The GOP, Getting Rolled Again

From your steak to the nuclear power plant down the road, from student aid and HIV testing, to travel delays and cancelled tours at the White House, the effects of the sequester have begun to roll out all over the nation, just as House Republicans insist they won't shut down the government at the end of the month.

Of course, that's also what they said about the sequester - that they'd never allow it to happen - so you can see why we don't have any faith in this latest claim by Congressmembers that they're going to save us from yet another Republican hostage crisis.

Logically you'd think that after getting bowled over in the 2012 elections, extremist Republicans might want to stop being stupid, deal with the massive political elephant in the room, and do things that might win them some elections in 2014.

At least in Congress, that hasn't been the case so far.

At the state level, however, there are a growing number of Republican governors who clearly understand the massive boulder rolling their way on Medicaid - which is why more and more of them have been bucking the extremists in their party, and accepting Obamacare's Medicaid expansion funds.

It's another example of right-wing hypocrisy - one that might actually net those who've accepted the realities of Obamacare some political victories down the road.

Republican governors who've decided to be - in Republican parlance - "moochers" from Medicaid have actually been the ones making the most fiscally responsible decisions. That's even more true since, under the current Medicaid expansion, the federal government pays the full cost of that expansion at the state level for the first three years, as well as additional spending costs. This actually ends up pairing well with the growing numbers of Americans who will be buying health insurance from the private market under Obamacare, since Medicaid helps those who can't afford insurance - and it's cheaper than private insurance anyway.

For health insurance companies at the state level, that dual boost means at a time they'll be getting more business coming in, they'll also be able to lessen the financial drag on their business as health care costs continue to go down. That's another 'win' for Obamacare.

Sadly, we still haven't gotten anywhere close to tackling the serious problems of price gouging in the U.S. health care system, as throughly detailed in a brilliant Time magazine report by Steven Brill.

We have made SOME progress though in rolling back the costs of health care to our society, with the ongoing roll out of Obamacare - including the Medicaid expansion. That is and always has been the goal of the progressive political position: Move forward on all fronts, and fix what you can, as soon as you can.

Politically, that worked out astoundingly well for Democrats in the 2012 elections. Some Republican governors they chose to embrace the Medicaid expansion obviously understand that. Other foolish Republican governors and state level politicians are still running from the Medicaid expansion that will almost certainly likely help those like Gov. Chris Christie in 2014.

Those less-than-wise Republican governors should learn to roll with the changes - or expect to get rolled by the people in 2014.

Had Enough? Us Too. It Gets Better, Though.

If you're like most Americans, after five unnecessary budget emergencies in the last two years, and a potential for two more in the next two months, when it comes to talk about our federal budget, most Americans have a good bit of crisis fatigue.

Whether you're talking about those media pundits who have been spreading false equivalency, or you're talking about the average American who simply tuned out of the latest budget squabble, most of America is sick and tired of our elected leaders acting like the child crying wolf for no reason.

There are times when our budgetary crisis fatigue makes us think we'd like to take certain members from both major political parties and shove them off a ledge, into a never-ending pit. Then we remember two important pieces of information.

First, it's only really one of our two major political parties that's the problem. Second, it's that the economy in America is generally getting better, even if cable news channels and other media sources don't always make it seem that way.

Indeed, as journalists Ezra Klein and Jim Tankersley discussed in a forum on Monday, there are some reasons to be optimistic about our American economy, both in the short term and the longer term future.

One big reason for optimism Klein notes, is that health care costs in America are finally slowing, thanks in large part, to the cost savings from Obamacare. It's also true that the housing market is turning around, as we've been noting in our links section, of our expanded edition for a few months.

According to Gallup, monthly U.S. economic confidence matched a five-year high in January of this year. Bloomberg News also noted that business activity had picked up more than expected in February, and Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans now sees the U.S. economy achieving "escape velocity" to serious growth by next year.

It's easy to get discouraged, especially if you - like us - are tied very tightly into the 24/7 media world, and are seeing the news not just for itself, but also through the jaundiced eyes of our Twitter feeds and other forms of social media.

