Republicans missing a wing

 

    Thomas Friedman's column (Not a Test, 3/11/2009), decrying the "politics as usual" of the Republican party and their hope to "see the country fail" reminded me that some years ago, Russell Baker in one of his columns for this paper, noticed that the Republican party's main mission was to "comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted."

 

    Now, at a time when even some of the comfortable are being afflicted financially, it is high time for the blind (or, at the very least, short sighted) followers of the doctrine of failure, preached by right wing radio blowhards, to examine their role in the rebuilding of our economy.

 

    The obstructionists Republicans claim to be concerned about the size of the deficit and the debt that our children will inherit. But if we look at the spending habits of past Republican administrations, we see that this concern occurs only when the Democrats are in power.

 

    The shining light and exemplar of present day Republicans is Ronald Reagan. There are many reasons why they worship him: He is the one that advocated the trickle-down theory that turned into a gusher of riches to the wealthiest people in the country. Even his Vice President, papa Bush, dismissed this policy as "Voodoo Economics" (that was before he became VP). But most of all they worship his declaration that "Government is the problem."

 

    Reagan attempted to prove it by almost running the country into bankruptcy as his term in office was nearing its expiration date. His Republican successor (papa Bush, again) had to raise taxes, negating his "read my lips, no taxes" promise.

    And, of course, the biological son of President Bush, and ideological son of Ronald Reagan (junior Bush), managed to turn the largest surplus into the largest deficit in our history. He did it by involving us in an unnecessary war and appointing incompetent sycophants to run the government.

    It was said that the nay sayers are the right wing of the G.O.P., but the left wing of the Republican party does not exist anymore. A bird with only one wing may skip and jump but will find it impossible to fly.

 

March 11, 2009