BASED ON THE ACTIONS OF THE GOP, THOMAS JEFFERSON MUST BE ROLLING-OVER IN HIS GRAVE

Many political observers have come to the conclusion that the Republican party is a "party of total insurrection", not just "political opposition".

...The DC Memorial to our 3rd US President, Thomas Jefferson

For those of you that today consider yourselves politically active, have you found yourselves asking, "Why exactly do the two political parties seem to be at each other´s throats these days?" Or, "Why has the US Congress become such an dysfunctional mess over the past five to ten years?"

Yes, it is true that the two political parties have always been at the opposite ends of the political spectrum. But in the end, our democratic process has usually allowed for reasonable levels of compromise to occur in order to complete the "people´s business".

And regarding that ability to compromise, Thomas Jefferson, our third US president had written in his "Manual of Parliamentary Practice", "The only thing that can keep the Senate functioning is collegiality and good faith." During past periods of real political consensus, such as during World War II, the Senate has usually been a "highly functioning" institution. And as compared to today, filibusters are usually rare and the body is legislatively very productive.

As Jefferson also wrote, "It is less important that every rule and custom of a legislature be absolutely justifiable in a theoretical sense, than that they should be generally acknowledged and honored by all parties. These include unwritten rules, customs and courtesies that lubricate the legislative machinery and keep governance a relatively civilized procedure."

Doesn´t sound much like the two political parties residing in Washington DC today, does it?

So, what has happened to get the two parties and the Congress to where it is today?

Well, let´s take a closer look at what is happening in that supposedly "honorable legislative body" known as, the US Senate.

Today, far from being a rarity, virtually every bill, every nominee for a Senate confirmation and every routine Senate procedural motion is now subject to a Republican filibuster. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that Washington is in constant gridlock. Legislating has now become a political war minus the actual shooting.

John P. Judis, a political essayists for the usually conservative New Republic Magazine, summed it all up this way: "Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today's Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery."

Today, the theory goes that should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, (which it has) it would seriously lower Congress's favorability rating among the American people (which it did). By sabotaging the reputation of these long respected institutions of government, the theory further states that the party that sells itself against big government would eventually come out the relative winner. Which some say is exactly what has been happening.

This strategy by the conservatives plays on both the weaknesses of the voting public and the news media.

There are millions of low-information voters who have no clue as to which political party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a less than ethical legislative tactic. This confusion over who did what allows the conclusion that regarding politicians, "they are all crooks," and that "government is no good." Which is exactly what the Republicans today want the public to think.

This approach intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place ever since Ronald Reagan stated in 1980 that, "Government is the problem!"

And today, the corporate media is also complicit in supporting this concept.

Ever since the electronic media began supporting far-right ideological talk radio and cable TV´s political propaganda arms, the "respectable" media has been totally over-shadowed and cowed. Even the Nobel Economist, Paul Krugman has criticized the so called "serious news media" as being a "centrist cop-out." "I joked long ago," he says, "that if one party declared that the earth was flat, the media headlines would read, 'Views Differ on Shape of Planet.' "

And for those conservatives who strongly profess to revere the US Constitution, it is strange that they continue to denigrate the very government that is the result of the principles that are embodied in that document...?

It is interesting that most of today´s Republican officeholders are strangely uninterested in the effective repeal of the Fourth Amendment protections by the passing of the Patriot Act. The same could be applied to the weakening of habeas corpus and self-incrimination protections in the public hysteria following the 9/11 attacks.

Instead of this being an issue to be upset about, they prefer to speak out against those government programs that actually help American citizens. And when a program is too popular to attack directly, like Medicare or Social Security, the Republicans prefer to undermine the government by offering bogus concern about the federal deficit.

But the most serious issue is their continued attacks on the basic foundation of our democracy, the right for every US citizen to vote.

Since the Republicans recently captured the majority in a number of state legislatures, they have attempted to make it more difficult for Americans to vote. This has been achieved by requiring official (state of federal) photo ID´s, which a large number of the poor, elderly and young voting-age students do not have. They have also been shutting Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices in Democratic constituencies while at the same time lengthening the hours of operation of DMV offices in GOP constituencies. They have been shortening voter registration periods and changing voter residency requirements that can disenfranchise tens of thousands university students. (And historically, most of these affected groups usually vote Democratic.)

This legislative assault by the GOP is diametrically opposed to the past 200 years of American history. American political progress has always pointed toward more political participation by more citizens, not less participation.

I think with all the damage that the Republicans are causing to our centuries old nation, we as a country are heading for a new political revolution if the conservatives continue to attack the founding fathers original concept of our democratic republic.

I only hope the revolution doesn´t come too late for achieving a real success.

Copyright G.Ater 2011

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