The GOtP has taken the Majority in the US House, as of January 21, 2011.
The GOtP spent most of the past two years standing on a platform and screeching, "No" and "Hell, no", while Democrats looked for solutions to the nation's ills.
The biggest concern, evidenced by exit polling, told the story that has been heard on Daily Kos for months now...
"Where are the JOBS?".
I suggest that we start a daily campaign to demand of the GOtP the answer to that question.
Since the DLC-style leadership of the Party has obviously failed us - in the Primary season supporting Bluedogs (Blanche Lincoln, Arlen Spector, etc.) over those who might have won in the general election (Bill Halter, Joe Sestak, etc.) - maybe it's time the Netroots takes up the reins of leadership...
If we start a "Where are the JOBS?" campaign this week, and keep on it throughout the coming two years, we can build a coalition of voters who are sick of the tired, corporate, rhetoric that inflames every election cycle.
Sick of hearing policy wonkery instead of solutions.
Sick of legislation written by lobbyists in the dead of night.
Sick of legislation passed by Senators and Congressmen who never read the damned bills which they vote into Law.
Who among us believes that the next two years will bring about needed legislative cooperation between the Dems and GOtP? Because I have no illusions about the GOtP's plans, and they don't include any good faith negotiations with the President or the Democratics in Congress.
What is of most concern to the Electorate?
JOBS.
It's one word.
Easy to remember.
Directly affects nearly every family in the nation.
Exit polling on Tuesday showed 1 out of 3 voters (or someone in their household) lost a job in the last two years.
That's 30% of the country's workforce out of a job, sometime in the past two years.
The ARM housing loans that kicked interest rates (and mortgage payments) through the roof were harsh, and lead to a lot of foreclosures... but it was the lack of a job (and a paycheck) which really got that wagon on the road to hell.
For more than thirty years now, the political meme has been "It's the economy, stupid" - but what that really means is: JOBS. We need them.
So, I propose that the Daily Kos community take up another project. Propagate and spread the "Where are the Jobs?" question, far and wide.
Daily.
Tweet it, with John Boehner's name in the tweet (@johnboehner).
Put it on your Facebook wall, with Mitch McConnell's name in it.
Write comments in online newspaper and magazine threads, and put Eric Cantor's name on it.
Send LTEs (letters to the editor) to your local paper, and put Michelle Bachmann's name in it.
Make the GOtP responsible for creating JOBS.
Because you know, the only jobs those jokers are going to be putting any effort into creating will be six or seven figure Bankster positions on Wall Street or in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) - jobs which will, in turn, send campaign donations right back to them for their next election cycle.
Where are the Jobs?
The GOtP pushed conservative, regressive policy for two generations now, mostly by lying their asses off - and it has worked out pretty well for them.
They deregulated as much of American industry as they could get away with - and the manufacturing jobs that helped build the American Middle Class were lost in direct consequence to that deregulation.
Now, the great Middle-Class has been decimated. 401(k) portfolios in tatters. Fraudclosure has and is wreaking havoc in cities across the nation, and as a result, local tax bases are also in freefall.
There is only one answer to all of these ills.
JOBS - for the Middle and Working classes.
So, get on it kossacks.
Ask that question online, in letters, in comments, in threads... put that question out into the ether and do it every day.
On Twitter, link it to the Republican Leadership: @johnboehner (John Boehner) @mitchmcconnell (Mitch McConnell) @MichelleBachmann (Michelle Bachmann) @ericcantor (Eric Cantor) @gopconference (GOP Conference) @kevinomccarthy (Kevin McCarthy).
On Twitter, address it to the media: @nbcnightlynews (Brian Williams) @camanpour (Christiane Amanpour) @davidgregory (David Gregory) @gstephanopolous (George Stephanopoulos) @limbaugh (Rush Limbuagh) @glennbeck (Glenn Beck)
Make the lack of jobs the GOtP Waterloo.
Oh, and please - when the GOtP starts out with their standard answer (to everything) of "Tax Cuts" as a way to create jobs, put the kibosh on that lie right away. Because if Tax Cuts created jobs, then the George W Bush Administration should have resulted in 100% employment... and clearly it did not.
Point of fact: there were more jobs created in the first year of the Obama Administration than in the entire eight years of Bush's Presidency.
In a nation which hasn't seen such high rates of unemployment since the Great Depression, when lack of work is driving millions into penury, how can the Democratic Party fail to address this underlying cause of much of the misery which just handed the House to the Republicans?
I say, we don't let them fail to address it.
I say, we tie the issue of JOBS round the necks of the Republican Leadership, from day one of the 112th Congress.
I say, JOBS will increase tax revenue and help reduce the Federal Deficit, and isn't Deficit Reduction the issue for the incoming GOtP leadership?
I say, WHERE ARE THE JOBS, John Boehner/Mitch McConnell/Michelle Bachmann/Eric Cantor, et al?
WHERE ARE THE JOBS?