Kitchen Table Republicans are a Dysfunctional Family

Every family who really sits around a kitchen table knows how tough it is to solve problems, but they just do it.

Although it's become an overused political metaphor, it's worth revisiting the kitchen table concept, in the context of a dysfunctional family.  It's time to explain how the Republicans have abandoned the kitchen table. Rather, they're metaphorically sitting in broken chairs, cowering in dunce corners, because they can't resolve problems.  Sadly, the GOP (Grumpy Old Party) are simply acting out, like spoiled children. They're shirking their fiduciary duties, like political truants, when it comes to lifting the stupid federal budget sequestration, the restoration of vitally needed funding to important programs like Head Start or fixing the bridges their constituents drive on.  They'd rather sit in a dunce's corner, in a broken chair, than gather at the kitchen table to solve problems.  

Although, recently, Speaker of the House John Boehner finally met with the Congressional Hispanic caucus to discuss immigration reform, this tete-a-tete was long overdue.  Their meeting was, no doubt, motivated after Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) went on the Sunday TV talk shows to describe the Republican party as heading into a demographic death spiral if immigration reform isn't resolved by Congress. Wow! Now, there's a morbid metaphor, if I ever heard one. Let me get this right. So, it took the image of political death to bring about bipartisan discourse on immigration reform.  This crises reaction certainly sounds dysfunctional to me.  Speaker John Boehner is the head of the Congressional "family", so to speak.  He needs to speak to his family, every once in awhile, and not just to his favored partisan few.

Let's fact it, the Republicans are as dysfunctional a party as any broken chair I've ever seen.

Republicans like to bring up "kitchen table politics" when defining concepts they find fundamentally distasteful, like "deficits"  or "balancing the budget".  Nevertheless, governments can't easily get out from under deficits because, in fact, they don't really have to balance budgets.  Kitchen table problem solving isn't realistic when applied to managing governments, because the kind of people who sit around kitchen tables, like families used to do, once up on a time, don't fund international wars.  Moreover, we can't raise taxes to pay for them, either.  

But Congress can, in fact, fix the stupid federal sequester.  They have the unlimited capacity to solve problems through compromise.  All Congress needs to do, to roll back the federal sequester, or to pass immigration reform (including a path to citizenship for immigrants) and to fund infrastructure programs, thereby creating jobs....yes, all Republicans have to do, to resolve all of the above, and more...is to.....taaaadaaaa!.....Just Do It! 

That's all they have to do, is just do it.  It's incredulously simple, but Republicans only respond, they don't lead.

Hopefully, Congressional dysfunction isn't lost on American voters. We must come out to vote, in force, in the 2014 mid term elections, so we can, once and for all, roll back the Republican extremist agenda.  They obviously didn't hear it after the 2012 election of President Obama, because they've become so wrapped up in dysfunctional relationships with right wing extremism that they simply can't fix what's wrong with them.  Let's not keep a broken political party in Congress.  It's time to vote the obstructionists like Speaker John Boehner out of office and replace him and with efficient political leaders who know how to build functional political families.

Where's the Help? Americans Must Ask how Republican Scandal Obsessions Supports Middle Class and Poor

Americans are deluged by 24/7 news coverage whereby political scandals du jour captures headlines, while detracting from the debate needed to protect the economic needs of majority of middle Class and poor Americans.  

In other words, Congressional Republicans are deliberately ignoring the stupid sequestration, a series of fiscal cuts whereby working class people are subjected to the impact of cuts in government contracts. These cuts are forcing federal employee furloughs and reductions in funding programs for underprivileged children, like Head Start. Republicans can't even respond to the desire of 85 percent of Americans who want the Congress to do more to protect us against gun violence.

Instead, Republicans, who preach fiscal austerity, apparently have no problem wasting taxpayer money by building myths around real or perceived scandals. They demand ridiculous emails and documents to create doubt about administrative responses to the tragic outcomes in Benghazi. Their rhetorical questions that won't bring back four Americans killed in an attack on the US Consulate and where Ambassador Stevens died as a result of the violence.  

Included in wasteful Republican Congressional time are futile and repeated efforts to repeal health care reform, aka Obamacare.

