Democrats Are Squandering an Opportunity to Expose The Republican Agenda

In political campaigns it is more important to have an appealing message, regardless it is founded on lies and propaganda, as it is to have a plan to advance a specific agenda or set of policies. Republicans are masterful at telling their base, and many independent voters, exactly what they want to hear despite the fact they have no intention of following through on their campaign promises once they are elected. One of the primary reasons the GOP is so successful selling a bill-of-goods to voters is that Democrats, while campaigning on issues they fully intend on advancing if elected, are more often than not reluctant to either cite Republicans’ broken promises, or inform voters of the GOP’s true motivation for seeking control of the government.

On Sunday, President Obama finally exposed the Republicans’ goal in their drive to take control of Congress and few, if any, people took note of a very important remark buried in a message that should have resonated with every American. Last week it was reported that “for a minute,” Republicans were concerned they did not have a viable campaign message to run on heading into the midterm elections other than opposing Barack Obama. It is not that the GOP does not have a message or agenda to campaign on, it is just that their message will not appeal  to anyone except their anti-government base and it is curious why Democrats did not seize on the President’s revelation that Republicans’ sole intent on controlling Congress is “dismantling the federal government.”

While the President railed on Republicans for lacking common sense in making partisan issues out of things that were once common sense such as “building roads, bridges, improving our airports, improving our water systems, and reducing traffic,” he noted the reason why “they have become partisan issues is because you’ve got a ‘small’ portion of the Republican Party that is fixated simply on dismantling government.” Now, although the President’s remark was prescient and fundamentally true, he sorely underestimated the number of Republicans who are fixated on dismantling the government. If Americans were not so dense and uninformed, the President would not have had to tell them what Republicans are more than hesitant to campaign on; eliminating the federal government.

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Last week when it was revealed that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech at a Koch brothers’ billionaire confab that when Republicans take control of the Senate and keep control of the House, their entire agenda “will be pushing back against this bureaucracy so that no money can be spent to do this or to do that. We’re going to go after them on healthcare, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board. All across the federal government, we’re going to go after it.” McConnell was not just pandering to the Koch brothers’ billionaire cabal, he clearly stated what the GOP agenda is if they win a majority in the Senate. However, it is not what Republicans are overtly campaigning on even though it is evident in everything Republicans have proposed since they took control of the House after the 2010 midterms.

Even if one excuses Americans’ ignorance over the rash of phony “jobs” bills  House Republicans claim they have passed, including Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity budget, repealing banking reform, repealing Obamacare, defunding the Environmental Protection Agency, or eliminating overtime pay regulations, Ryan himself revealed on national television that eliminating extremely popular federal programs is part and parcel of the Republican agenda. Ten days ago Ryan bemoaned that on their own, House Republicans cannot possibly abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act without a Republican Senate. He said, “you actually can’t stop (read eliminate) entitlements like Medicare and Social Security and Obamacare unilaterally in the House,” and yet Democrats failed make his remarks a focal point in their campaigns.

It is true Democrats hammered Ryan for his remarks about government shutdowns, but they missed a golden opportunity to shine a light on the Republican Party’s agenda if they control Congress; abolish New Deal programs like Social Security and Medicare as well as Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, unemployment insurance, overtime pay, workplace safety regulations, food stamps, and education. Add to those their intent to abolish the EPA, IRS, Wall Street regulations, and campaign finance rules, their goal is clear as the President said; “dismantle the government.”

If those well-covered news items highlighting the Republican agenda to dismantle the federal government until it ceases to exist were not enough campaign ammunition for Democrats, news out of Georgia should have had them assailing Republicans mercilessly. The Georgia legislature passed a resolution “calling for an application to Congress for a Convention of States (Article V Convention of States) with the intent of proposing amendments to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.”

The “dismantle the federal government” Article V convention is the brainchild of retiring Republican senator from Oklahoma Tom Coburn. Coburn’s goal, like the entire Republican Party, is to “reform” (Republican parlance for abolish) entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps, as well as eliminate federal regulations and bring the federal government he says is “too powerful, too big and too unwieldy” to its knees. Or as anti-federal government crusader Grover Norquist notoriously said, “drag the federal government into a bathtub and drown it.”

Democrats are squandering a prime opportunity to expose the Republican agenda if they win control of both houses of Congress; dismantle the federal government. Mitch McConnell has said it, Tom Coburn said it, Paul Ryan said it, House Republicans’ 40 jobs bills say it, and President Obama said it; albeit as more of a passing remark than a bold statement of fact. As an aside, if one takes even a cursory glance at House Republicans’ vaunted “jobs bills,” they will see they are integral to their not-so-secret dismantle the federal government agenda. Still, Democrats are unwilling to go much farther than suggesting the House Republicans’ ‘jobs bills’ do not create jobs; just more wealth for their wealthy supporters.

Obviously Republicans are not going to overtly call for eliminating the federal government on the campaign trail, but for three years they have revealed that their entire agenda is predicated on the Koch vision for America without a government. Regardless what any American thinks about the federal government, there are few, very few, Americans who want to live in a nation with no federal government to protect Americans from wealthy predators with no other goal than taking every and anything from the people; a goal Republicans share en masse and one Democrats are curiously unwilling to expose. If, as President Obama said, elections matter, then it is crucial that Democrats reveal what is in store for Americans if Republicans continue lying about creating jobs to win big in the midterm elections because their concept of job creation is dismantling the people’s government and they are as serious as a fatal heart attack.

Rmuse

Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.

Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.

Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.