Austerity: The GOP's Self Inflicted Wound
Failure to Communicate: Some GOP Frontrunners
With several of the potential GOP front-runners for the Party's 2016 Presidential Nomination, set to take a running start for the big White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they've already handicapped themselves right out of the gate. Some are far to moderate for their far right ultra conservative base, while others are inextricably linked to their far right base with its' out of touch message and policies.
Despite losing the White House, not gaining ground in the Senate as well as losing a few seats in the House during the 2012 election cycle. They, members of the GOP are still singing that same old tired song that Americans overwhelmingly voted against. Only this time it's in a different style or tempo, like going from a country & western song to contemporary jazz it just doesn't resonate with average Americans no matter how you carry the tune.
This couldn't be more evident than by their own actions or policies. Whether is Ted Cruz (R-TX) regurgitating Mitt Romney's now infamous 47% comment or the re-birth of Paul Ryan's (R-WI) alleged "Path To Prosperity". Which in and of itself, was proven to be outlandishly wrong by several non partisan sources to be not only not fair or balanced in it's approach towards reducing our National Deficit. Yet here it is again in 2013 trying to balance the budget and reduce the deficit on the backs of seniors, poor and middle class families without an iota of new revenue from the rich and well-to-do.
Still the GOP or shall I say Paul Ryan's budget is contingent upon repealing the Affordable Care Act a.k.a Obama-care, which the highest court in the land has upheld as being constitutional to be law of the country. It seems to me that the imminent threat (proverbial gun) to House Republicans from the Tea Party is what prevents them from acting as once reasonable conservatives of old would do in this situation. Yet the failure of the party to grasp the reality of this whole mess, is that they started this whole downward spiral when a Republican was at the helm of government.
President George W. Bush came into office after President Clinton with a budget surplus and a thriving economy. After the September 11th terrorist attacks, he started what was an unnecessary war with Iraq. As the recent MSNBC documentary "Hubris: The Selling of the Iraq War" shows, plus an unpaid for tax cut (a.k.a. Bush Tax Cuts) for the so-called job creators as well as a prescription drug plan. Les't we forget about the war in Afghanistan, he dropped the ball on that front by not finding Osama Bin Laden. The mastermind behind the September 11th terror attack.
So after doing the math two wars lasting over a decade, the unpaid for Bush Tax Cuts, prescription drug plan and the potential financial meltdown of 2008 equals the staggering nation debt. Plus the rise of the misguided re-incarnation of the Boston Tea Party movement and their totally dysfunctional animosity towards President Obama's efforts to right this ship, bring us to this point in time. One would think that Republicans/Tea Party should be eager to help correct their party's misfortunes. But they're content to not take responsibility for our current economic woes, by not admitting that they're part of the reason Washington is broken.
Trying continuously to shift the blame to President Obama's watch is their modus operandi so to speak. But the cold harsh reality is the economy has been steadily improving, albeit not fast enough despite their obstructionist's ways. When and if they would grasp this concept their party's brand/image might be restored to the once sensible status of reasonable Republicans from years gone by the wayside. I'm just saying we'd actually be much better off.
What's really sad is that average hard working Americans are buying into the lie they're being spoon fed by the GOP/Tea Party base, there's an underlying sentiment that we as a country are in this particular predicament as a result of President Obama's Policies. When the truth is that the "Trickle Down Policy" the GOP has been selling or trying to sell doesn't actually work. It does work if you're a part of the elite crowd of millionaires and billionaires. You continue to get richer as the poor and middle class struggle to survive. Here's a news flash if the poor and middle class don't have the money to spend on goods and services, they don't spend the money to make the rich richer.
