy the peace of mind that having health insurance provides. The same health insurance that, by the way, we the people pay for.
