Embracing the Fiscal Cliff
Getting a Running Start
It should be imminently clear,that the Republican (Tea) Party leaders in the US House of Representatives are playing a callous game of chicken with the good nature & full faith credit rating of the US Government, as well as our national economy and potentially including the world markets. They're not doing it for anything as noble as the will of the people they're suppose to represent, who got them elected to the seats they're shining with their expensive suit.
This is about power and their own personal & political gains, the interests of what's fair and just for the common good is merely an afterthought. It's a child-like temper tantrum because the American people voted overwhelmingly for President Obama and the democratic political platform to raise the effective income tax rate of household with a combined annual income of $250K or better to pay the same Clinton era tax rates. As I recall the country was doing pretty good when former Presidents Clinton and Reagan did it respectively.
The rich continued to get richer and under Clinton who then took a deficit and turned it into a surplus, which the Republicans quickly squandered on two military incursions, two unpaid for tax cuts and a prescription drug program. They stand to lose more if the taxes go up for everyone than they do if only the top 2% wage earners ($250K and up for household & $200K for individuals). The aforementioned cliche still rings true, the bottom line is that when push comes to shove the Republicans will cave on this issue of raising the tax rate on the wealthy.
It's actually all about their individual images as fiscal conservatives, so they'll fight the good fight in public until the last possible moment. Then they'll fold like a house of cards. But what really infuriates me is that they (the Republicans) think that the American people can't see through their charade, like we are ALL STUPID or blind. The mere fact that I'm writing this article and hopefully people somewhere are reading it shows, that we're not all lacking in intellectual ability to understand what's going on around us.
Another reason they're going to flinch or swerve is they failed at their agenda to make President Obama a one term president. Coupled with the fact that the new Congress will quickly pick up the pieces should we actually go flying over the cliff with a full head of steam from this little running head start. Plus if their individual non wealthy constituents feel the crunch come tax season, the republicans will more than like feel their pain when the time comes for their mid-term Congressional bids for re-elections.
In the mean time here are a few suggestions for the Republican Party, stop lying about the obvious things that they're trying to save face on with the Tea Party (Right) Wing-nuts. The Tea Party zealotry is ruining the once solid representation of the Republican brand (i.e. Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan). Accept the fact that role of the Federal Government is an ever evolving one and thereby a necessary evil metaphorically speaking.
Is the federal government perfect? Not by a long shot, but neither are we as a people. We too are evolving, hopefully we learn from our mistakes in order to avoid making the same ones over and over again. That's the primary driving force behind the preamble of our constitution, "We the People, in order to form a more perfect union... A government of The People, by The People and for The People". This whole fiscal cliff is rapidly approaching so deal with it in a responsible and appropriate manner.
