A Pledge to America: A Letter

Dear Republicans,

You have some good ideas about reducing government waste, reforming the health care system, creating jobs, and making the country more prosperous.  (See your new document: A Pledge to America.)  Someone reading it who has no education, historical background or critical intelligence may be very impressed!

But as someone with all three, I have a question:

Why didn’t you do any of these things in the past 30 years, 20 of which you were in power*, instead of making the country prosperous only for extremely wealthy people, tearing giant holes in the safety net, ignoring skyrocketing medical costs, crumbling infrastructures and school systems, and designing and implementing a wholesale theft of our economy, values, and future by filling the government and its agencies with anti-government and anti-regulatory zealots?

*And, curiously, 8 of the 10 years you weren’t in power were a period of some of the greatest growth and wealth in the 20th century.

You don’t need to answer that question.  We know why.

Because you are bought and owned by the Koch brothers and other industries, you are the pawns and foot soldiers of corporate interests, and you enter government for the purpose of allocating public resources and passing laws for you and your colleagues and “supporters” to become wealthy on the backs of working Americans, millions to whom you lie, cheat and steal in your every word, campaign, and legislative action.

And now, after a fake grassroots movement, and a literal daily war* declared on a democratically elected president who came to power with a vast majority, among a campaign to discredit the president based on his race and deliberate lies about his national origin, religion, and agenda (his real agenda is here), you issue this Pledge to America, in a mirroring of your “successful” 1994 Contract with America, and expect people to eat your immoral, hypocritical and self-serving lies for dinner once again?

*Waged by Republican Senators and U.S. Representatives, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and a deafening litany of conservative activists.  Here’s a small sample:

• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: Senate Republicans Block Bill to Life Military Gay Ban
• The Deepwater Gulf Oil Spill: GOP Blocks Oil Spill Liability Bill
• Campaign Disclosure Reform:  Republicans Block Campaign Disclosure Legislation
• Health Care: GOP Formally Pledges to Repeal Health Care, And More
• Tax Increases: Senate GOP Committed to Block Tax Increase for the Rich
• Environmental Law: GOP Mulls Plan to Stymie New Greenhouse Gas Rules at Senate Markup
• Unemployment Insurance:  Republicans Thwart Bill with Unemployment Aid, Buyout Tax Boost
• Jobs:  Senate Republicans Block Job Creation Once Again
• Small Business:  Republicans Block Small Business Lending Bill
• Immigration: Senate Republicans Hold Up Dream Act for Children of Immigrants

Want more examples?  Try here.

Republicans, you showed us during the Bush Administration that you can’t govern and you don’t want to govern.  You showed us you were willing to lie to lead us into war.  You showed us you didn’t want environmental protection.  You showed us you didn’t want health care, or a social safety net of any kind.  You showed us you didn’t think the financial sector needed regulation.  You showed us you were willing to suspend civil rights, and cover up crimes and politicize justice.  You showed us that when you said “small government,” you meant big government.  You showed us how you could destroy a surplus and turn it into the biggest deficit in history.  You showed us that you could not be trusted to tell the truth.  And then you thought John McCain and Sarah Palin were the leaders that should and could continue “leading?”

Republicans, please tell me why anyone should vote for you again, especially when you have not changed a single thing about yourself.  Would you advise a woman to go back to her abuser?  Actually, I think you probably would.