This week we have the grand act of kabuki theater where as the republicans will make a fantasy showing of voting for their cut, cap and balance the budget amendment. And it is nothing more than grandstanding for political advantage on a grand scale. Since both the senate and house versions have no chance of passing. This is nothing more than the DC version of stick it to the other guys so we can be in charge of the purse strings again. So what happens when they ARE in charge of the purse strings? Well we know for a fact that according to republicans "deficits don't matter". The GOP doesn't care about the national debt, and they don't care to balance the budget, you can see that by using the real world examples of how they operate. Follow me along for the next bit please.
Today the republican party (mainly driven by their new insane tea party freshmen colleagues) would like everyone to believe that they are "now" going to be good stewards of the citizens money. It's not possible, their entire world is based upon using other peoples money to gain more money and maintain themselves in power.
All the little special interest handouts they have stuck in to the laws passed by them over the years are designed to do one thing, create a flow of money from the government to their special friends, who then donate back to them and keep them in power. And that strategy worked pretty well right up until their lack of oversight let them deregulate the banks leading up to 50 to 1 leveraging in the financial industry.
Some of the more odious handouts were chronicled here recently by greywolfe359 in his excellent diary.
So how do republicans operate in the real world outside the venue of political theater?
Here's are a few examples.
The RNC (republican national committee) has been operating in the red, borrowing money hand over fist as fast as it comes in, while not paying off their debt load. While the DNC is operating with cash in the bank, NO DEBT and twice as many donations coming in.
The local paper here in my town in Nebraska, The Journal Star is owned by Lee Enterprises
whom owns a very big chunk of this nations daily and weekly newspapers. They are pretty conservative, and big donors to the GOP. Two of the main columnists that run in this companies papers are Cal Thomas and George Will, that alone should tell you how their editorial theme works. Well all thru out the Bush years this company bought up other dailies and weekly newspapers, adding more debt and expanding until it totaled a bit more than a billion dollars. Well except the same policies they cheered on, melted down the economy and their revenues went into the toilet. Their stock price is now under a dollar, down from 35 dollars in 2007 and they are facing being dropped from the stock market. And facing bankruptcy. But having massive debt is okay right? Even when you are using the playbook from 1980 and buying up pieces of a dying industry using borrowed money.
The online version of the local paper is widely read by and gets lots of comments on stories from the local Dems and Independents, were as the dead tree version goes out to mainly the GOP base, and subscriptions are tanking, and have been for a lot of years.
Now here in Nebraska the state cannot operate in the red, the budget must be balanced every year. So how did the GOP majority get it done this year? They cut social programs, and state aid to cities and counties. Raise revenue, Never... but they did kick the problem downstairs to make everyone else in the state would have to make the hard choices.
And deal with the shortage of income for the state. Like everywhere it seems the local GOP never met a service cut they didn't like and they refuse to raise revenue in any manner.
The two biggest cities in Nebraska both have Democratic Mayors and both of them are dealing with the problem the GOP dropped onto the cities, less revenue. And both mayors have made some small cuts but not many, and are raising taxes in small amounts to keep from cutting needed services like Fire Fighters, Police, Parks, Pools and libraries. All those things that make a good city to live in. Both mayors have a lot of support and after the initial screaming about raising taxes from the tea baggers, are running the cities with the majority of citizens approving. Support for the GOP usual plan of cut everything has gone out the window here locally. And I believe it is finished nationally as well.
Getting back to the story, it should be plain for everyone to see, that debt really doesn't matter to the GOP, it is how they operate both in business and politically. They don't really care about where the money comes from, whether it be donations or massive debt, as long as it goes to their friends to keep them in power. And right now they are pissed off because they no longer have unlimited access to the gravy train, so they can dole out the same hand outs to their special interest supporters they could just a few years ago.
And if the President and the DNC is as smart as we hope they are, they should just keep hammering away at the special interest handouts placed inside the tax code by the GOP. Because ending those handouts is like putting a knife to the throat of the GOP.