Politically Disrespected

            As everyone can tell, President Obama is having an extremely difficult time trying to get anything done. This has been going on since he first took office. Mitch McConnell has refused to deal with the President, and John Boehner has refused to approve anything that the President wants.

Here are three examples. First, when jobs were at a premium and no one was hiring, the President wanted a jobs program to fix and improve the country’s infrastructure. This could have helped to correct two birds with one stone. Boehner and McConnell refused outright saying that that they did not want to spend any money. Who got hurt the most? The people.

Second, the Affordable Care Act, which intended to give millions access to health care. The bill was legally passed as there was a Democratic controlled Congress. The Republicans gave every excuse and horror story they could, even trying to repeal it over 50 times and sending it to the Supreme Court who upheld it (for now). Many Republican governors refuse to allow their constituents access to health insurance under the law. Now they want to sue the President.

Third, Congress refused for years to take up the issue of immigration. It got to the point where the President took the issue into his own hands and decided to invoke his right of executive action which has been done by every President for over 50 years and set a law. (Whether the bill is right, wrong or both may or may not be discussed in a future post.) The anger from so many Republicans was so great that they want to sue to President instead of working with him to fashion a comprehensive bill.

In these three examples, it is shown just how much the Republicans disrespect Obama. They call him an Emperor because he is making laws without consulting Congress. Let’s take a quick look at the facts. This makes about 175 executive actions issues by Obama. Yet Bush 43 issued 275 executive actions. So, it is okay for Bush but not for Obama. And Bush was the President who had documents changed so he could validate he desire to go to war in Iraq, a war in which not only did this country not belong, and which destabilized the Middle East and allowed ISIS amongst others to form. To this the Republicans did not object. But I’m digressing.

Here is a question to ask, have there been other presidents who have so badly disrespected? Of course there were. There have been a several but let me mention three.

First there was John Quincy Adams, the sixth President. Here’s a little background. The presidential election at the time was different. There was only one political party in 1826 and after the votes were counted, no candidate had a clear majority.  The four men still standing, were included Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay. The vote went to the House of Representatives. Clay suddenly put his support behind Adams, and Adams won on the first ballot. Then Adams made Clay Secretary of State. The Jackson Democrats accused Adams of making a corrupt choice. Thanks to this and Adams’ disposition, he could not get anything done during his term in office. 

Second was Abraham Lincoln. To make it short, when Lincoln was elected to office, the Southern states started to secede and the Civil War shortly began.

Third was Bill Clinton. During the Monica Lewinsky affair, which should have been kept personal and handled with within the family, the Republicans wanted to remove him from office and eventually tried to impeach him, which he was not was voted not out of office.

For lack of a better word, the ‘war’ between the Republicans and the Democrats started under President Reagan, when he continued to deride the Democrats for getting in the way of his policies. It was heightened under Bill Clinton with greater intensity (see above). The war has continued to grow and stands in the way of anything getting done. This country could have been out of the recession much faster if only every one decided to work together.

In my opinion, and I am not alone, the opposition and intensity of the disrespect shown to Obama is so great that it borders on racism. It started right after he took office by the birthers who demanded he show his birth certificate, then calling for the long form. A ridiculous demand as he was born in Hawaii which was a state when he was born. The South hates him, probably as a lingering effect from the Civil War. There were many other demands and may be so intense because he is the first black president.

I’m not saying I agree with everything that President Obama has accomplished, but he has persisted despite the harsh opposition from Congress. The entire situation makes me sick.

 

Election Results Point to a Bleak Future

             In an earlier blog of mine, “Who is at Fault for a Stagnant Government”, I had made the case for the reason why nothing ever gets done in any level of government. The blame gets put right at the feet of the people, both those who vote and those who don’t.

            In the election last Tuesday, only one third of the eligible voters actually voted. Those who did made what could only be described as illogical and nonsensical decisions.

Let’s first take a quick review of the campaigning. The Republicans ran on what amounted to no platform at all. The Democrats, despite the accomplishments of President Obama during his six years in office, decided to distance themselves from him. They did not seem to have any firm platform either. Also, they did not campaign on what the Republicans negative stance had been for years on numerous topics.

The result was a tremendous win for the Republicans. Included in the winners were numerous incumbents. Many of the incumbents are those who hold beliefs and have acted contrary to the progress of this country. And the public have an 8% approval rating for Congress and they vote for the incumbents who create the stagnation? Where is the logic in this?

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback took his state from one with a tremendous surplus and turned it into a sinkhole of a deficit, because he ended corporate taxes. Yet the voters returned him to office because his opponent had a lap dance decades ago.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton who opposes everything scientific, refutes climate change and evolution, voted for higher loan rates on student loans, in favor of outsourcing, and many other things which move this country in the wrong direction, was also re-elected.

Michael Grimm from Staten Island, with a 20 count indictment for fraud, was re-elected.

In addition, many states had propositions which the voters approved. But they also elected officials who stances block those very propositions. Where’s the sense?

The Republicans now have a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Now think about those things that they have been trying to do for years – repeal the Affordable Care Act, substantially reduce social security benefits, make major cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and food stamps, continue to go to war in the Iraq and Afghanistan, are against a woman’s right of choice, ignore the needs of the poor, are against unions, not repairing the infrastructure, etc. If they get even some of these things done, the poverty level could increase to well over half the country. This country might be considered as a third world country.

Keep in mind -- this was from only one third of eligible voters. What about the other two thirds? These are the people to blame even more.

With a populace this great, the election could easily have changed dramatically. They could have given the Republicans an even larger majority or given the majority to the Democrats. Even with the gerrymandering, you still vote for whom you want. Being a citizen, you have an obligation to vote. In my opinion, you don’t have the right to complain afterwards about Congress because you did not care who was put into office.

Bottom line, the people do have the power, but they do not know how to use it. A majority of the people is biased toward one party or the other, or prefers to leave people in office no matter how bad they are for whatever reason they care to offer. If I were to give an approval rating for the voters, it would be 2%, as they are the ones who ultimately cause the problems. For this reason I am not overly optimistic on the future.