The Democrats won the election. President Obama was re-elected. The Democrats picked up seats in the Senate and the House, despite having to defend 23 seats in the Senate and the Republican gerrymandering in the House.
The Republicans in the House of Representative should have gotten the message that the American People have rejected their failed economic policies.
But an article in The Washington Post shows that they have not.
Many Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, continue to say that projected revenue from economic growth is the only kind of higher tax collection they will support.
“If both sides agree that we can get more revenue through economic growth, then we can agree,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.).
These are precisely the economic policies advocated by Mitt Romney, policies which were rejected by the American People in the election on November 6th. And certainly given the defeat of the GOP, you would have thought that many members of the GOP would abide by the will of the American people. However,
The Washington Post article makes it clear that they will not.
Rather than feeling chastened by the Democratic gains, many House conservatives say they feel empowered by Americans’ renewed endorsement of divided government.
At the very least, you would have thought that at a minimum the House GOP would have recognized the necessity of at least compromising their principles by meeting the democrats in the middle. Again,
the Washington Post article indicates that compromise may be elusive.
“Compromise has a very small constituency,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). “Very small.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-fiscal-cliff-talks-boehner-must-deal-with-tough-gop-caucus-as-well-as-obama/2012/11/15/056896fe-2e90-11e2-89d4-040c9330702a_story.html
We should not be fooled again. We need to stand by our principles and not give into the GOP. The Democrats won the election and they owe it to the American people not give into the GOP demands, even if it means going over the fiscal cliff.
Reading this article, and seeing the quotes of these and other republicans, it is as if we never had an election where the GOP lost. And despite all of the statements by President Obama and the Democrats that there should be compromise, I feel like I have seen this movie before. And I didn't like it the first time. Only this time rather than sitting through the movie and grumbling about it, I think that we need to walk out of the theater.