For some unknown reason, Republican refuse to accept the results of the 2012 election and the victory of President Barack Obama.  Although Republicans are certainly capable of counting the number of voters who opposed their candidate - Romney, (many Democrats waited hours to cast their ballot for President Obama), they have, nevertheless, decided to follow a strategy to obstruct all of President Obama's progressive agenda.

Obstructionism and muckraking scandals does nothing to help ordinary Americans.  Of course, why would Republicans want to help ordinary Americans, who voted against them in 2012, in support of re-electing President Obama?   

In fact, all elected leaders take an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution, which means abiding by the will of the people.  Our US Constitution begins in the preamble with the phrase, "We the people....." .  This Democratic document does not begin with "We the Congress.....".  

Although the Congress recently began a practice of reading the US Constitution, a ritual at the opening of new sessions, the readers don't seem to understand the importance of the first sentence.

Average Americans need help protecting good paying jobs from being outsourced to cheaper labor markets.  Americans need help to protect our retirement income and Social Security safety net.  Americans need access to affordable, and quality health care to protect our well being against chronic diseases and debilitating infections.  Americans need safe infrastructure in our communities including good roads, reliable public transportation and a national policy to provide everyone with access to wireless technology.

Incredulously, Republicans simply can't find a way to rise above the 2012 election results  Instead of showing Americans how their leadership can improve our lives, they choose, instead, to create chaos. They're like the Cervantes character, Don Quixote, in Man of La Mancha, the man who fights windmills, thinking they're dragons.  Yet, instead of windmills, the Republicans are creating political dragons, by inventing myths and conspiracy theories, about real and imagined scandals. Moreover, Republicans soak up tax paid salaries, while doing nothing to lift the stifling, stupid and needless budget sequestration. 

Since Republicans don't get what happened in the 2012 election, it's time they receive an even more emphatic message in the 2016 elections. Americans must politically punish Republicans who won't (a) compromise on issues we care about, like improving gun safety, (b) don't seem interested in supporting the will of the people who elected President Obama, and (c) continue to be engaged in obstructionism by not lifting the sequestration (and blocking progressive programs that require raising taxes on the rich and super rich). 

It's time Americans demand accountability from Republicans. They must explain how they intend to help Americans, rather than create fear, obstruct progress and protect the rich from paying their fair share of taxes. Obviously, Republicans can't explain anything unless the facts are shrouded in lies and myths. 

Entrenched Republican politicians must go the way of Don Quixote, who died in a feverish sate of delusion.

Stupid Sequester: Vote Extending Government Should Eliminate the Sequester

Congress received undue media coverage today because of a vote to extend government funding to support operations for the next 6 months.  This bi partisan vote was a "no brainer" compromise. It was accomplished because obstructing government funding was self defeating for Republicans and Democrats, alike.

This vote was an abdication of fiscal responsibility, in my opinion.  In other words, if Congress can vote to fund, or de-fund, extend or cut, then the dastardly fiscal sequester could also be eliminated.

Republicans are, clearly, continuing to undermine the 2012 election results, by using economic bully tactics to push their "cut government" agenda. They're carrying on like this, in spite of President Obama's victory.  They're stubborness won't recall their "s-s" vote, aka "stupid sequester".

Although everyone publicly acknowledges the stupidity of the self imposed budget cutting sequestration, the fact is, the same Congress that imposed this dire act can, likewise, repeal it (just like they voted, today, to extend the funding of government).   

Politicians apparently need a simple check list to figure out  why a recall of the "s-s" is a "no brainer".

1.  Will the sequestration cuts eliminate our nation's debt?  
     Yes or no.

2.  Does the sequestration law do anything - anything at all, to create American jobs?  Yes or no.

3.  Is the sequestration law popular with Americans?  Yes or no

4.  Will sequestration cuts to America's border security put  Homeland Security at risk? Yes or no.
     (a) Will security personnel be furloughed? Yes or no 
     (b)  Will immigration courts have a longer back log of petitioners, forcing refugees, asylum seekers and non-residents to remain in America, without documentation, for longer wait times? Yes or no. 
     
5.  Can any politician provide even one reason why the sequestration law is necessary?  Yes or no

Therefore, does it make any sense, whatsoever, to continue the sequestration, especially when one vote of Congress can have it repealed   Yes or no.

