Rocking the House by Dancing with the Devil...welcome to Coalition Government!
Looks like we finally have a multi-party system in the House! So, yay?
Republicans, Democrats, Progresssives and Tea Partiers.
How did we get here?
Well, the two parties for the first time in history chose to simply ignore the platform of a strong third party challenge by Perot, and happliy enacted NAFTA and CAFTA and etc. So now instead of having a small tent but united Republican party and a big tent coalition of Democrats we are there for at least the rest of this Congress.
How clear are the lines?
A bit blurred, but they are definitely there. The Tea Party is pretty strong! Strong enough to force a "Vote of No Confidence" in the Majority Leader of the House! The Progressives are arguably even stronger....strong enough to force a "Vote of No Confidence" in a sitting President from within his own party! Yes, Barack was unable to get a majority of Democrats to support his horrible bill, despite pulling out all the stops trying to scare everybody with default, no SS checks, higher interest rates etc. I think he forgot that this is the land of the brave. And also despite the Giffords media show, that I am sure he intended to be the vote putting him over the top in our caucus, he still did not get it done. (Gotta love Nancy!)
Where do we go from here?
I have a few ideas to throw out there! Progressives (Ps) and Tea Partiers (TPs) are natural enemies. But we can dance with this devil!
For example, one issue that we feel the same about are the TSA searches. We come at it from different perspectives of course. We see it as a constitutional violation, a violation of civil liberties, and a step along the road to a police state. They see it as a chance to scream Hitler at Obama. Well, Obama should be primaried, but the Democrats won't do that. He should be reined in by his party leadership, but it's not getting the job done...looking at you Harry... Well, so I no longer much care if they scream Hitler at Obama. If he wants our support he needs to earn it. If he wants to look good, he needs to act and govern like a Democrat, not just talk like one. So why not encourage the Tea Party to gain another legislative victory on this issue, with our support. Might be best if they think the whole thing is their own idea.....
Their may not be so many issues that we could come together so easily on, but maybe we can use these divides to start framing the debate, instead of letting Fox News do so.
We could reframe the Patriot Act as Obama's Spy on Patriot's Act and erode support for the damn thing. Possibly even help Bradley Manning...try this on for size....Obama is such a hypocrite for criticizing Bush for torturing enemy combatants when he is torturing an American soldier for patriotically exposing the Left's sinister plot to turn the State Department into it's own private CIA.
The big push coming up is apparently going to be for "jobs" which, yeah, translates into sending more of our jobs overseas via new horrid trade agreements. Well, you can't get the TP base to much care about jobs going overseas because those of them who aren't rich tend to have jobs that can't easily be outsourced or are elderly, in the military or on disability. And they are trained like Pavlov's dogs to bark for red meat when they hear words like Union or Fair Trade. So, reframe the issue. Clinton gave jobs to Mexicans and now Obama would rather give jobs to Columbians than unemployed American Veterans!! (Veteran implies white in their minds, in implies white, rural poor, their sons and daughters, them because they do tend to serve a lot)
Heck, if things work out, maybe we can even use them to help us push Obama into actually force Barack into fulfilling one of his better campaign promises that would really ease the divisions in this nation. Change affirmitive action into a class based, not race or gender based system.
Another idea, I noticed this morning that Paul Ryan is planning on using the Tea Party to push for Medicare reform? Why not? Pushes the debate to the right and perhaps gets rid of these inconvient fellows they find themselves stuck with who won't tow the party line. They can be replaced with Blue Dogs! They love them some Blue Dogs! Those of you who talk to TPs, comment on their blogs and such can maybe let them know what you think is going on here...the Rs are trying to ignore your big issues (such as a Balanced Budget) and hang you with their pet issue which your constituents hate, Medicare reform.
I will be curious to hear others thoughts, and will respond to comments when I am able. I'm off to work!