ANS -- What Kind of Patriots Are These Republicans?

Here are two related bits from Andy Schmookler.  I think his analogy in the first one is very apt.  May it go viral. 
find them here:  http://www.facebook.com/notes/andy-schmookler/debt-talks-congress-heads-home-for-holiday-after-posturing-little-progress/223859334320395   and
http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-Kind-of-Patriots-Are-by-Andrew-Schmookler-110703-294.html  
--Kim

Debt talks: Congress heads home for holiday after posturing, little progress

by Andy Schmookler on Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 11:50am

Response to Washington Post article:

 

What would you think of a parent who held a gun to his own child's head and declared to onlookers, "Do what I say or I'll blow the kid's head off!"?

 

Would you believe his claim that he was a loving parent?

 

What would you think of an American political party that would hold a gun, figuratively speaking, to the nation's public good and declare, "Meet our demands or we'll hurt America!"?

 

Would you believe their claims that they're American patriots?

 

No. In both cases we would be appalled.

 

Even if the demands themselves were reasonable, no loving parent would take his own child hostage, and no true American patriots would hold hostage the well-being of the United States.

 

But that's what the Republicans have done three times in the last six months­most immediately with their refusal to raise the debt ceiling unless everyone else does exactly what they say.

 

Even major parts of the Republicans' own constituency –like the national Chamber of Commerce and major financial institutions­are warning of the grave damage to the American economy the Republicans are threatening to do.

 

But the Republicans demands are themselves scarcely more worthy than their threats. With taxes on multi-millionaires and billionaires at their lowest level in decades, with all the economic gains of the past decade having gone to the very top and millions of American families in severe economic distress, the Republicans demands are a travesty.

 

They are insisting that ALL the deficit reductions come from cuts to programs that help average Americans, and NONE of it come from additional revenues from the most privileged among us.

 

Could anything show more clearly what today's Republican Party has become?

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/debt-talks-congress-heads-home-for-holiday-after-posturing-little-progress/2011/06/30/AGMG4OuH_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
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What Kind of Patriots Are These Republicans?

By Andrew Schmookler (about the author)



By Andy Schmookler for Congress

 

Is there good evidence, other than that they claim it, that these Republicans are patriots?

How does a patriot act?   What are the hallmarks of the patriot?

Well, being a person who loves his country, a patriot is someone who is willing, when necessary, to sacrifice some of his own personal (perhaps selfish) good for the good of the country.   Love is like that, including for country.

We show that we understand that when we honor our war dead: we make it a patriotic holiday to celebrate those who made the supreme sacrifice for their nation.

When have these Republicans shown a willingness to sacrifice anything, besides other people?  

How much weight have they given the nation's good over their individual advantage?   Well, there are clues.

As soon as a president from the opposition party took over, the Republicans made a priority of making him fail.   Trying to make the President fail may be politically advantageous, but especially at a time of multiple national crises, the president's failure inevitably means serious injury to the country.

No patriot would injure the country to get political advantage.

And now we've got these Republicans threatening to push the U.S. economy off a dangerous cliff if their demands aren't met.   So much for love of country.   And what are they are demanding?   They insist that the sacrifices in this country are to be made by average Americans and not by the rich and powerful, whom these Republicans serve.

No patriot would threaten to send a nation already in considerable distress (the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression) into a still deeper collapse--a scenario that many serious economists think quite possible if the Republicans make good their threat.

And what about those forces of plutocracy, for whose interests the Republicans are so fiercely fighting, and who have made out so well while the rest of America has been losing ground?   How ready are they to make a sacrifice when the nation requires it of them?  

With the nation's financial condition in a worrisome state, with the national debt having grown in relation to the economy as a whole, one would expect a patriot possessing great wealth to be willing to give up at least SOME of his enormous wealth to help his country out, even to offer it .   But these plutocratic interests, far from being willing to sacrifice, are demanding, through their Republican collaborators, that their taxes already at historic lows--be reduced.

So, other than waving the flag, just what have these Republicans and those whom they serve done that demonstrates genuine patriotism?

 
Andy Schmookler is running for Congress in Virginia's 6th District.