The GOP’s Agenda Has To Be Stopped. - Johnathan Alter/Newsweek

[WillyT]

The GOP’s agenda has to be stopped.
Why the Midterms Matter
by Jonathan Alter - Newsweek
October 23, 2010

<snip>

Prediction is an addiction in the press corps. We can search for the key to the Keystone State with sophisticated cross tabs of projected African-American turnout for Joe Sestak in Philadelphia. We can offer the early read on early voting for Barbara Boxer in Alameda County. We can practically study the entrails of Kentucky possum to project Rand Paul’s totals among white men under 30.

But elections aren’t just about who wins. They’re about what happens when one or the other party wins. We’re so eager to promote ourselves with the smartest take on how President Obama and the Democrats got themselves in this pickle that we haven’t done a good job explaining the stakes. We manage to sever cause from effect.

Let’s say you’re an independent voter who wants to send Obama a message on Nov. 2. Have the media told you what that would say? Here’s a clue: moderate Republicans are extinct. With big wins, the Tea Party will transform itself from an insurgency into the driving force within the GOP. Gains in statehouses and legislatures will allow right-wingers to use the 2010 census to redraw district lines that will entrench them in power until 2020. Back in charge in Washington, they will likely block even centrist choices for courts. Extremist senators like Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn will move from being irritants on the fringe to players at the center of our politics.

A question for Democrats disinclined to work on congressional campaigns: do you know the GOP agenda? In brief: repeal health-care reform, so if you lose your job and your kid gets sick, you may have to sell the house; repeal financial reform, so Wall Street scammers and predatory lenders can return to doing everything they did before they wrecked the economy; maintain corporate-welfare subsidies that move jobs overseas; reduce spending by slashing education funding; and ending all clean-energy projects aimed at curbing our dependence on Mideast oil. Of course, these policies won’t cut the deficit. Republicans insist on extending $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy and leaving the $500 billion defense budget un-touched. Entitlements would merely be “reviewed regularly,” the GOP leadership says, which is code for doing nothing.

<snip>

More: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/23/alter-midterms-matter.html

:kick:

[wisteria]

1. "Midterms matter, and voters tempted to skip this election should have their heads examined."

Good piece. I put it on my Facebook page.

[LostInAnomie]

2. He's absolutely right, and it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.

The problem is that too many in the "liberal" media are too busy drooling over the "Tea Party Domination" narrative they've had written for them to actually report on what it means if they get elected.

[Marr]

3. Huh. So we're back to majorities being omnipotent things then?

Odd how Republicans can can ramrod their agenda through with a slim majority in one house of Congress, but Democrats said they had to capitulate to everything when they were in the same situation. Why doesn't that apply to Republicans?

The party faithful really needs to make up it's mind-- does a majority grant power, or not?

[emulatorloo]

4. Not sure how putting Jim DeMint and Tom Colburn front and center is a good thing for the US

I get your point. But not sure how letting anti-abortion radicals (forcing women to have their rapist's child), and so on helps the Democratic base.

[BzaDem]

6. Who says majorities are omnipotent? Obviously a Democratic majority can block Republican legislation

so isn't that all there is to it in this election? In other words, even if we assumed for the sake of argument that not a SINGLE piece of progressive legislation will get enacted for the rest of Obama's presidency, wouldn't being able to BLOCK Republican policies and appoint Democratic judges be reason in and of itself?

[leftstreet]

5. We thought we stopped it in 2006 and 2008

In 2006 when the Democrats swept the midterms with antiwar campaigning

In 2008 when Obama swept the country with Hope and Change, a mandate from the people, and more political capital than ANY contemporary Prez.

So wtf happened?
:shrug:

[BzaDem]

7. Then you are about to experience a VERY rude awakening.

If you somehow think it is bad now, you are in for quite a surprise.

[leftstreet]

8. wtf are you talking about?

what 'rude awakening?'

[BzaDem]

9. By mid-2011, you are going to look back on 2009-2010 as golden years.

As Jonathan Alter said, if you don't think it can get MUCH, MUCH worse, than you need to have your head examined.

[leftstreet]

10. You're still making no sense

whatever

[BzaDem]

11. How is that a hard concept?

That right now, we are at the peak of Democratic power, and that we have nowhere to go but down (if the Republicans win)?

In other words, the choice isn't between now, and more progressive policies. The choice is between now, and much more conservative policies? (For example, not between now and single payer, but rather now and an end of Medicaid/voucherization of Medicare)?

[leftstreet]

12. LOLOL 'right now, we are at the peak of Democratic power'

:rofl:

[BzaDem]

13. The mere fact that you are laughing

(as opposed to seeing that it is obvious) shows how utterly uninformed you are.

You will obviously agree with me should Republicans take 60 house seats, and then 15 Senate seats over the next few cycles. The only question is whether you are capable of seeing reality before it actually unfolds before your very eyes (as opposed to after). And you have answered it. For you, it will have to wait until after it has already happened.

[leftstreet]

14. So...what I hear you saying is you don't have a response to my statement

Let me repeat it for you:

We, the voting public, thought we stopped the GOP agenda in 2006 and 2008.

In 2006 when the Democrats swept the midterms with antiwar campaigning

In 2008 when Obama swept the country with Hope and Change, a mandate from the people, and more political capital than ANY contemporary Prez.

