After being bedridden for a few days, I come back to the "negotiations" on the fiscal cliff, exactly where they were beforehand.
Obama and Democrats continue to insist that the so-called rich be taxed more than they already are so that Government can be funded for an extra eight days... yes, read that again... eight whole days.
On the other side of the aisle are the Republicans, who believe the Bush era tax cuts should be extended for everyone. Their stated reasoning is that to allow anyone's taxes to increase in a sputtering economy is to kill jobs, investment, and basically slow things down even further.
Then you have the liberal media that love to call Republicans "obstructionists" and spew vitriol about the House GOP "intransigence."
Those horrible Republicans want to protect the "rich" aka successful job creators that just happen to keep people employed, invest their money when they feel secure, spend their money into the economy and pretty much guarantee they economy will move forward and not back into another recession.
How freaking dare Republicans!!!
Ideology. It is all about ideology if you are to believe the liberal press. Obama's class warfare ideology which is, to them, a principled stand. After all he used his whole first term to pitch class warfare, including setting off the failed experiment of the "Occupy Wall Street" year. Then he campaigned on class warfare, punish those nasty rich people and our nation's debt would be solved..... ummm.... he neglected to mention it would only solve eight days out of 365, but hey, no biggie.
On the Republican side, the press tells you that fighting for what they campaigned on, spending cuts and no tax increases on anyone, is being "captured" by the Tea Party extremists, letting the "fringe" take the whole country hostage to protect those nasty ole rich people.
They also tell their viewers and readers that the only reason Republicans refuse to agree to a deal that punishes the successful in the nation is "self-interest," so they won't lose their next election.
Give them a hand, finally they get something right. Although they carefully refrain from stating it accurately.
It is called keeping your promises to those that elected you.
South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan points out to the liberal leaning Politico, exactly that:
One of the Republicans in a deeply conservative district, South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan, said he has no doubt the voters he represents want him to oppose higher taxes as part of any fiscal cliff deal.
“I believe if you do what you said you were going to do, if you vote with integrity, if you do what you told voters you were going to do, reelection will take care of itself,” he said. “People who have contacted me are asking me to stand firm on what really matters, which is the spending side of the equation.”
Amazing. A politician that states, loudly and proudly, that he understands that he was chosen to represent his constituents, not just the party label and furthermore, he understands that when a politician makes campaign promises, those same constituents expect them to keep those promises.
Hallelujah.