This is the End of the Republican Party
By louisehartmann
You need to know this about yesterday’s midterm elections. Whoever is saying that last night was the demise of the Democratic party - they're wrong! In reality, it's the end of the Republican party. As the money in this election points out, the party of (old republicans) is now the party of (CEOs). So how much does it cost to buy the House of Representatives? Try over $300 million dollars - $123 million of which came from anonymous donors. That’s how much money was funneled into this year’s elections by outside groups. In a full assault on our democracy, the Chamber of Commerce and its big business associates rained down millions in hit pieces to knock off Democrats around the country. Also in the game, Super PACs – or front groups for billionaires – like Karl Rove’s “American Crossroads” and Norm Coleman’s “American Action Network” tossed in over a hundred million dollars to ensure that Republican corporate puppets are elected to Congress. The puppets now control the House with a likely 50-seat majority. And now in power, they have to live up to their end of the deal - legislate on behalf of billionaires like the Koch brother who want massive tax breaks, freedom to ship jobs overseas, and freedom to irreparably pollute our environment - in other words, freedom to finish off the dismantling of the middle class. Corporations were successful in knocking out good guys like Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, Alan Grayson in Florida, and Tom Perriello in Virginia – replacing them in each case with millionaires who adamantly oppose middle class policies like raising the minimum wage and extending unemployment insurance – millionaires who have promised to sell their votes in Congress to the highest bidder. What does this Congress look like when it’s bought and paid for by big business? Look no further than Rand Paul in Kentucky who made these comments this morning, "there are no rich. There are no middle class. There are no poor...We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people. So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone..." He practically spelled it out for us. Not since 1906 has our country witnessed this type of special interest subversion of our democracy. Back then, it only took 2 years to neuter the fat cat CEO’s and keep them out of politics when Teddy Roosevelt worked to get the 1907 Tillman Act passed out of Congress – an act that stopped corporations from messing around in American politics. Now, over 100 years later and a Supreme Court decision in Citizens United – our country has regressed back to the age of the robber barons of the late 19th century.
Comments
#2
The UStream viewer count is nearly 700. Generally, I'm used to seeing ~500. This program is being used as a tonic to cure an electile dysfunction hangover!
#3
NPR: Tea Party is "grassroots"....
Last night one of the NPR commentators reporting on the election results mentioned that the cool thing about the Tea Party movement was that they are a real grassroots movement, "from the bottom up -- no top management"..... I almost drove off the road. He failed to mention that the "management" of the Tea Party mob is thru propaganda and massive national brainwashing via FOX, Crossroads, and a multitude of other bought-and-paid for societal manipulators. All of which NPR might have saved us from, had they done any real investigative reporting.
#4
The view from over here? The left coast?
I woke up this morning and was happy and proud to be a Californian. Californians went to the polls yesterday and repudiated the big money campaigns of Whitman and Fiorina. My happines is tempered by the knowledge that there are still essentially only two parties represented in Congress. I will continue to pray and hope that someday we willl have a truly representative form of Govt where all parties are represented in proportion to the votes they receive. Where a disenting voice is still a voice and not just a vote that will never end up with a real voice in Congress. I was also happy to have voted on a real paper ballot that I marked and sealed and dropped in the ballot box.
#5
Proudly displayed on a neighbor's lawn: a campaign sign for a Congressional candidate who was running in a different district!
#6
The trigger that got Jimmy Carter into politics: Carter voted in an election, and noticed that the first 100 voters voted in alphabetical order!
#7
Senator elect Rand Paul said.
“there are no rich. There are no middle class, There are no poor. We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people. So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone”.
This fine gentleman has no idea what he’s talking about. The first of his statement said “there is no rich” then he said,
“We all either work for rich people or sell stuff to rich people.”
Sounds like Rand Paul and the billionaires like the Koch brother's, are they taking us to a fascist government, I believe so. Many of these conservatives don’t realize that we are all individuals working in a community, we are not individuals in a community. All we have is each other, and when someone is down and out we should not kick him hard, but try to lift them up and out of their despair. Do we not teach this in our churches, synagogues and other religious establishments? So why not stop being hypocritical in practice what we preach.
Rand Paul last part of the statement was.
“So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone”.
How can you punish the rich, they live beyond Paradise, while most Americans live in a condition compared to the rest of the world in paradise or slightly below paradise. You cannot punish the rich by raising their taxes by a small percentage. Most Americans do not realize that they pay a higher percentage in taxes than the rich pay percentage in taxes. I really believe that Rand Paul is in a world of his own and do not have enough life experience to realize that we all live in a community and we are not individuals living in a community.
We can fix this March towards fascism with the 28th amendment to the Constitution, that states that corporations are not people, but the individual person will be considered as people. After all the Constitution starts out as we the people, not we the corporations.
#8
Well, I think that the elections were pretty much unnecessary. President Obama has said repeatedly and has followed through with by-passing congress and signing "executive orders," making congress irrelevant. There is no reason to believe he will not continue to get his agendas through this way.
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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
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At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
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The view from up here?
Looks like the best democracy money could buy; grass roots genetically engineered by Monsanto.
On the bright side, look forward to a 3-party system, hopefully even a Tea Party candidate in 2012. The Republican Party will be attacked from within by the tea-bagger contingent. Here in Canada we have the dark side of that; a Conservative Minority government trying to rule with ~33% of the votes.. In your case, it's the right that bought itself some trouble.
One question; what happens if Pres. Obama has to replace one of the 5 right-wingers on the Supreme Bord of Directors? Can he make a recess appointment? I think it's time to work the system the same way Bush did.
Good luck,
Rick