[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Petedacook wrote:
I am on the extreme left. >>>
I’ll give you sincere credit for acknowledging this and the image you posted is quite apropos in that light.[/quote]
Agreed.
My state, Maine, is a microcosm of what we’re seeing at the Federal level. 40 years of liberal Democrat control of state house, state senate, and governor. 2nd/3rd worse economy in the country, 2nd/3rd highest insurance in the country, and a FAILED socialized healthcare program (research: DIRIGO healthcare). The state is deeply in debt.
Even though dems have controlled Maine’s government for 40 years, they continually blame republicans (and others as we have a strong Libertarian and Green presence).
This column came out last week from a lawyer friend of mine. He’s been council to several campaigns and state referenda campaigns-- his points apply to the Federal level as well:
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/6824718.html
Democrats have numbers, but not will, to govern
From reading the newspapers recently, one would think Republicans were the majority party in Washington and Augusta. If one is to believe the headlines – and some Democrats – Republicans control the destiny of critical legislation in Congress and the State House.
In reality, the only thing holding back legislation is that Democrats are afraid to govern.
Much of the recent coverage of the national health-care debate has focused on the opposition of most Republicans to Democratic proposals. One recent article suggested that the president’s efforts to reform the health-care system could depend upon Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. All these articles ignore the fact that Democrats control the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and a health-care bill can be enacted without a single Republican vote.
It is true that the bizarre rules of the U.S. Senate generally allow a minority of senators to hold up legislation. With the recent death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, the Democrats are one vote shy of the 60 votes that are needed to end a filibuster. The rules of the Senate, however, also allow a filibuster to be avoided through a process called reconciliation. Under this process, any bill affecting the budget can pass the Senate by a simple majority. During the Bush administration, Republicans used this process to enact three major tax cuts. The same process could be used to pass health-care reform – if Democrats can agree among themselves what they want to do.
A similar situation exists in Maine, where majority Democrats are blaming Republicans for the cancellation of two-thirds of the light paving projects scheduled this year.
The Maine Department of Transportation canceled the projects because fuel-tax revenues fell well short of projections and efforts to increase the gas tax failed earlier this year, despite having support from all the Democrats on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee.
Committee Democrats argued forcefully that a gas-tax increase was necessary to maintain Maine’s roads. But despite having the support of a few Republicans, Democrats in the Legislature refused to pass a gas tax increase because it did not have broad support among Republicans.
At an August meeting of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, one Democratic representative suggested that Republicans should support a gas-tax increase because a majority of the canceled projects were in districts represented by Republicans. (Which makes one wonder if partisan considerations played a role in the selection of projects to cancel.)
A Republican senator who supports a gas-tax increase went so far as to suggest that “Republicans are just going to have to back down.” But in reality, it is not necessary for Republicans to back down for a gas tax increase to pass.
Democrats have solid majorities in both the Maine House and Senate and control the governor’s office. If Democrats believe that a gas-tax increase is necessary to properly fund infrastructure improvements, Democrats have the ability to pass a gas-tax increase without a single Republican vote. In reality, it is majority Democrats who have held up the funding of road projects, not minority Republicans.
[b]So the question is: Why, if Democrats believe health-care reform and/or a gas-tax increase is good policy, do they resist passing these proposals without Republican support?
The answer is simple: politics.[/b]
Democrats won big victories in 2006 and 2008 by blaming Republicans for everything that was wrong in our country. Comfortable with that successful game plan, Democrats would like to place their own failures at the feet of minority Republicans in 2010. By creating the appearance, with the help of their willing allies in the media, that Republicans are holding up Democratic initiatives, Democrats can go into the next election blaming Republicans for their own failures to pass legislation.
In addition, if health-care reform or a gas tax increase passes with Republican support, Democrats have political cover if the legislation turns out to be unpopular. Democrats standing for re-election will be able to suggest that the legislation was a bipartisan compromise and blame any unpopular parts of the legislation on Republicans.
[b]Voters should not fall for this cynical political ploy.
Last year, voters gave Democrats complete power in Washington and Maine.
Democrats do not need Republican votes to pass legislation. Anything that does or does not pass between now and the 2010 election is because of Democrats.[/b]
It is time for Democrats to put politics aside and govern. If they don’t, they have nobody to blame but themselves.
