Unanimity At A Great Cost

Dear editor:

There is nothing like unanimity. You know the old saying, “Either we hang together or we will surely hang separately.” Evidently the U.S. House GOP has taken this as a mantra in their stand against President Obama’s stimulus package and voted 100% against the bill that was passed to help our economy get going again. Not one Republican Representative voted for the bill. Their leader has stated that it truly isn’t a stimulus package and won’t work unless there is more “fast tax relief” for individuals and business. They also want smaller government and more bi-partisanship. The pot has truly called the kettle black (no pun intended.)

This is the very same group of gentlemen and ladies, who for the first six years of the Bush presidency, unanimously (or almost unanimously) voted for all the administration’s initiatives that put us into the position we are in today, and broke the bank with their spending habits. In 2001 and 2003 the Republican controlled White House and Congress passed tax breaks for the wealthy that supposedly would help our economy grow. They were not interested, except in meaningless statements, in bi-partisanship and all those tax breaks for the rich did was help to put us further into the financial straits we are in today. And let’s not forget the emergency rush put on by President Bush and Treasury Sect. Paulson to enact TARP ($700 billion) to open up our credit markets and save people’s homes that was a complete flop. Wall Street and the banks loved it, paid huge bonuses to its executives, helped their financial statements and allowed them to buy other companies. The credit markets, the economy, job losses and people’s homes are still hurting. Thank you Mr. Bush and Mr. Paulson, who never allowed the word “recession” to be used but now claim it started in the previous administration.

The GOP also talks about the need for a smaller stimulus because the present bill passed by the house would put the country further into major debt. This from the political party that brought us a nine trillion dollar debt, an unjustified war that we continue to pay for with money we don’t have and the largest federal government in our history. It also brought us a reduction in oversight of the financial community that brought recession and financial chaos not only to the United States but to the entire world.

For eight years the Republican Party has been saying to the Democrats, “You lost the election of 2000, now get over it.” Might I advise these very same people, who stand together against the president and his party that was asked (elected) by the citizens of this country to turn things around and make changes, that they “lost the elections of 2006 and 2008, now get over it.”

Instead of thinking what is best for the country and not a political party they are standing united against the change that the nation has called for and needs. They do so at their own peril. Being the loyal opposition is one thing. But having a House Minority Leader who is detrimental to the bi-partisanship that is necessary for our recovery, and a radio mouthpiece that says of President Obama, “I hope he fails” is not the way. Don’t they realize that if he fails, we all fail? Unanimity in belief is one thing, but being united against our country is another.