Those who know history are doomed to suffer the slings and arrows flung by those who do not know history--and also by those who know history but who choose to put their own gain ahead of what's best for the country.
So much for the era of post-partisanship. The Republicans in Congress are kicking up a stink about provisions in the president's economic stimulus bill, even though Obama has already caved in to most of their demands regarding tax cuts. They aren't offering anything new, and the voters repudiated them in November, but it doesn't seem to matter to them. They are eternal three-year-olds. They want what they want when they want it, and the rest of the world can go hang.
All this despite the fact that, as David Cay Johnston's book Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill) demonstrated in copious detail last year [and in its new paperback edition this year--Ed.], the rich have gotten vastly richer in the past 8 years at the expense of the rest of us. Something on the order of over 97% of all the wealth in this country is held by less than 1% of all the population. And yet the GOP says we are supposed to give them more and more tax breaks.
Let's face it: The GOP's agenda is clear. The rich on the right are not going to be happy until they drive the country into such an economic hole that the only way out will be to cancel Social Security and Medicare--two of the most successful government programs in history, and two of the most hated by the rich, which do not need to use them and despise those of us who do.
So I say screw the GOP. It would be nice to have bipartisan support for the stimulus bill, but it's not necessary. The GOP votes against it will be on the wrong side of history and will be remembered by the voters who will benefit from the bill's passage. If the goal really is to get the country moving again, it's more important to pass the bill than it is to get bipartisan support to pass the bill.
Heck, take the tax cuts in the bill out--they were put in only to placate the rabid right wing, and they didn't work, so eliminate them. Add funds to the infrastructure spending already in the bill, most of which can be spent on providing real jobs to everyday people within 18 months. If the GOP kicks up more of a stink, remind the Republicans that passing the bill over their objections will help them come the next election if the bill doesn't work, so they have nothing to lose. They should just shut up and realize that they LOST in November and give other ideas a chance to stand or fall on their own merits.
OK, OK. We all know that won't happen, precisely because what the GOP really fears is that the stimulus bill (as presently written) will work, leaving them even more marginalized than they've managed to make themselves to date.
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