By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… It has been said that the Democrat Party believes government will make you smarter, stronger, taller, richer, and remove crabgrass from your lawn. The same source records that Republicans believe government doesn’t work and when they get elected, they set out to prove it.
I lived through six years while the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress and the Presidency and I did not grow smarter, richer, stronger, taller, and crabgrass is still growing in my yard.
During those six years the Republicans assured the American people that the government could not, and would not, answer their problems. They indicated that they had the plans to make America great again. That if only those darn Democrats would get out of their way they would turn the country back to the people rather than political hacks in Washington, D.C.
The American people believed them, and in the 2016 election turned both Houses of Congress and the Presidency over to the Republicans. In the first 50 days of the Trump administration, the Republicans have set out to prove that government doesn’t work. One must come to the conclusion that they are right, Republican government does not work.
The Republicans have had eight years to develop an alternative program to the Affordable Health Care Act and indeed assured the American people that they had done so. We now know that there was no acceptable Republican medical plan. In fact, one wonders what else we will find out that this Republican government does not have a clue about.
Whether one likes or dislikes the Democrat program and leaders, one must admit they got things done. One may not like the results, but there were results.
If the attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act is an indication of what we can expect from the Republican dominated federal government, it is going to be a long two years before the Democrats once again control both Houses of Congress.
The attempt to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act failed; not because there were no Democrat supporters; it failed because over thirty Republicans who have been crying about the Affordable Heath Care Act refused to vote to repeal the medical program established by their Democrat counterparts.
Somewhere in America, Harry Reid and Barrack Obama have to be laughing themselves to death. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer are openly gloating on the floor of the House and Senate. Democrats understand party loyalty and the importance of supporting each other.
Republicans don’t understand that Congress is not Burger King; you can’t always have it your way. Every Republican thinks he is the smartest man in the room and if the program differs from his masterful insight in any degree, he will not support it.
The Republican Party is fractured. You have the old line Republicans who understand party politics. Then there is a band of about 30 Republicans in Congress that have claimed they are the pure Republicans and all the old line Republicans are Republicans in Name Only (RINO).
On top of that, there are the Trumpities who are not really Republicans or Democrats. The Trumpities have no concept of how government works. They believe government should be run like a business.
President Trump is learning the lesson General Eisenhower had to learned. The President is not a general nor is he a boss. Trump has no control over the Republican Party members because he does not control their electoral base. Further complicating the issue is that Trump is not a Republican.
Now I am not arguing about the merits of the Affordable Health Care Act. I am personally aware of some good provisions in this law and how it has helped families deal with catastrophic medical problems. I am also aware it is a highly flawed law. The Republican program, cobbled together at the last minute, left many of the good things that are found in the Affordable Health Care Act. This was not enough for Democratic support.
The fact that it did not completely repeal the law was not acceptable to the extreme radical right wing of the Republican Party. No matter what President Trump says, this bill was not lost because not a single Democrat voted for it. It was lost because nearly 30 Republicans refused to vote the party line and therefore, the Affordable Health Care Act will remain the law of the land.
I would ask you to recall the original passage of the Affordable Health Care Act was done without a single Republican vote, and therein lies the issue. When you have a majority and still cannot pass your signature campaign promise, your party is sucking air.
No one asked me but… President Trump’s next adventure into the reality of American politics will be his attempt to get a budget passed. Once again he will not have any Democrats support his budget bill.
However, that should not matter as both Houses of Congress are controlled by the Republicans. It should be a simple matter of presenting the budget bill, listen to a day or two of complaints by Democrats and then holding the vote and having a majority of the both Houses pass a bill. The President can then sign it into law.
Oh! Wait! That was the plan with the repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act. How did that work out?
Republican governors who supported Mr. Trump for President because of his pledge to return the governing of the people back to the states are now having buyer’s remorse. The projected budget is asking for cuts in federal funds that support state programs and the Republican governors are not happy. Yes, they want less federal interference in the running of their state but they are not willing to give up any of the federal money that comes with that interference.
Everyone is in favor of cutting the budget as long as it does not affect them. It all comes down to a matter of whose ox gets gored.
Thought of the week…I once said to my father, when I was a boy, ‘Dad we need a third political party.’ He said to me, ‘I’ll settle for a second.
-Ralph Nader
