The Tragedy of GOP Greed

"A rising tide lifts all the boats." -
 my Grandfather took me to see JFK 

in August 1962 in Pueblo.

Taking a drag from his short fat stogie, the man started to shuffle past our Burro Days booth, and then stopped. Pivoting toward me and puffing out a circle of smoke, he began to “explain” that lead, not gold, would be the next most-precious metal. He was talking about bullets.

Any hopes I had of reaching common ground with him were dashed when he complained about the action taking place in Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits to those “worthless, lazy” people who have been unable to find jobs during the recession created by eight years of policies from (his) Republican Party. “They shouldn’t benefit from my efforts,” he authoritatively blurted, as if the unemployed were taking money from his pocket. I wondered what his father must’ve been like.

Spending time in Park County at his “summer home,” the man wreaked of arrogant, ignorant greed. While 62 percent of the public supported extending those benefits, only 6 of 219 Republicans ultimately voted for it after Democrats bucked another unconscionable GOP filibuster.

It’s the kind of greed that led the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans to pass huge tax cuts that benefited only the wealthiest in our country. Conservative hacks like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity would have you believe allowing those tax cuts to expire as they are scheduled to at year-end would do damage to this fragile economy when in fact it would likely do damage to their income and those that fund Fox “News” instead.

Never mind that the reason the cuts took place at all were done under a special voting rule called “reconciliation,” when the GOP pushed the cuts through - the same process they hypocritically decry when the Democrats consider using it.

The man looked at the charts from the Bureau of Public Debt that were posted in our booth and grimaced; clearly unable to absorb the reality – increases in the National Debt, flat and less than $100 billion a year under Jimmy Carter in the late 70s, jumping to a record $283 billion under Ronald Regan, then to $432 billion under George HW Bush in 1991 before dropping sharply down, to $18 billion under William Clinton.

Then, in just the first half of his two terms, George W Bush added more than $2 trillion! But that’s what happens when you finance two wars on credit and give tax breaks to the richest Americans to tuck away or invest offshore.

Go ahead. Believe the Republicans when they say it’s the Democrats that are big spenders. Do it at your own peril and think about the money given – under the Bush Administration -- to “help” banks, only to be turned into multimillion dollar bonuses for executives.

Realize how the bottom 1/5th of families in our country have only seen a 16% increase in inflation-adjusted income over the last 30 years while the top 1/5th have doubled their earnings and the top 1% have reaped a 281% increase in the same period. Understand how our system keeps the lesser well off among us down, and how Republicans put all of their effort onto the highest end of the spectrum.

The man seemed unable to absorb the truth of how the Republican Party has consistently been the reason for unpaid debt in spite of the rhetoric they spout. He can never handle the truth as it would ruin his fantasy that those who “have” built this country and the “have-nots” who should be sent packing or worse.

As he left, I told him I was reminded of a speech my Grandpa took me to when I was 7. We sat on folding chairs in the August heat of Pueblo Public Schools Stadium to listen to President John F Kennedy.

The President spoke of the promise of the Frying Pan Arkansas Project that Congress had passed funding for that year and how it would benefit a wide range of citizens across much of Colorado; but it was more about many public projects around the country. He spoke about long-range thinking and making this country a better place for everyone.

Kennedy said, “What I preach is the interdependence of the United States. We are not 50 countries-we are one country of 50 States and one people. And I believe that those programs which make life better for some of our people will make life better for all of our people. A rising tide lifts all the boats.”

The man went on without another word.

This column was originally published in the July 30, 2010 edition of The Flume, the paper of record for Park County, Colorado.  The monthly column is titled "Democratically Speaking"