Today Willard Mitt Romney was ranting about how President Obams stacked the National Labor Relations Board with union "stooges," and he then went on about how bad unions are for the country. We remember how hard he was on the UAW. Down deep, he probably wishes the old Foord good squads were around to beat the hell out of union organizers.
He did not note that the economic welfare of the middle class seemed to go downhill as the unions lost influence. Nor did he mention that statutory law requires a balance on the NLRB or that the Republicans had spent three years trying to paralize the agency.
This man has no respect for facts. He continues to blame the Bush recession on Obama
because the worst effects of Bush policies hit in the first nine months of the Obama administrtion, when new policies were being enacted and did not have time to take effect. He has no respect for facts because he holds a low opinion of the masses. He says Republicans are not stupid, but he thinks the rest of the people are.
E.J. Dionne thinks Romney is sincere in his new "economic radicalism." The astute columnist adds that the man has changed on so much else that is hard to tell. He consistently backs big tax cuts for the rich, devastating benefits cuts for the poor, and now wants to do away with the economic regulatory structure that began in the late 19th century, and was added to by Trust Buster Teddy Roosevelt, his cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt, and subsequent Democratic presidents. Romney gives all the signs of having become a convinced follower of Paul Ryan in wanting to shrink food stamps, privatize Medicare, and reduce non-defense spending.
Those of us who grew during the Great Depression learned that most Republicans were fundamentally the same. They thought that working people should not live very well, fear for their jobs, and vote as they were told. Even when I was 40 years old, I recall how representatives of employers went from house to house telling people what the company wanted in the elections. In other words, the Republicans had no respect for democracy or the judgment of the voters. At heart, they were Social Darwinists who knew that employers and managers were far better than the workers. This attitude comes through time again when we see people like Governor Scott Walker attacking teacher unions and public employee pensions. It is a pattern, not an anomaly.
Today, these enemies of Democracy have even more control over the election process. They have passed vote suppression legislation in 30 states that will strip about 5,000,000 of the vote. There is no longer a need to send committeemen door.
In our youth, there were many journalistic outlets that exposed the lies of the Republicans and corporate America. Progressive journalistic ranks have dwindled greatly. Check this piece on the decline of fact-finding and truth in politics:
http://www.npr.org/...
We can see this lack of respect for voters now in the endless distortions and lies of Mitt Romney. He thinks that few will see through them. Maybe his advisors know that many voters will believe anything adverse about the AfricanAmeerican in the White House.
There were some Republicans in days past who put their country first and were not driven by narrow, class- conscious arguments. One was Willard's father, George Romney.
We don't here Mitt joining his father in questioning the military machine or championing.
civil rights. It is beginning to look like Mitt may have always been the predatory capitalist he now seems to be. His experience at Bain Capital certainly suggests he was not adverse to championing exporting jobs or closing factories. His comments today in favor of protecting the profits of corporations that invest abrouad-- i.e., off-shoring jobs--may reveal the Real Romney.