Me thinkst the Democratic party has missed a real opportunity here to show the American people how committed they are to the well-being of working and poor families, their supposed constituency. Extension of unemployment benefits have been stopped yet again by the Republicans (joined by some particularly execrable Democrats), whose threat of a filibuster is enough to weaken the knees of the ruling party. As I’ve mentioned before, the filibuster is never actually joined, just threatened, and in the gentleman’s club that is the U.S. Senate, that is enough for the majority to stand down. So having fallen short of their 60-vote supermajority, the majority has declared the holiday weekend to be underway. That’s for Congress, not for the millions of unemployed. How’s that for solidarity?
Hey, Harry Reid – time to take the gloves off. If the Republicans threaten a filibuster over benefits for the long-term unemployed, hold them to it. Make them stand there, hour after hour, day after day, through the bloody holiday weekend, defending their obstructionism and showing the entire country how little they care about those on the losing side of our economy. What a great opportunity for you to demonstrate that your pro-working stiff rhetoric isn’t just a lot of hot air. (Unless, of course, it is.) There would be those who call you partisan, divisive, etc. Let them! They say that anyway. Slug it out on behalf of workers, both poor and middle class, and you’ll end up with something a lot more valuable than a weekend barbecue.
Besides, the Republicans are always complaining that their ideas never get a fair hearing. So let’s hear ’em. Trouble is, we’ve heard them all before. Cut taxes. Cut spending. Expand the military. Balance the budget. Invade another country. Anything new there? For chrissake, their “idea man” is Paul Ryan (a.k.a. Eddie Munster), and he’s just dedicated to rescuscitating Bush’s plan to eviscerate Social Security and Medicare. I overheard him on “Morning Joe” the other day saying that Keynesiansim doesn’t work. Well, Paul… yeah it does. Of course, you haven’t tried it yet – your party convinced the Dems to strip most of the infrastructure spending out of the stimulus before voting against it. Think Keynesian spending is ineffective? Try cutting the defense budget or the prison industrial complex and see what happens. For something that “doesn’t work”, it sure has a lot of defenders.
Hey, look… I come from a community that would barely be breathing if it weren’t for government spending. If our local Republicans think money from Washington or Albany is a bad thing, I’ve yet to hear about it.
I encourage you to remind your congressperson and senators that the jobless still need help… and they shouldn’t be made to wait until Congress’s 2 week vacation is over.
luv u,
jp
