“Rather
than helping to cure the economic malaise, the Republicans have
dusted off their credo from the days of the Great Depression: 'If you
can’t sit at the head of the table, piss in the soup!' The
obstructionist tactics they employed at that time helped President
Franklin Roosevelt get elected to four consecutive terms. And what
did the Republicans learn from that? Well, they introduced the
Constitutional Amendment that now prevents any President from getting
elected to more than two terms.”
The
post from which the excerpt quoted above was taken was born out of
anger and frustration over the fact that there were too many people,
including Barack Obama, who were ignoring all of the evidence and
acting as if the latest iteration of the far right Republicans who
had gained control of the Republican Party could actually be
persuaded to accept the responsibility the loyal opposition has to
put the vital interests of this great country ahead of partisan
political interests. Predictably all of President Obama's reasonable
efforts to reach comprises with Speaker Boehner were in vain. Thus
we experienced two government shut downs and a refusal to raise the
debt ceiling that resulted in a downgrading of America's credit
rating. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Mitch McConnell was misusing the
filibuster to block as much legislation as possible and to prevent
the confirmation of as many judges and cabinet members as possible.
Indeed Mitch McConnell's stated goal was to make Barack Obama “a
one term President.”
I
was so angry that I wrote another post entitled, “Kick Harry Reid.”
Why was Harry Reid not fighting back? Why was he letting the
Republicans pervert the filibuster into the tool of an unprincipled,
and obstructionist minority that was conflating partisan concerns
with legitimate interests? As I warned at that time: “it is
downright delusional to think that the filibuster will be available
in the future when the Democrats might want to prevent the
Republicans from doing something outrageous. The Republicans have no
qualms about changing any rule that seems inconvenient to them.”
Unfortunately I was far too prescient. Harry Reid finally used the
nuclear option to eliminate the filibuster in regard to the
confirmation of cabinet members and judges, but he preserved the
filibuster in regard to supreme court justices in the mistaken belief
that Republicans would also want to preserve the filibuster in order
to keep some balance on the court. Do I need to remind you that
Mitch McConnell would not even hold a confirmation hearing for anyone
Obama appointed to the Supreme court, or that he, McConnell, did away
with the filibuster in order to appoint far right reactionaries to
the highest court in the land?
To
those of you who are foolish enough to think anything has changed let
me remind you that Mitch McConnell is now calling himself the grim
reaper of the “Democratic socialist agenda,” which apparently
includes Social Security, Medicare, the minimum wage, the Affordable
Care Act, and every safety net or piece of progressive legislation
passed or proposed during or after Roosevelt's New Deal. The really
distressing part of that is that McConnell is actually representative
of the Republican party today. The reason why I am saying this is
because there are too many Democratic candidates who are naively
talking about being unifiers who can work with members of a party
that is is so unprincipled and full of hate that it has become, to
use the vernacular, bat shit crazy! Come on people, it is not Just
Trump who is a grave threat to our Constitution and our most
cherished traditions it is also what is left of the Republican Party.
What
is clearly needed now is not a conciliator but a warrior, a leader
who will stand up for the constitution and the people of this nation.
Do not misunderstand what I am saying here. I am not advocating the sort of negative campaign Republicans use to rile their base. We
need a positive agenda. We need a candidate proposing bold policies
and legislation to rest control of this country from an oligopoly
that is quickly turning into an oligarchy and is using its power to
tighten its death grip on the economic well being of an imperiled
middle class. We need a persuasive leader who can convince us that
we can buck the odds stacked against us by such powerful economic
forces, and that we can restore the American dream! But how can we
believe such a leader when his or her party does not even have the
backbone to stand up and defend our constitution from the grave
threat posed to it by a lawless President and by the soggy diapers
who are covering his butt and hauling his water? If we do not do the
right thing now no one will believe that we will have the courage to
fight the good fight and do what is necessary to advance any positive
agenda.
So
to Nancy Pelosi and other timid Democrats in Congress here is what I
have to say: Stop
acting like Republicans who are cowering in fear of the vicious Trump
Chumps. Do the right thing. Start impeachment proceedings now!
Start public hearings to determine the charges that will be included
in the articles of impeachment and make a strong case for including those charges in the articles of impeachment. Let Republican members of the Senate
risk their careers by cowering in fear of the Trump chumps and
refusing to convict Trump. The impeachment of Trump will not be
analogous to the impeachment of Bill Clinton because the nefarious
acts Trump has and still is committing rival the acts that caused
Richard Nixon to resign in disgrace. The fact that Trump is so
obviously corrupt, incompetent and compromised by a foreign power
means that he poses a clear and present danger to this country. That
danger is very real, and it is not something any real patriot can
ignore! You have thought about the risks involved in impeaching
Trump; now it is time to think about all of the risks involved in not impeaching Trump!
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