Take heart -- A Retired Navy Officer’s Message to Liberals on the Eve of the GOP’s Big Mid-Term Win

[markpkessinger]

Saw this the other day -- thought it might be good to share here now, lest we allow ourselves to get too morose over yesterdays results . . .

[font size=5]A Retired Navy Officer’s Message to Liberals on the Eve of the GOP’s Big Mid-Term Win[/font]

Posted by Jim Wright

< . . . . >

Do you know what’s going to happen if Conservatives control both houses of Congress? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Literally nothing. That’s what will happen. For the next two years. Nothing.

So, if you think about it, in most regards, down here on the street, it'll look pretty much the same as the last two years where Congress has accomplished ... nothing. Oh, sure, the very first thing Republicans will do is attempt torepeal Obamacare. They have no choice. They'll have to - they've painted themselves into a corner on it.

And so, the first order of business, right after they all make a big showing of swearing in their new majority by reciting the Constitution, will be a rushed bill through both chambers to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act. It's already written.

Republicans willpass a repeal in the House. They might even pass a repeal in the Senate by a simple majority vote, especially if Democrats continue to cravenly run away from the ACA instead of standing their ground and fighting. Instead of reminding Americans why we needed it in the first place and why the majority of Americans, including one hell of a lot of Republicans, benefit from the ACA every day - which is what Democrats should have been doing during their campaigns instead of pissing their pants.

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[MADem]

1. The last line in that essay is the ULTIMATE money quote. nt

[markpkessinger]

2. Indeed! n/t

[MADem]

3. Wish I could rec this more than once. nt

[Cha]

5. I like this second thing, too.. from the link

"So, naturally, the second thing the new Republican majority will do is attempt to impeach the president.

First they’ll threaten Obama with it, better bow down, admit defeat, boy, or else we’ll do it. We will. We mean it.

Forgetting, of course, that if the last five years have proven anything it’s that Obama isn’t much intimidated by conservative threats.

But Republicans, drunk with their new found power and utterly oblivious to the lessons of history will bluster and beat their fleshy chests and threaten impeachment based solely on the idea that being black and liberal in the White House constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Saner heads among them will caution that they don’t have a case, Constitution-wise, and perhaps sanity will even prevail. Perhaps. But more likely, when the Republican congress figures out that they actually can’t push Obama around, that those checks and balances go both ways, well, then likely they’ll work themselves up into a suicidal frenzy of blood-maddened rage, and maybe, just maybe, they even go through with it.

snip//

Because that’s their whole agenda. Repeal the ACA. Impeach Obama. And if that fails, as it inevitably must, then allow nothing to happen. That’s it. That’s all they’ve got. If you want to see what a Republican led majority looks like, look to the House. They can’t even agree on the stuff they agree on.

[MADem]

7. It's one of the most inspiring articles I've read here, lately! nt

[Cha]

10. Yeah, I just sauntered over her in search of something exactly like this.. it

makes perfect sense to me 'cause we've seen it all before.

It was written on the Americans Against the Tea Party site.

[MADem]

11. Something to love in a sea of doom and gloom! nt

[a kennedy]

9. and this "boy" part is exactly right......they hate him because he's black!!!

First they’ll threaten Obama with it, better bow down, admit defeat, boy, or else we’ll do it. We will. We mean it.
and I'm AM starting to feel a tad better reading this......not much but a tad.

[Cha]

13. I'm feeling a lot better, a kennedy.. interesting how the right words can help us take a look

at something and give us a new perspective. One that makes pretty good sense because we know who they are.. but, Jim Wright says it so eloquently!

[markpkessinger]

4. This writer is the same guy who wrote a blistering response to the Benghazi nonsense last Spring . .

. . . I posted about it here.

[MADem]

8. Brave guy---lives in Palinistan, too!!!

[Cha]

6. Thank you, Mark.. this is very comforting somehow.. I needed this.

[markpkessinger]

15. .

[geek tragedy]

12. TPP and Keystone are guaranteed to happen now.

Wouldn't call that nothing.

Also, they completely control the federal budget now.

[DocMac]

17. Yeah, more trickle down,

austerity, privatization, infrastructure degradation, and income inequality. Other than that, nothing.

[Silent3]

14. What about another government shutdown? What about failing to raise the debt ceiling?

What about not approving a single Obama appointee for two years?

These are things that can and do happen when "nothing" happens.

And what about ending one of these government shutdowns, or finally raising the debt ceiling (either just at the last minute, or worse, after the damage of crashing through the ceiling is already done) at the cost of whatever poison-pill conditions Obama has to swallow and sign into law as the price of getting anything at all done?

[mountain grammy]

16. Yes, that's the "nothing" that's happening and will continue.

It's not nothing for millions of Americans.

[erpowers]

18. A Number of Things Will Happen

This guy is wrong on a number of points. The Republican Party does have an agenda aside from preventing President Obama from passing his agenda. The Republican Party wants to cut spending on social programs, including Social Security. The Republican Party wants to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Republican Party also wants to end regulations covering the coal and banking industry.

So, we should look for corporate taxes to be cut by 5%-10%. We should look for TPP and Keystone XL to be passed. We should also look for at best the retirement age for Social Security to go up and at worst for Social Security to be partly, or fully privatized. So, actually a number of things will happen now that Republicans control the Senate.

[markpkessinger]

19. All of that requires the President's signature . . .

. . . and they don't have enough votes to override a veto. (Of course this depends upon (a) the President's willingness to use his veto power; and (b) the ability of Democrats to keep their own blue dogs in line.)

[erpowers]

20. President Obama Has Shown Willingness To Sign Bills

President Obama has shown a willingness to sign bills like TPP. He has also shown a willingness to reform Social Security.

[markpkessinger]

21. I know . . .

. . . and it is worrisome. But if it happens, it will because be a Democratic President allows it to happen. So we can't very well just blame Republicans in that event. My biggest fear is that we will see something rather like what we saw with Bill Clinton in his final two years: concerned about his "legacy," he became more concerned with attaching his name to some major bills than about the actual substance of those bills. The result was the repeal of Glass-Steagall and NAFTA.

[Stardust]

22. K&R!

[heaven05]

23. he's a leader

that is some good reading/smart hopeful words. The Navy never impressed me.... but this Navy man has. Read the whole thing, thanks. I was sitting here feeling like I had just heard an E.L.E. sized asteroid was heading our way. Not so much at this time.