"You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" -- Joseph Welch to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, 1954
I once was a strong believer in the importance of a strong opposition party.
The Republicans might be enormously misguided in their political philosophy, I reasoned, but a healthy opposition could serve as a useful devil's advocate, forcing us to examine and defend our proposals, and consider alternatives we may not have originally considered.
I was all for defeating the Republicans. But to call for their dissolution was foolishness, I thought.
That was before Thursday, December 11, 2008.
That was the day the Republican Party decided to risk a global depression in an effort to score a political point against a long-time rival.
That was the moment the Republican Party proved it had not a drop of rationality left.
That was the moment I finally came to this conclusion: We may need an opposition party, but we can no longer afford to let the Republican Party exist.
For America's sake, the GOP must be destroyed.
To fully appreciate the complete and utter irrationality and irresponsibility of the Republican Party's actions yesterday, let's consider how we got in this mess in the first place.
Sixty years ago, America's manufacturing base was a strategic asset without rival on the planet.
American factories -- including those operated by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- buried Hitler and Tojo under a tsunami of tanks, planes, guns and bullets. If you want to know how World War II was won, you must begin with Detroit.
After World War II, this manufacturing base became the foundation for tens of millions of good-paying, stable jobs. The middle class exploded, and America entered a period of widespread prosperity unlike any in history.
And then we surrendered it.
Over the last several decades, we have allowed American industry to be dismantled, piece by piece, and shipped overseas, where labor was far cheaper.
America's economy shifted from manufacturing-based to service-based.
Not all service sector jobs are bad ones. Lawyers and doctors make good money. So do financiers and IT professionals.
But those aren't the kinds of jobs that go to the folks who once would work in the factories. They became store clerks, restaurant workers and telemarketers. And a middle-class lifestyle once accessible with one manufacturing job seemed to slip out of reach, even with two or three paychecks.
Such a trend can be fatal to a consumer-driven economy. Credit became the short-term solution.
A flood of cheap and easy credit was parceled out to anyone with a pulse. Credit cards and home equity loans filled the gap left by declining wages, and America's economy hummed along.
But it was not sustainable. Collapse was inevitable -- and collapse eventually came in 2008.
Credit is no longer available to consumers. And when 70% of the economy depends on consumer spending, that spells trouble.
There's only one long-term fix: American consumers must make more money.
Today, one of the last vestiges of our former economy teeters on the brink of insolvency. The Big Three are indeed badly broken and flawed.
But they and their suppliers provide three million Americans with a steady source of income sufficient to support a middle-class life -- the exact type of jobs we must maintain and create if we are to create a sustainable economy once again.
And why did the Republicans torpedo the Big Three's lifeline?
Because they think those three million workers make too much money.
In the midst of one of the worst downward spirals in consumer spending since the Great Depression, Senate Republicans pushed for a massive reduction in wages for millions of Americans -- and are perfectly happy to risk economic catastrophe if they don't get their way.
Memo to Sen. McConnell, Corker, Ensign, and any other Republican asshole trying to blame this mess on the UAW:
-- We are a consumer-driven economy. 70% of our GDP comes from consumer spending.
-- Our recession is being caused by the reduction of consumer spending, due both to layoffs and credit restrictions.
-- Your "solution" would dramatically and permanently reduce the income of three million American consumers.
-- Your "alternative" -- allow the Big Three to collapse -- would eliminate the income of three million American consumers, and probably push several Rust Belt states into depression.
As Joseph Welch said to another Republican ideologue, 50 years ago:
"You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Is the wholesale dismantling of America's once mighty industrial base not enough for you?
Is helping deprive millions of middle-class workers of good paying jobs not enough?
Is forking over trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy -- paid for by saddling future generations with trillions in debt -- not sufficient?
Is the initiation of a war that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands, based on lies and bogus "evidence," not far enough?
Is the full-throated embrace of torture -- a practice that goes against everything America is supposed to stand for -- not enough of a legacy?
Is the reckless deregulation of our entire financial system -- an experiment that has left us on the brink of depression, and cost tens of millions their jobs and their homes -- not good enough for the GOP?
All that isn't enough? You won't be happy until the last vestiges of America's once mighty middle class are totally destroyed?
Have you no decency, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
The Republican Party has shown it cares about nothing -- nothing -- other than adherence to a failed and broken ideology... even if that means the destruction of our entire economy.
Yes, we do need an opposition party.
But we cannot afford this one. Not any more.
It is no longer enough to defeat the GOP.
It must be annihilated.