“WINNING WITHOUT IDEAS”

"WINNING WITHOUT IDEAS"

From www.FeettoTheFire.Blog.com

Ron Reagan, contributor to MSNBC, and the son of President Ronald Reagan, has often stated that the Republican party of the last 5 years bears no resemblance to the GOP principles of compromise, governance, and pragmatic legislating, that characterized his father's government, and the political party that Ron, Jr., grew up in. This week, on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" show, he opined that the GOP entity in Washington today has made a very strategic decision that new ideas to solve problems, and the process of governance, are no longer necessary to win elections. Ron feels that when a political party does not feel the need for new ideas in order to win, then that party stops creating any new ideas. And this has clearly happened. The GOP of today is focused on a three-prong strategy to win elections and stop all lawmaking: 1. Gerrymandering-- Has already proved valuable in the 2010 election cycle where House Democrats won over 1.5 Million more votes than House Republicans, but since gerrymandering has dumped significant amounts of minority voters into smaller and smaller legislative districts in red states, Republicans won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. 2. Suppression of Minority Votes---Has been to date only moderately successful since there have been significant court challenges, some of which have won. But stay tuned, with more and more red governors occupying governor's mansions, there will be aggressive voter suppression laws pursued in those states, prior to the 2014 midterms. 3. Filibuster---The Republican minority controls the Senate as if it were a majority, basically blocking all legislation that Obama wants, and thwarting his attempts to nominate judges and cabinet members/senior government positions, constantly. 60 votes is needed for approval of almost everything except maybe the naming of post offices. To put it in perspective, during LBJ's entire Presidency he faced only one filibuster from the Republicans in the Senate, Obama has had 423 filibusters in 5 years. With gerrymandering, suppression of minority voting, and the filibuster, the GOP no longer needs ideas or governance to win elections. Be aware that these three maneuvers are undermining our democracy, undermining over 200 years of bipartisan governance, undermining the basic support tenets of our form of government, where elections have consequences, and majority rules. The Republicans no longer espouse how to fix problems, but focus obsessively on how to shut down all governance. Simply put, the Republicans are cheating to accomplish their electoral goals. They have opted to obstruct all legislation, through filibuster, or House maneuvers that never allow votes on issues that the majority of Americans care about, like gun control, immigration, and climate change. And while this governmental travesty is occurring in plain sight right under our noses, less visible is their agenda of gerrymandering and voter suppression, to eventually steal elections that they could never win with ideas and leadership. If this "winning without ideas" is allowed to build momentum, the U.S. will become an oligarchy where the minority rules. Be aware. Barry