It was a foolproof strategy that made perfect political sense, governance be damned. For the past two years, Republicans had a strategy of “belittle and block” that sought to oppose the Democrats’ admittedly liberal agenda, claiming that they were pursuing their own utopian visions of America as Sweden II while ignoring the need for economic growth. Now that it’s worked, I expected Republicans to use their new heft to pull Obama’s to-do list towards the center. Instead, they seem to be content with continuing the same strategy to torpedo that list and make the President look as inept as possible in hopes of more gains in 2012. That is a disgusting way for elected Congressmen to approach their jobs.

Let’s review the first two weeks after Election Day. In that short span, the Republicans have managed to prioritize the repeal of health care reform, block the extension of unemployment benefits again, and refuse to ratify the START treaty. The first two actions show that their criticisms of Democrats not being attuned to the voice of the people- a recent Rasmussen exit poll shows a plurality of 43% of voters citing the economy as their top concern- a hypocritical assessment. The last may well endanger international diplomatic relations and national security.

Let’s start with their pledge with health care repeal. Most citizens are disgusted with partisanship in Congress and want to see Democrats and Republicans work together to save or create jobs and lead the economy into recovery. Instead, the Republicans made their top priority a political impossibility that is geared more towards scoring points with the constituents back home than achieving anything substantive- even if the repeal effort passes Congress, they’ll need 2/3s approval from both houses to override President Obama’s certain veto. Furthermore, health care has no impact on the short-term performance of the economy, which, if Republicans were as attuned to “the people” as they claimed to be, should be their number one issue.

We move on to the extension of unemployment benefits. These chronically unemployed are not out of a job because they are “lazy”, but simply because there are not enough low-education jobs in the market right now. Furthermore, economic research consistently indicates that poor people- such as the currently jobless- are most likely to spend tax cuts or government subsidies such as unemployment benefits, as they desperately need the money to purchase necessities. Therefore, unemployment benefits are among the most efficient policies a government can use to boost the economy. However, Republicans oppose it because it would add $15 billion to the deficit. While that’s a lot of money, it's the equivalent of five days of funding the unnecessary Iraq War at its peak- and I never heard any complaints from them about the deficit.

But one can argue that they approved that money for national security reasons. That Republicans care about the deficit, but not as much as they do about national security. Maybe that’s true. But if that’s the case, then their rejection of the START treaty truly baffles me. Their grounds of opposition are that it hinders us from showing solidarity with our Eastern European “friends” and shrinks our nuclear deterrence. But these are flimsy arguments. The national security benefits of “solidarity” with East Europe nations are unclear, and the U.S. would still have a large enough nuclear arsenal to annihilate the world many times over. On the other hand, the benefits of a cooperative treaty with Russia are clear. It would contribute to their willingness to support any additional sanctions on Iran, a much more hostile threat to the United States, not to mention a favorite archenemy of the Republicans. Therefore, it’s hard to see how opposition to the START treaty is not politically motivated.

When politicians get elected to the federal government, their job is no longer to politick and pander, but to govern. With their recent actions, Republicans have blurred the line between the two tasks of Congressmen even further. It sets a dangerous precedent of the legislative branch becoming a battlefield between Democrats and Republicans, with the common good of the country under their guardianship being a wartime casualty.


(Photo: absentee_redstate)