The problem is the economy. Yes, it is improving . . . but not fast enough. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is telling everyone who will listen that Obama has "failed" to fix it. He says that "business friendly" Republicans know so much more about what makes the economy work. If you go to Romney's website right now, you can see references to "jobs and growth" . . . as if he is going to create any such thing.
The perception of reality that "business friendly Republicans" create "jobs and growth" -- is a complete fabrication of the Republican propaganda machine. Republican policies have never created robust economic growth.
If you don't believe it, just look at the historical track record of conservatives. Check out the graphic, below.
In fact, it is the Democrats who have created robust economies.
We like to blame "George W. Bush," for the mess Obama inherited, but it wasn't "George W. Bush" in particular. It was the guilded age economics of Dubya's economic team. That would the same guilded age economists who advised every Republican before him.
Republican IDEAS caused the economic collapse . . . which explains why EVERY period of Republican control of the White House has ended in high unemployment and recession.
If you spend any time at this site, you probably already know about the real record of Republicans on "jobs and growth." The problem is this.
NOBODY ELSE KNOWS THIS.
The plain political truth is that the governing elite . . . the political elite in Washington, the economic elite on Wall Street, and critically, the media elite, have all bought into the bogus supply-side ideology of the far right.
The plain political truth is that Mitt Romney might just confuse enough voters, and make them believe that it is President Obama who has failed to fix the economy . . . the same economy Romney's policies broke to start with.
We know that it was supply side economics that failed in 2008.
We know that Paul Krugman was right about the need for a much bigger stimulus.
We know that austerity has failed in Europe.
We know that on the day the President was sworn in, Congressional Republicans met in the US Capitol and made plans to obstruct every policy of the new administration.
We know that Congressional Republicans have done everything possible to PREVENT the President from cleaning up their mess.
NOBODY ELSE KNOWS THIS.
It is not enough to convince the people in your immediate circle of influence . . . though you certainly should. We need the MEDIA to pick up this message.
We need The MEDIA telling people that EVERY period of Republican rule has ended in high unemployment and recession.
We need the MEDIA telling people that Democrats have created 59 million jobs since the end of the World War II. Republicans have created 25 million fewer.
We need the media telling people that Republican supply side ideology has been OBJECTIVELY disproven by the historical record.
We need the media asking Mitt Romney why he will be different from EVERY Republican who preceded him.
How do we get the media to do that?
It's easy. In fact, the tactic was inspired by the Occupy movement.
It's called a "Mic Check!." Basically, the crowd becomes a human microphone. Someone makes a statement in short sentences, spoken one at a time, and repeated by the crowd.
Do we show up somewhere, and do a live "mic check?" It might be cool to do something like that. But a few hundred people would be about as much as we could expect to participate.
We need thousands, tens of thousands . . . millions if we can make this effort viral. It turns out that millions can confront Mitt Romney, the conservative propaganda machine, and compliant media with the basic facts of economic history.
You don't even have to get out of your chair.
Here is a letter to Mitt Romney.
Dear Governor Romney,
You have purported to advocate "jobs and growth" as the goal of your economic policies. Those policies appear to be a repeat of tax cuts for wealthy elites . . . including yourself. You also claim to favor "reducing the size of government." As such, your policies sound virtually identical with those of every Republican who ever served as President going all the way back to the 1920's.
This letter is to let you know . . . if you don't already . . . that historically, Republican "supply side" policies have failed. This is not a matter of politics or mere opinion. The track record is clearly established by every measure of economic performance. The graphic below summarizes the track record of Democratic and Republican Presidents since the end of World War II.
Let me emphasize. The failed economy of George W. Bush was NOT an anomaly. Since the Great Depression, EVERY period of Republican control of the White House has ended in recession and high unemployment. That is EVERY SINGLE TIME . . . including the twelve year Reagan/Bush era.
As for Ronald Reagan, his policies increased the debt, increased defense spending, and actually increased the number of Federal employees. He even raised taxes. Contrary to popular conservative belief, Reagan's policies were relatively Keynesian. Still, his GDP growth and closing unemployment numbers were mediocre . . . just fourth out of the nine complete administrations since the end of World War II, and his Republican successor immediately gave back all of the middling gains of his administration.
Since Republican policies consistently, historically fail to deliver "jobs and growth," notwithstanding Republican rhetoric, we wonder what your real objective is. If you desire to create a stagnant, slow-growth oligarchy, traditional Republican "supply-side" policies have proven to be quite effective at achieving that result. It is of course your first amendment privlilege to seek any political and economic objective that suits your interests. As citizens, we DEMAND that you be honest and forthright about those objectives. If stagnant oligarchy is your objective, we DEMAND that you say so, and not attempt to achieve it by stealth. Otherwise, we request that you do the basic research and determine what works and what doesn't.
In short, we demand that you reveal which economic policies you will pursue that are DIFFERENT from the failed policies of George W. Bush . . . and every other Republican since the end of the Great Depression. We look forward to hearing your answer.
Sincerely,
cc: The Heritage Foundation, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ed Shultz, Thom Hartmann, Rush Limbaugh
All you have to do is type in your name and a valid email address. Then click the box that says "Mic Check!" When you do that, you will send an email to Mitt Romney . . . the Heritage Foundation, Rush Limbaugh, the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, and a few friendly voices like Ed Shultz and Thom Hartmann.
If Mitt Romney gets a single one of these, he will almost certainly ignore it.
If he gets 100,000 of these . . . he wil respond.
And if he doesn't, somebody in the media will ask him about it. Sooner or later . . . and probably sooner . . . EVERYBODY in the media will know these facts.
And that's the point. The mic check is about educating people.
Recommend this diary. Join the Virtual Mic Check!
Oh, and if you'd like to see the impact of these numbers on tea party ideologues, watch this video.
Updated to replace the new video with the old video. The new one sucks, and I'm going to redo it.
This is a great idea people . . . if I can ever figure out how to properly demonstrate it. I think a revised video might be the ticket. Stay tuned.