In an article that was collaborated upon in Newsweek by Katie Connolly, Michael Hirsh and Weston Kosova entitled "How the GOP Sees It. What Republicans would do if given carte blanche to run the country", the differences between Democratic supporters and the Republican supporters regarding the issues facing us today are explored.
It is not pretty and it does include some information that has to make one step back a bit and wonder how the Democratic Party has squandered a Congressional Majority that would make most Presidents smirk more than George W. Bush after a speech on WMD's.
More below
The article starts off by stating quite clearly that the issues American's are facing right now are not being addressed simply due to the super-partisan politics being played out in Washington, D.C.
Consider this quote by GOP House leader John Boehner and then laugh or cry as you see fit as to his truthfulness on this subject.
"We've offered to work with the president all year. We've been shut out, shut out, and shut out."
Cough, sputter.
What Republicans Really Want
Such is the lament of the party out of power in Washington. Republicans on Capitol Hill say they have many good ideas and want to join with President Obama and the Democrats to alleviate the country's problems. They want to collaborate on a health-care bill, a jobs bill, a clean-energy bill. But they can't, because the Democrats—intent on pushing through a radical agenda that is out of touch with real Americans—won't listen to them. Republicans want to help the president succeed, but he won't let them.
This isn't true, of course—any more than it was true when the Democrats said the same thing as they dedicated themselves to thwarting George W. Bush. In zero-sum Washington, members of the opposition party have little incentive to help the president, especially if it means the credit for their actions could accrue to him and not them. If politics is the art of compromise, then politics as practiced in the capital is the art of preventing compromise at all costs. This is why, infuriatingly, our elected officials spend so much time plotting ways to stick it to the other side with "filibuster-proof super-majorities" and "nuclear options," while the unemployment rate hovers in the double digits and 46 million Americans go without health insurance. It is why not a single GOP senator voted for the health-care bill now stalled in Congress, and why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell turned against a GOP-inspired plan for a deficit commission once Obama endorsed the idea.
My bolding.
Simply stated, the hyper-partisan differences between Republicans trying to play to the teabaggers and the Democrats not being in sync with each other when it comes to siding with the American people or corporate interests has created a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't atmosphere in D.C.
Let's now weigh the differences between what the Democratic base, if not each individual Democratic member of Congress have concerning ideas to address our country's nagging issues VS. those of the Republican base.
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JOBS
For Republican leaders, there is one way to create new jobs that trumps all others: tax cuts. Leave more money in the hands of business owners, Republicans say, and they will use it to place orders—stimulating job growth—or hire new workers themselves. "We're not going to look to Washington to create the jobs," says GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy, summing up the Republican liturgy. Most in the party (like most Americans, according to polls) want nothing to do with another expensive stimulus that would smack of expanded government. Yet the GOP has also rejected Democratic bills that tried to lure Republicans by including significant tax cuts. Earlier this year Republican Sen. Charles Grassley reached an agreement with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus on an $85 billion jobs bill. It combined small-business tax breaks with an injection of money for the Highway Trust Fund, more unemployment insurance, and agriculture emergency assistance. Other Republicans resisted Grassley's entreaties to sign on, even though the bill was adorned with the tax-credit extensions for businesses that Republicans wanted.
Republicans drone on and on about how tax cuts are the nirvana of the world of small business, yet when they are given an opportunity to sign on to bills that reduce taxes for small business owners that in their own words would increase jobs for Americans, they just say NO.
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THE DEBT
How big a problem is the $1.4 trillion budget deficit and the ever-expanding national debt? (Just FYI, the debt now tops $12 trillion and grows an average of $3.87 billion each day.) Pose that question to five economists and prepare for five different answers. Some believe a large debt burden could cripple the economy and scare off foreign creditors. Others say that the numbers, though scary to look at, are still manageably low as a percentage of the overall economy. Democrats worry that attacking the deficit too harshly now could result in a double-dip recession. Small-government Republicans come down squarely on the side of smaller deficits. It is an issue that goes to their deepest principles, and appeals both to their base and to the growing tea-party movement they hope to win over. Cut spending, reduce government, and restore America's strength.
Sounds great. Except that no one in either party has figured out how to do that in a way that won't cause a rebellion among the voters. Republicans attack Obama's deficit-ballooning budget every chance they get, but the GOP leadership has put forward no serious proposals that would slow, let alone reverse, the growth of government while still providing everything we demand from Washington. (Remember that George W. Bush, an avowed small-government conservative, presided over a massive increase in the size of government.) Politicians can talk all they want about eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. But the truth is, we could pull the plug on the entire federal bureaucracy and it would barely make a difference.
My bolding
Again, the Democrats are trying working to come up with ideas that could help bring down debt without scuttling the backbone of our nation and the Republicans are channeling Nancy Reagan and just saying NO.
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HEALTH CARE
When President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress last September to push for health-care reform, Republicans engaged in a quiet protest. They brought along copies of what they said was a GOP health-care bill, and waved them at the president to show that they too had a plan, and it was better than his. It made for good TV, but in reality there was no unified GOP bill; the Republicans hadn't actually agreed on an alternative to the Democratic reforms they were working so hard to kill.
Since then, House Republicans have come forward with a plan to rival the Democratic versions now sitting idle in the House and Senate. It has a catchy name—the Common Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act—and its authors proudly say that they got the job done in a mere 219 pages of Washington-speak; the House Democratic version weighs in at 1,990 pages. The GOP bill would prevent insurers from dropping people from their rolls if they got sick; ensure that people with preexisting conditions can get insurance; and require insurance companies to let children stay on their parents' plans until they reach their mid-20s.
Nothing new there. All those provisions are part of the Democratic bills. But that's where the similarities end. The two parties have different goals in reforming health care. Democrats believe that more government regulation of the health-insurance industry is needed to make sure just about everyone can get coverage while at the same time controlling rising costs. Republicans want the opposite: to free health-insurance companies from regulation and allow market forces to bring down costs and provide affordable insurance options.
Again, the Party of NO shows it's bona fides as the Party of NO New Ideas. Their inability or indifference as to even coming up with something of merit regarding the issue of millions of uninsured American people going without even basic healthcare especially in this time of recession is heartbreaking and should be a trust-breaker for the American public as well.
I would implore you to read the entire article as I feel there is much to be gleaned that might give each of us just another viewpoint of the issues that are gnawing at not only our fellow Americans, but at the body politic as well. I do not agree with all of the authors findings, yet I do believe they have broken down the stalemate in D.C. to it's essence.
The Republicans really want to return to Power. NO matter what.