So wtf happened?


:shrug:

[BzaDem]

18. We did stop the GOP agenda from 2009-2010. To the extent you do not agree

that is a problem with your basic understanding of reality, not with the agenda Democrats enacted.

The question isn't whether we stopped the GOP agenda now. It is whether we will be able to stop the GOP agenda when they get the reins of power. Surely, you didn't think the 2006 and 2008 elections were the last elections of all time?

[leftstreet]

19. We bailed out banks, e$calated war, mandated insurance payments

YIPPEE!!

We stopped the rightwing agenda!!!!111

:eyes:

[BzaDem]

20. You talk as if not bailing out banks and having another great depression is somehow a GOOD thing.

I think if you polled progressives, they would almost unanimously agree that 25% unemployment and 35% underemployment is not a good thing.

(They might disagree that a bailout was necessary to prevent that, but that is just a function of ignorance of economics 101.)

[leftstreet]

23. Yeah, yeah I got the memo. Fix it Later, Move Forward, It's a Chess Game

Thanks for not ever responding to my statement

[BzaDem]

25. You clearly aren't getting the memo. What I am saying holds even if there is NO CHANCE of "fixing"

it later.

Assume for a minute that that there is no chess game, no fixing it later, and no moving forward. The ONLY question is whether we move backwards. That's it.

That is going to be the reality for the next 6 years from a legislative perspective. The issue won't be whether we "fix it later" by moving to single payer. The question will be can we block Republicans from privatizing Medicare.

[leftstreet]

26. Gosh! Guess we shoulda fixed all those things when we were at the peak of our power!

:eyes:

[BzaDem]

27. You assume that just because we are at the peak of our power means we have a lot of power.

That is an invalid logical assumption. The peak of our power might very well be not a lot of power (relative to your goals). The BEST we could EVER do might be very little.

In the upcoming elections, there could be little upside, but HUGE potential downside. You keep acting as if this is logically impossible, rather than reality.

[leftstreet]

29. Are you copy/pasting from a Harry Potter book?

just because we are at the peak of our power means we have a lot of power

The peak of our power might very well be not a lot of power


:rofl:

[BzaDem]

31. Nope. Copying/pasting from reality. n/t

[datasuspect]

16. if this is the peak of democratic power

we are well and truly fucked.

this is what people don't get: you can't be friends with totalitarians. there is no reaching across the aisle. they need to be marginalized and given no validity.

incrementalism doesn't work in the face of totalitarianism.

[BzaDem]

17. Just because you don't like the consequences of what I said doesn't mean it isn't completely correct

and even obvious.

I mean, do you really think making legislation MORE progressive is in the cards, when Republicans are about to take 8-10 Senate seats now, and have HALF the seats to defend as we do in 2012 and 2014? Do you honestly not see that the battles over the next 6 years are going to be relating to how much MORE conservative policies will be (or how we can stop that from happening)?

[datasuspect]

21. the plan is kill off any progressive influence in the democratic party

the republican party shares the same goal.

[BzaDem]

22. Over the next several years, the makeup of the Democratic party won't even be relevant.

Again, the issue won't be whether we can pass progressive legislation. The issue will be whether we can block conservative legislation. Whether we can preserve Medicare as it exists (or whether it is privatized), etc. We could have 100% of Democrats in Congress as progressives, or 100% as blue dogs, and it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

[datasuspect]

28. so you're agreeing that things are well and truly fucked

listen, if you're constantly defending yourself from attack after attack after attack BLOCKING conservative legislation, what the hell can you stand for?

you have to fight to be in the vanguard. you have to be an activist with money like the republicans to effect social change. very powerful financial forces that want a return to the labor conditions prevalent in the late 19th century (with some extra added medieval feudalism thrown in) are in TOTAL control of the government and media.

the have no interest in the situation of the common working person. in fact, you make them more money when you are prison. this is what everyone needs to understand: we are witnessing an evisceration of the middle and working classes in this country complete with African-style land repatriation (to the wealthy from US); dispossession from the land. without property ownership, most people have no status in this country.

these people OWN the media and control the incessant advertising messages we receive from manifold inputs in our environment (teevees, billboards, bus advertising, etc.). they can influence your thought at will, and there is nothing ANYONE WANTS TO DO ABOUT IT.

the entire system is rigged. a totalitarian regime has been in effect since the 2000 coup. it exists independent of party affiliation. change cannot come from within the system.

[BzaDem]

30. "want a return to the labor conditions prevalent in the late 19th century"

You hit the nail on the head in one respect. The choice over the next 6 years will be whether we have a return to labor conditions prevalent in the 19th century, or whether we preserve the status quo.

It has nothing to do with what you or I want. It simply has to do with reality (independent of what you or I want).

You could wax on and on about a coup, but that doesn't change reality. Even if we assume the deck is stacked against us, as you propose, that doesn't somehow make the deck is going to change.

[walldude]

15. The only disagreement I have with this is that Republicans

will "entrench" themselves into power until 2020. If the Repugs get "entrenched" we won't last till 2020.

[BzaDem]

24. They said the same thing in 1980. It was bullshit then, and it is bullshit now.

We will exist. The middle class will become more poor and more marginalized (with aid to the poor cut or eliminated), but we will exist.