In 1776, Thomas Paine began his series of pamphlets entitled, The American Crisis with the famous words, "These are the times that try men's souls." If Paine were alive today he would express the same sentiment regarding the current American crises. We have big problems yet we can't come together enough to solve even the simple ones. We've faced tremendous challenges throughout or history, but right now whether we're talking about routine matters such as raising the debt ceiling or vexing, intractable problems such as our dismal employment situation, all struggles have been exacerbated because, among other things, Republicans have decided to cut off the country's nose to spite the president's face.
Conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers are cheering on GOP lawmakers who seek first and foremost to obstruct President Obama at every turn. If their opposition happens to mesh with a principled stand, so much the better, but in the absence of a good reason or anything resembling integrity, they'll oppose the president anyway. Of course if al-Qaeda had hatched such a plan to paralyze our national government, rendering us incapable of dealing with our pressing issues, these very same right-wingers would become hysterical and pour into the streets in a blind rage with three or four guns apiece in tow. Sadly, Republican lawmakers have been ideologically hijacked by the fringe elements of their party and, consequently, while our nation is foundering, these legislators who are well paid to be part of the solution, have become a conspicuous part of the problem.
The employment situation is still a nightmare. As I said in a previous post, we need to add at least 125,000 jobs per month just to essentially maintain the status quo. Thus, from June 1, 2000-June 30, 2011 (133 months) we needed to add over 16.6 million jobs, but we actually lost 868,000 jobs over that period, leaving us 17.5 million jobs in the hole. I don't blame President Obama for the job losses that have occurred since he took office 30 months ago any more than I would blame a pitcher for his dreadful 1-7 win loss record if four of the eight guys playing behind him have been bribed by gamblers to purposely lose ballgames. The Republican Party has made dimming President Obama's reelection prospects a top priority, and in their eyes, deliberately prolonging the agony of the American people is nothing more than acceptable collateral damage.
I know that people are upset. I understand that the Tea Party faithful could (and did) weather economic hard times with a president they kind of liked and economic good times with a president they didn't like, but hard times with a black Democratic president named Barack Obama was more than they could endure and they were sucked into a vortex of paranoia and unbridled hatred. What I don't understand is why so many people of comparatively modest means insist on throwing themselves on live grenades just so the very rich won't have to be bothered by those distracting explosion sounds.
Republicans have at every opportunity replaced the term "wealthiest Americans" with the term "job creators" and made these people sacred cows we disturb at our peril. However, our wars and other endeavors must be paid for by someone, so every dollar those at the top don't contribute must come from those below them on the economic ladder. More importantly, the notion that increasing taxes on those with the highest incomes will cost us jobs is questionable at best. In 1993 Republicans thundered the same warning as Bill Clinton raised taxes on top earners. However, what followed was the greatest expansion of jobs in our country's history. Right after that boom, George W. Bush lowered taxes on the economic elite, unleashing the worst prolonged period of job losses since the Great Depression. This would suggest two lessons about the claim that we need to cut taxes on the very rich or we'll lose jobs: First, ignoring this and doing the polar opposite can yield the best results we've ever seen and, secondly, following this advice can unleash a gut-wrenching catastrophe for all but the extremely wealthy.
