IF A DEMOCRAT HAD DONE THAT... !

by Ruth A. Sheets

For years, I have cried out over and over, “If a Democrat had done that... ”  Republican politicians have been involved with, even done appalling, illegal, unconstitutional, or just plain immoral things.  Their acts are then dismissed as unimportant, sad, a moment of forgetfulness. 

The list is long.  It seems after Nixon’s Watergate “bad judgment,” Republicans just can’t be held accountable for anything happening either on their watch or directly as a result of individual members’ actions.

Some of the highlights include: 

- President Reagan’s Iran-Contra scheme, clearly illegal, but poor Mr. Reagan didn’t know anything about it and his minions were just following orders.”  (Whose orders, no one is quite sure.)

- Shutting down the whole government twice to prove a point. What point was clear neither time.

- 9/11 happened under George W. Bush, but he was seen as a president heroically bringing people together while Jimmy Carter was brought down because of the Iranian Revolution and Hillary Clinton was blamed and pilloried by Republicans for the raid in Benghazi.

-Candidate Donald Trump lied about every one of his opponents, made racist and sexist comments and maligned the family of a soldier killed in the Bush wars, accused a president of not being a legitimate citizen, yet was elected.

Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions lied to a Congressional Committee in his confirmation hearings and most Republican senators are okay with it because he was “probably talking with the Russian ambassador about issues related to the Senate Committee he was a member of, not on behalf of Mr. Trump on whose election committee he was serving.”

Replace a Democrat’s name for any Republican named above and he or she would have been hung out to dry.  Remember, Bill Clinton was vilified and impeached for the kind of sex act that Mr. Trump brags about. 

I think of the Republican Party as the Teflon party.  Nothing negative they do sticks to them.

Comedian Bill Maher, though, has a better name for this phenomenon.  He calls it “The Magic R.”  If one has the Magic “R” behind his/her name, one can do practically anything and have it dismissed as some minor occurrence or nothing at all.  Cheat on your wife, no problem if you have the Magic R.  Lie to Congress, my goodness, “You must have forgotten.”  Insult fellow citizens from your high office?  No big deal, “He actually didn’t mean what he said.”  Lie to the American people, that’s okay, “the real Americans know you were just a bit angry with those other guys.”  Freeze up when you hear the news about 9/11, “Don’t worry, we’ll write a speech for you that will let you seem tough and in charge.”

And so it goes.  I do not know how to un-magic the R.  Republicans are very good with the language of deceit, finding phrases/slogans that sound good but mean the exact opposite:  “Right to Work bills” that actually lower wages and working conditions, “Religious Freedom bills” that make acceptable discrimination against people whose religion or practices they don’t like, “Voting Rights bills” that deliberately intend to keep specific groups of people from voting.

Maybe the way to remove the magic is to point it out every time we see it.  The media needs to call the “Right to Work,” the “Union-busting, Worker Repressing Bill” and “The Voting Rights Bill” the “Keep People (mostly Democrats) from Voting Bill.”  They started that with the bills discriminating against transgender people “Bathroom Bills.”  Good journalists will call the R’s out on all their hypocrisy so people can see it. Then, if citizens continue to vote for the hypocrites, they will know they are doing it and can be held accountable. 

I know, I know.  wishful thinking! 

The Teflon Party

by Ruth A. Sheets

President Reagan was often referred to as the “Teflon President,” particularly by those who were not enthralled by his charm.

While president, he put thousands of people’s lives in danger by firing the air traffic controllers because he didn’t want to pay them what they were worth.  Reagan was seen as the hero.

Reagan’s administration added to the poverty rate in America through its “trickle down economics,” which of course, did not work.  Everything else was blamed for this plan’s failure.  Reagan’s plan is still at the top of the Republican Party’s policies thirty years later.

The Reagan administration illegally sold arms to the Contras after dealing with Iranians, the guys who held Americans hostage for more than a year.  Reagan’s claim that he was out of the loop and Oliver North, looking good in his uniform, allowed the charges to slide off.