The fact is, the pain, frustration, and sheer contempt that many around the nation - especially in the DC area -  are feeling in reaction to these sequestration cuts and all the other budget battles may have finally driven Republican leaders in Congress to join President Obama in honestly trying to prevent a potential government shutdown at the end of this month.

The fact is, things aren't perfect in America, economically - though they are far, far better than they were four years ago at this time. What's more, the trajectory for the American economy continues to be trending upward, in spite of sequestration - the exact opposite direction our U.S. economy was pointing in 2009.

So, yes - we understand that you're frustrated with our politicians in DC. We are too.

Things are getting better, though - slowly but steadily.

After all, it's not like another member of the Bush family is running for President in 2016... right?

No Communications Problem Here

“It is impossible to make a man understand something if his livelihood depends on not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair

Columnist E.J. Dionne wrote a great commentary piece over the weekend, comparing the Catholic church and the American political system. While many American Catholics will likely ignore Dionne's commentary as swiftly as they ignore the facts in the U.S. politics, we think his commentary was thought-provoking - even if we can't agree with the conclusion he made.

For a number of years now, we've been part of wide ranging discussion on the political left about what the major malfunction is of many figures on the political right. Are they stupid - or evil? Are they bad people - or simply bad at their jobs? Would teaching them the real, objective facts of a given situation really make a difference in the world?

Over the weekend, quite by accident, those on the political right - led by top GOP political consultant Mike Murphy - showed columnist Ezra Klein, and the rest of us too, exactly what the answers to those questions are, and why the Republican Party should no longer be worth paying any attention to.

In a prolonged online discussion with Klein and others, Murphy proved that no matter what President Obama is willing to do, Republicans and so-called conservatives will always move the goalposts so that compromise with Obama is impossible.

It's not just Murphy who has this problem with self-defeating hypocrisy, but also Republican leaders in both the media and on Capitol Hill.

Conservative commentator Reihan Salam this past weekend insisted that if President Obama would just lower the top corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%, and loosen all regulations, the economy would explode. Of course, Salam forgets that in 2010, President Obama went to the House Republican retreat - the proverbial trip to the lion's den - and offered to cut the top corporate tax rate to twenty-five percent. Obama has continued to push the idea of lowering the top corporate tax rate, even through the campaign last year,  though the President has also insisted  that corporations would have to lose the tax loopholes they use to cheat the system if that rate drop were to occur. That key fact seems to have either slipped Salam's mind - or he is simply too obdurate to accept reality.

As we noted, Republicans currently in Congress have the same problem.

Regardless of what their actions since 2000 have demonstrated, Republican Party leaders have continued to insist that deficits and debt are the most important things the federal government needs to focus upon, and that cutting spending is the ONLY way to get to that goal.  Even though a Republican President and Republican-led House and Senate put two wars, Medicare Part-D, and major tax cuts for the wealthy on the proverbial credit card of the United States - while exploding both the federal deficit and debt - as soon as President Obama took over, Republicans blamed him for all of their mess.

In response to this hypocrisy, President Obama shrunk the deficit every year he's been in the White House - a fact only 6% of Americans know. Further, thanks to smart budget compromises reached by President Obama Congressional Democrats - as well as the brutal Republican sequester - projected deficits over the next decade have now been reduced by nearly $4 trillion, which is exactly what Republicans have long insisted their goal has always been.

So now that the deficit problem is effectively solved - the goal that Republicans have claimed for years as more important than any other item - will they be happy? As the words and actions of Murphy, Salam, and the House GOP leaders prove, of course they won't.

It's quite obvious then - especially in light of Murphy's revealing discussion with Klein - that no matter what anyone else does or says, there is no realistic solution to governing our nation at the federal level that most Republicans are willing to accept.

If there's no trusting the GOP and conservatives, and no satisfying them, and no compromise is possible with them, then why should any good, wise, sensible, patriotic American care what Republicans claim they want from government anymore? By refusing to face reality, Republicans have already shut themselves out of any realistic opportunity to lead and govern responsibly.