Recently a conservative friend posted a link to some wingnut article on Facebook expressing outrage that Obama met with Maddow and Sharpton about the tax cut issue. Not to my surprise the title is misleading compared to the actual tweets quoted in the body of the article. The title implies that Obama was meeting to consult with Maddow and Sharpton on tax policy and rates, but the tweets clearly suggest it was about marketing the ideas to the general population and the importance of the message and concept of letting those tax cuts for the top 2% expire while preserving the ones for the bottom 98%. I commented on that point saying I felt the title was misleading and that it seemed more about messaging but of course the other conservative friends were losing it so I said I was gonna walk away and I did.
Then a day or so later I saw a notification for a new comment and I went to check it out. Here is what it said:
(snip)... since the Republicans are i(n) a lose lose situation I say remove all objections and let him do whatever he wants, vote present in every vote from now until 2016 and let this country go right in the crapper, which is where he is taking it.
Oh be still my beating heart. This... DO THIS! PLEASE DO THIS!
I couldn't contain myself and jumped back into the conversation and commented that I thought it was a fantastic idea then apologized to my friend for commenting again (I try not to talk politics with him as I know it's a lost cause) but then that friend replied that the idea was actually fairly common among GOP supporters. They were all so sure the country would slide down the crapper that they wanted to simply throw up their hands and let it all happen then sit back and laugh as the country devolved into Hell on Earth.
Really? This is an idea that many people share and desire? WOW! That's even more cool than I thought. I figured I'd let them know some of what I hoped for if/when the GOP finally got the fuck out of the way:
1. Pass The People's Budget
2. Universal Healthcare or Medicare for all
3. At least two new SCOTUS justice appointments so we can repeal Citizen's United and other atrocious decisions.
4. Pass the Dream Act
5. Pass legislation mandating 14 days of early voting in every national election in every state.
6. Higher marginal tax rates on the ultra wealthy with rates close to 50% on all income over say $10M
7. Raise the Capital Gains tax to 25% or the marginal rate the investor would pay naturally whichever is lower
8. Massive stimulus bill centering on public education, infrastructure and green energy projects.
9. Cut corporate welfare for the oil and coal sectors.
10. Raise the minimum wage to whatever it should be based on a cost of inflation index to when it was first enacted.
Then I closed with:
11... I'll add more when they come to me. That's off the top of my head. Happy nightmares guys...
After that the conversation pretty much died with a few mumbled, "won't bother with the link" or references implying the country would become "the people's republic" if we passed The People's Budget. So again, I didn't manage to change any minds, but the whole conversation was too cool not to blog about and ask for some feedback.
What have I missed? What are some of your wildest dreams if the GOP simply got out of the way and let the Dems have everything they wanted. Sky's the limit... Help me torture my wingnut friends and dare to dream that this idea catches fire...