The Anger Blog, The Alternative Reality of the Republican Party

The Alternative Reality of the Republican Party. Even as some Republicans expressed shock and anger, most of us breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday morning to have the election finally behind us. No more negative campaign ads on television! We were anxious to embark on some sort of conflict resolution stage that might enable the government to function as it was intended, instead of remaining deadlocked in partisan battles. With the fiscal cliff fast approaching, a solution to this partisan obstructionism hopefully would be found. However, a day after the election, to hear some Republicans talk, one would think they were the victorious party. They feel that the American people have given THEM a mandate.

Many in the GOP are still following the lead of Grover Norquist (who incidentally is not a member of Congress) and Senator Mitch McConnell, probably best known now for his statement following the 2008 election. At that time, Senator McConnell (R, SC) said the top priority of the Republican Party was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Mr. Norquist of course had Republican members of the House sign an oath not to raise taxes of any kind. Keeping their oath to Norquist meant turning actions (or non-actions) of GOP Congresspersons into obstructionism. And now, this obstructionism seems to have been adopted by new U.S. Senator Ted Cruz from Texas, endorsed by the Tea Party. Even though the public in general is all for a more conciliatory approach to solve the nation's economic problems their voices are apparently falling on deaf ears. When asked if he would be willing to serve in a more bipartisan manner to break the gridlock and seek compromise in Washington, Senator Cruz stated that it would be up to President Obama to take the lead and move to the center. If the President is willing to agree not to raise taxes and to scale back regulations on Wall Street, banks, corporations, and oil and coal companies, among other demands, then the Senator from Texas is willing to work with the President and the Democrats in Congress. This is his idea of compromise.

Approximately 70% of the American people support allowing the George W. Bush tax cuts to expire. Keep in mind that Obama had compromised earlier by extending these cuts two years past the time the Bush administration had originally set for them to end. President Obama's plan does not raise taxes at all but simply allows former President Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy to run out. However, the President wants to keep the tax breaks for 98% of Americans and 97% of our small businesses. Only the top 2% will see their tax breaks expire.