GOP Just Says “No”!

Congresswoman Kay Granger spoke at a townhall meeting in Weatherford on Aug. 28, 2010.  She was asked why Republicans do not support various issues proposed by the President and the Democratic leaders in Congress.  She gave reasons for not agreeing with the Dems, but they all could have been answered with “We are the party of ‘No’!”  For a musical comment, see my Facebook/Profile page.  If you have seen the Marx Brothers movie “Horse Feathers”, you remember Groucho Marx singing “I’m Against It”.  Well, I sing Groucho’s part.

Corporate Contributions

The Supreme Court decision overturning McCain-Feingold is appalling.  The principle of Free Speech allows corporate PACs to give freely to political campaigns but I would like to see some transparency to the organizations which give.  Show us who your contributors are.  This goes for labor unions also.  Anyone can contribute to any political campaign.  Just tell us who you are.

Wars

Our troops are leaving Iraq today (Aug. 31)–should have been five years ago.  Had it been five years ago, now or five years from now, there will be unrest.  That is their nature.  The people of Iraq must work it out.  They are mostly likely to stay with some form of democracy, now that they have a taste of it.  Afghanistan, there is no hope.  A retired military adviser to Army Central Command said Iraq has always had a central government, going back to biblical times.  Afghanistan has never had a central government, don’t know what it is, don’t want it.  Sad to say, nothing good can come from staying there.  At a time when our cities and states are having trouble meeting their budgets, the billions spent in our two wars can help our governors and mayors meet their obligations.  The public is tired of the money spent and the endless wars trying to teach democracy to people who do not appreciate it.  We must keep tabs on the Taliban through aerial surveillance and intelligence.  Never let them harbor terrorists again.  We fight again, if necessary, and run the Taliban out of the country as we did in 2002.

Social Security/Medicare

Social Security must be preserved for future generations but we must find a way to do it without running up the deficit.  We can increase the income level to which Social Securityand Medicare would apply.   Fraud in these areas should be vigorously prosecuted.  Medical records also should be accessible to anyone who needs them.  A username and password can be allowed to prevent theft of information. 

The Economy

It is improving, very slowly.  AIG, General Motors, Chrysler, the investment banks all are paying off or preparing to payoff their loans given through the bailout.  The stimulus package money went to the states.  Yes, we hoped to see a lot of construction projects underway using millions of the unemployed.  But the states were in such dire financial straits that they had to use the stimulus money just to pay bills and keep people working.  In Texas thousands of school teachers stayed on the payroll.  The unused stimulus money should be used to apply to our debt.  There is plenty of complaining about the government bailouts.  Following the stock market crash of 2008, it was an odious, but necessary move.  No one knows if we would be in the same situation had there not been any bailout, but we do know what happened when the government did nothing following the stock market crash of 1929.  And no one wanted a repeat of that.  People are paying off their credit card and lender debts–one reason for the slow growth of the economy.  It is another necessary, but painful move, from which those citizens and all the rest of us will benefit in the future.  We have to suck it up and not listen to people who say there is an easy way to get out of the recession.  Nothing is easy.