Dear blog readers:  All the Republicans who perpetrate this unnecessary and unpopular sequestration, by obstructing a Congressional vote to repeal it, should, themselves, be recalled - permanently.  

Tea Party Activists - Try Volunteering

Americans at risk for experiencing the negative impact of the dire budget "sequester" cuts are facing job furlough's, reductions in income and loss of services at our national borders and airports. This is happening because Congressional Republicans won't compromise on revenues, aka "taxes".  

Ironically, sequestration — a congressional mandated act — is now one of the biggest threats to border security and a hindrance to our ongoing trade and commerce, says Rep. Pete Gallego, a Texas Democratic congressman.

Instead of trying to fix the sequester problem, Republicans are "shocked! shocked!" that cuts are putting border security at risk. 

Would these obstructionists volunteer to provide border security?

Unbelievably, Republicans would rather protect their rich friends getting richer, holding fast to tax loop holes, than save the jobs of middle class people working in public safety and security at our borders. This unnecessary sequester enjoys the rare bipartisan label of being plain "stupid". Nevertheless, right wingers in Texas and Arizona are screeching about loss of border personnel as a result of Republican obstructionists (like Eric Cantor and John Boehner) who won't compromise on revenue to make the sequester go away.

Congressman Pete Gallego calls the sequester a "manufactured monster" in a Dallas News OP-ED: 

Sequestration is a threat to border security and trade 

by Congressman Pete Gallego 03/06/2013

"This thing we now call “the sequester” is a manufactured monster. Approximately two years ago, the 112th Congress passed extreme across-the-board cuts known as sequestration. This budget measure was designed to be so drastic that it was supposed to force a bipartisan compromise on reducing the deficit. All sides seem to agree that the cuts were never meant to happen."

"As we now know, there was no compromise. Partisan gridlock got in the way of good public policy. On March 1, 2013, sequestration took effect. It threatens the future of Texas families and the economic prosperity of our state. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, sequestration would cut economic growth in 2013 by one-third. A report from the House Committee on Appropriations projected a loss of 2.14 million jobs, nearly half of which would come from small businesses."

"A 2012 George Mason University study estimated that Texas could lose almost 160,000 jobs. Data.... shows that in the area of defense, Texas would be among the hardest hit. Of particular importance to the 23rd Congressional District is the impact of the sequester on border security, trade, and commerce."

"Efforts and numerous studies over the years have been made to reduce border wait times and increase border security. Many jobs in Texas and much of our economy is inextricably linked to international trade. Trade with Mexico represents one of our biggest economic drivers and pumps billions to our economy."

Like a political conundrum, Congressman Gellego is a rare Texas Democrat who says he's elected because he uses good judgement. Wow! As a Democrat, he's able to get away with telling people the truth!  In other words, he's thoughtful rather than reactionary. He's a Democratic truth teller in a Republican world.

On the other hand, the Republicans in Texas and in Arizona are uselessly whining about the loss of border security, while doing nothing to fund, or even prioritize, this protection.

“People tend to trust my judgment because I call ’em as I see them," he says. "It’s not about cheerleading and it’s not about calling the other guy names. It’s about doing the right thing. That's how I have survived 22 years in a Republican district, and I expect it will help me represent the 23rd District for a long, long time.”

Thank you Congressman Gellego, for level headed leadership while telling Texans the truth about the impact of sequestration on border security.  

I suggest Congressman Gellego summon a call to action to Tea Party obstructionists, to volunteer on behalf of his constituents, to protect the Texas 23rd district with border security.  While these helpful good Samaritans are rallying to fill the need, I'd also respectfully suggest that Congressman Gellego travel to Arizona, paid by Governor Jan Brewer, to educate the right wing extremists in her state about how they, too, can be volunteers for border security.

Meanwhile, the US Congress should repeal the stupid sequester and allow the nation's economy to prosper, without people worrying about essential border and airport security, as well as their jobs.  

Let's Support Sequestration if it Means Republican Are Booted Out of Office

A dire but  avoidable economic disaster will occur beginning on March 1st, when cuts to defense and programs to help middle class people will be cut, just because the Republicans in Congress don't want to compromise on revenue (taxes).  