The Bush administration was asleep at the switch when 911 happened, but they were allowed to trick America into two wars which are still not behind us, eleven years later.

The Bush crowd passed policies that led to a near depression, yet has been able to blame the Democrats because the nation has not fully recovered in less than four years under President Obama.  Republicans actually look good and honest to about half the US population even though their economic plans, such as they are, have never been even a bit successful.

I just don’t get it!  Republicans can nearly bring down the global economy, put a lot of people at risk, deal illegally with foreign powers, spout overtly racist comments, bust unions so people will earn less for their work and receive fewer benefits.  The Government and our economy  can be held hostage or even shut down so Republicans can get what they want.  Yet a lot of folks don’t seem to mind at all.

What am I missing here?  If any of these things had happened during a Democratic watch, everything would stick for the next twenty or thirty years and no Democrats would be elected.  The Republicans have paid little or nothing for the damage they have caused. 

I suspect that big money has a lot to do with this situation.  Republicans have a lot of it and spread it around in just the right amounts to breed power.  The money myth tells Americans that those who have money must have America’s best interests at heart.  They don’t!  The only interests they have at heart are their own.  But, for many Americans, whatever the Republican wealthy do is okay, no matter who is hurt.  Money and power are Republican Teflon.  

An Earth Day tribute to Ronald Reagan

You remember President Reagan?  He was the one who deregulated the air traffic controllers and fired the lot of them.  His new hires are now all beginning to retire at once.  Because of the deregulation, the replacements aren't being trained properly, so they're taking naps while on duty.  How ironic that one of the first controllers to be caught sleeping worked at Reagan Airport.

But let's talk about the environment a minute.  Back in the Carter years, OPEC made petroleum scarce and the price of gas shot up to--gasp--over a dollar a gallon.  Everyone started acting sensibly--buying smaller cars, lowering thermostats, etc.  President Carter began to promote alternative energy sources.  One of his projects was to install solar panels on the White House for a hot water system.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan worked his special magic and petroleum prices came down.  In 1986, Reagan had the White House solar panels removed.  The message:  We don't need no stinkin' unprofitable solar energy.

We're now paying for the Middle East political finagling of those years and the administrations to follow with wars, unrest, and gas prices over $4 and still rising.  We're paying for it more with climate change that's nearly out of control.  The leftover Reagan taming-of-the-Wild-West attitude isn't helping matters.  Unlike the 1970s, people now seem to think they're entitled to their big gas-guzzers.  Small cars are barely advertised.  Homes these days are filled with more lights, and with more and bigger electronics that always pull power, even when they're shut off.  Everyone seems to feel that someone else ought to be doing something to fix environmental problems, but buy a more efficient car?  Turn off the lights and power strips when you leave the room?  God forbid.

Last year, a company named Sungevity offered to donate a full solar system for the White House.  They were refused.  I've read weird excuses for this:  that a White House solar system would only emphasize how expensive they are and show the President as being "out of touch," or that somehow this would encourage every nut out there to donate alternative energy to the White House (is that a bad thing?).

No one who has mentioned the Carter/Reagan solar story has hit on the crucial point:  Since 1986, taxpayers have paid for EVERY DROP of hot water in the White House.  Had Reagan left those panels in place, we would have at least saved money on sunny days.  Over the last two decades, that would have been added up to a fairly substantial savings.

A full solar system on the White House now would not only heat the hot water, but probably make enough electricity to sell back to the power company occasionally.  Imagine, a government project MAKING money.  And if Sungevity donated it, this would be at no cost to the taxpayer.

What the President ought to do to show he gets it about cutting government costs is to have that solar system installed on the White House.  Either that or stop taking hot showers at our expense.

He also ought to encourage companies to RENT solar panels to consumers at affordable prices.  The consumer gets solar energy, the company gets the rent payments plus money from any electricity sold back to the grid.  Everyone wins.  Including the earth.

muon