Unfortunately there’s not much which is really new about the Republican Party’s
approach to politics. Go back far enough there was a time when Democrats
played the same game. Which doesn’t make any of it the less infuriating. For it
always appears to work.

So what is the great ploy? Obstruct, say “no,’ and insure a lack of success. Give
the other side nothing to brag about. Even if the solutions they offer are
“common sense,” obvious, and worth trying. And stand by your full faith in
unfettered Capitalism, deregulation, and tax cuts. You will have a base which will
always believe in this orthodoxy. And those who are uncertain (the middle?) may
give your side a try in the upcoming election because things are such a mess.
And you can promise to bring them out of the mess.

That is, unless they look at history. And see the mess was created by these
policies in the first place. But how sharp is the national memory? What you see is
what you see and when you look about things appear pretty bad. And the
Democrats haven’t gotten the country out of it. And we face scary deficits what
with all the “tax and spend.” Blame that. And don’t forget, when you support tax
cuts for the rich, claim all that untaxed money will actually benefit society by
creating jobs. And appeal to the sentiments of those voters who, had they any
money, would just love to hang on to their millions or billions through tax
breaks. Because, after all, a basic American tenet states you have a right to
what you yourself have earned, made, accomplished. That’s the American
Dream.

No matter, though, if the country goes down. And what if we actually do become
a third world country with a tiny, walled upperclass, and millions of peasants
scrounging daly to make ends meet. Isn’t that the way it should be? The natural
fall out of hard work, persistence, an innate superiority?

Historically our country has moved in this direction a long time. Since the 19th
century. We have had some luck and some breaks. But we need more than luck,
don’t we? I do wish President Obama would become more forceful. And that the
Democrats would be more vociferous when decent legislation fails. Rather than
shrug their shoulders, say that’s politics, on to other things…...