Maybe, Republicans who aren't doing anything to stop this crises will actually bring about their own political demise.  It's a manufactured crises that could cement and sink the end of Republican Congressional leadership (one can hope).

Sequestration is another in a short litany of manufactured economic crises, but it can become the straw that finally breaks the  back of obstructionist Republicans in Congress, who just won't accept the outcome of the 2012 election.  President Obama won, but they won't accept the outcome of the democratic process. Instead of using what political influence they have to support a majority agenda, they intend to create misery for the middle class who voted for the president.

Nevertheless, if Republicans allow sequestration to move forward, the voters must respond and vote every one of them out of office.  

Virginia is one state where sequestration will have a terrible economic impact, because the state's defense jobs are heavily cut in the sequestration.  Virginia's economy is as dependent on defense contracts and government money as the elderly are on Social Security and Medicare.  It's easy to see that Virginia's economy will go into Depression if this sequestration moves forward.  Northern Virginia is the home to thousands of government workers who commute to Washington DC; even more dependent is the southeastern part of the state, saturated with the US Navy in Norfolk, Oceana, Little Creek, Newport News, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, plus the ancillary jobs associated with these major defense installations.

Where is Congressman Eric Cantor? Constituents in his home state stand to loose economic security, they're at risk of loosing thousands of jobs, while he's part of the leadership of the opposition to prevent the sequestration!

Virginia's Republican Governor is concerned.  Governor Bob McDonnell is against this sequestration.  He's a Republican who calls for the Congress to get something done to avoid the sequester. 

Virginia's Republican Congressman Scott Rigell even attended President Obama's anti sequestration rally in Newport News, Virginia. This was a huge statement by Rigell and in "your face" to fellow Republican Congressman Eric "can't get it done" Cantor.

Of course, a simple vote can eliminate this sequester. Incredulously, Republicans have some weird self destructive impulse by wanting this mess to happen.  This convoluted logic can't be lost on Virginia voters who will certainly remember to vote the Republicans out of office when their economic security is threatened.

Meanwhile, all Americans will suffer the economic consequences of the avoidable sequester on March 1st, because Republicans continue acting out, like spoiled children, about their loss of the White House during the 2012 election.  

Therefore, we American voters must vote every Republican obstructionist out of office, as soon as possible. We need progressive rather than obstructionist political leaders. We must vote for political leaders who care about the people they represent, rather than blindly following their failed ideology.

Unfortunately, since the "move them all out" election isn't until 2014, we can only pray that sequestration will serve at least one positive purpose, in spite of its negative economic impact.

Sequestration - a Big Word Means "National Economic Emergency"

"The American people have worked too hard for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause another." President Barack Obama State of the Union February 12, 2013

What is "sequestration"? Well, having looked it up, the best way to explain it is in plainly dire words.  Apparently, the use of sequestration is like radical surgery to stop the spread of a lethal disease.  In fact, it's so serious that the prospect of sequestration has thus come to seem so catastrophic that Congress has so far been unwilling to allow it to happen.  What it means is that  a plethora of budget cuts will automatically happen just because no one has the political will to act responsibly to stop them.  Everyone agrees about the consequences of allowing the March 1, sequestration to happen.  It's called "recession", ie job losses and stock market consequences. 

Therefore, I have a dire suggestion equal to the urgency of a Congress unable to respond to sequestration.  My recommendation is for President Obama to declare a national economic emergency and simply block the sequestration from moving forward.

Meanwhile, Americans must finish the job begun with the 2012 election. In 2014, voters must eliminate all Republicans from power by voting them out of office.  This means Republican Eric Cantor, Republican Paul Ryan, Republican Kevin McCarthy must be voted out of office along with Republican John Boehner.  Moreover, Democrats must take control of the House of the Representative and retain a majority in the US Senate.  Polishing off of the 2012 election, where the Democrats out voted Republicans, depends on the momentum continuing into the mid term election.

Obviously, Americans can't wait until the mid term election to rid ourselves of right wing extremism. Therefore, in the meantime, President Obama must respond to the urgency of sequestration by declaring a national economic emergency.  

He simply can't let it happen and American voters will support his efforts to take urgent action.