What a difference an election cycle makes. For the past two years the President, his party, and his lemmings in the media have branded the Republicans as being unwilling to compromise, as being partisan, and as being everything that is wrong with politics in America. They sum up these gripes against the GOP the Dem's called them the "party of no." These stances by the dems for the past two years are made all the more considering their mounting anger over a compromise on taxes that the Obama administration had hoped to pass during the current lame duck session of Congress. It was a compromise that would have allowed the Bush tax cuts to stay in place for another two years while extending unemployment benefits for those who are about to see them go away. No one gets everything they want in this bill, not by a long shot, but it seems reasonable enough to support considering that not supporting it means a tax increase on all Americans and an abrupt end of unemployment insurance for those that have been collecting for 99 weeks.
Today the economy still stands shaky two years after Obama and the Dems won massive majorities. Two years of massive stimulus spending and unemployment extensions have done little to nothing to ease unemployment and foreclosure rates in this country. The GOP opposed these measures in mass and were attacked by the dems for their stance. They never offered any real compromise in any of their legislation, and to be honest they didn't need to for the most part, they had the votes on their own. Still, they took a very dishonest stance by terming the GOP as being too partisan and being against compromise. They trotted out whatever false evidence they could to try and convince the American people that they should still hate the GOP and made any excuse they could to excuse the Dems incompetence, to this day still blaming Bush for the current economic woes. In reality legislation like Obamacare, the stimulus, and unemployment were measures that Republicans could not vote for. They were completely against our party's core values of fiscal conservatism and personal responsibility and the dems offered nothing in these bills in which Republicans could support. Party of no? Not really, the party of convictions seems more appropriate.
Now with the current legislation we have a real test of how bipartisanship and compromise can work in Washington and who is and who is not in favor of it. This bill is not a perfect bill by any measure. Senator Jim Demint termed it best when he stated that his biggest problem was that the tax cuts should be made permanent. Making them permanent would allow businesses to plan 5-10 years in advance and would allow them to hire more workers on a long term basis. The other thing to hate about this bill is the extension of unemployment coverage for those who have been on it for 99 weeks. Really? 99 weeks and we need to extend it? We have never had unemployment coverage for this long prior to the Obama administration and can anybody really say that if we extend it say... 50 more weeks that in another year we wont see the same people out there demanding that it continue to be extended? At some point you have to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough and if you haven't been able to find a job by now,I simply don't believe your trying hard enough. Lets also not mention that this bill adds deficit spending and therefore is not fiscally responsible at all. Sigh, not perfect at all, but hey, the Dems apparently want more, so let the American people see them for what they are and have always been.
As of today house Dems have voted not to even bring the tax deal to the floor for a vote without some changes and speaker Pelosi has said she will not bring it to a vote without changes. In sum, they are saying "no" to the President. They are saying "no" to the Republicans willing to make a deal. They are saying "no" to the American people who, for whatever reason known to God, they believe will back them in this stance, guess they were asleep during last months election. The dems in their last month as a majority in both houses have shown who the real "party of no" is and sadly, will likely remain for the next two years as well.
-Zach
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