Republicans: Bought And Delivered

Original Link: http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/6904/2010-11-08.html

By Colin Benjamin

Today, Republicans, like Karl Rove, are feeling good about themselves after riding a wave of anti-incumbency into control of the House of Representatives, although Democrats retained the Senate.

Unfortunately, this disastrous election result will further paralyze any notion of advancing a progressive agenda for American workers. Two years of legislative limbo and, possible, investigative witch-hunts by Republicans await us.

The question now is: are we ready to stop this insurgence of political ignorance and retrograde White supremacy at the heart of the ugliness exhibited by Tea Party crackpots and right-wing Republicans? Republicans have made it clear the prize they really covet: the White House in 2012.

As sick as it is, Republicans aren't interested in pulling this country out of its economic malaise. They're too busy trying to discredit President Obama, for political gain.

For example, Mike Duncan Chairman of American Crossroads, a political propaganda group of right-wingers run by Karl Rove, said "It's a bigger prize in 2012 and that's changing the White House. We planted a flag for permanence and we believe we'll play a major role for 2012."

Moreover, they've made it clear this election was a dry-run for 2012. Karl Rove and his minions have promised to continue running ads from now until 2012. From the beginning, Republicans never intended to govern in any cooperative way with President Obama and the Democrats. Yet, voters have just rewarded these obstinate obstructionists by giving them control of the House of Representatives. How could anybody, who voted for change in 2008, put back into office these corporately-owned Republicans?

If these voters wanted to send a "message"to Democrats why didn't they elect some third-party candidates? Wouldn't that have made more political sense? Why couldn't New York's Freedom Party garner more than 20,000 votes, especially, when Carl Palladino had no chance of beating Andrew Cuomo? Are voters that politically unsophisticated?

President Obama's hands will now be effectively tied for the next two years. With a Republican stranglehold on the House all progressive ideas to push this country forward, for regular Americans, will be effectively crushed. Worst of all, Republicans have pledged to repeal the major gains of the last two years, especially, healthcare reform.

Under the healthcare reform bill, 32 million Americans would receive healthcare, while cutting the deficit by $138 billion from 2010-2019. Over the first decade it would cost $940 billion. Republicans say we don't have the money to pay for healthcare. However, these supposedly fiscally-responsible people are committed to giving $750 billion in tax-breaks to the richest 2 percent in the country over a 10-year period.

President Obama, rightly, conceded that the Democrats had a messaging problem. Republicans fought against the stimulus bill, which included significant tax breaks for average Americans.

Republicans claim to be fighting for the "American people." I guess they mean superrich American people. The obscene amount of money --nearly $4 billion-- spent on this mid-term should make it crystal clear who Republicans really work for: billionaires and multi-millionaires.

For example, American Crossroads gets over 95 percent of its funding from four billionaires: Bob Perry, Bradley Hughes, Trevor Rees-Jones and Robert Rowling. Robert Rowling is the co-founder, along with his father Reese Rowling, of the Texas Company TRT Holdings; which owns the oil and gas exploration entity Tana Exploration. It also owns Gold's Gym and the Omni Hotel chains. Rowling has given American Crossroads, through his companies and as a private donor, more than $ 6 million.
Trevor Rees-Jones is the owner and Chairman of Chief Oil and Gas, a Texas company involved in oil drilling, including the controversial hydraulic fracturing process.

Jones has given American Crossroads at least $1 million this year. Bradley Wayne Hughes is the founder of Public Storage, America's largest self-storage company based in Glendale , California. Hughes has also given Karl Rove and American Crossroads over $1 million.

And then there is Texas construction magnate Bob Perry owner of Perry Homes. Perry was a big contributor to George W. Bush and other Republicans like: Tom DeLay, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. Perry gave the Swift Boats Vets for Truth over $4 million. Remember how these fabricators tarnished the reputation of Senator John Kerry, during the 2004 Presidential Election? Reportedly, between this September and October, Perry gave American Crossroads $7 million. Along with the Koch brothers, the bankrollers of the Tea Party phonies, these are the people pulling the strings of Republicans.

Given the Supreme Court's Citizen United ruling, manipulated by activist Republican judges on the John Roberts Court, the wealthy have been given the green light to spend any amount of money to thwart true democracy. The will of regular Americans is again being dictated by money and the flawed political party system which promotes divided loyalty, leading to the "broken Washington" everyone complains about.

The fight for 2012 has begun. The time to get organized, to denounce greed and bigotry is now. As poet Ella Wilcox, in her
poem "Protest," said: "To sit in silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men. Therefore do I protest."