New Faces, Old Ideas

In about three months, America will be having it's first midterm election of Obama's presidency. These elections usually mean a loss of seats for the party in power, so the question is always "How Many?". Depending on who you ask, losses for the Democrats will either be little worse than usual, or potentially catastrophic.

The main tool the GOP, it's corporate allies, and their mouthpieces like Beck and Limbaugh have used is an anti-incumbent sentiment. Corporations and their CEO's, seeing threats to the profits and power through things like banking and health insurance reform, have stirred up the Tea Party movement and their agenda of obstruction and promises of repeal.

I think a lot of this stems from the fact that the GOP lacks any real new ideas or solutions. Their solutions are still based in the pro-corporate polices that contributed to the situation that America currently finds itself in; lack of bank and financial regulation, until recent legislation was passed, led to a real estate collapse and the domino effect that followed, trade policies that allowed corps to ship jobs to places where labor is cheaper and health and safety regulations are weaker has created a shortage of good paying jobs, and likely forced many people into the "McEconomy", a too cozy relation between oil and coal companies and regulatory agencies led to both the West Virginia Mine Disaster and the Gulf Oil Spill.

These are the policies that the GOP and it's candidates want to return to. But you'd be hard pressed to know, as the GOP focuses on building anger and rage, two traits of any right-wing movement, to get people to vote against their economic interest and for corporate candidates.

So what can the Democrats and their allies do to stop this. In debates, in editorial pages, on blogs and forums, ask the GOP and their supporters what their solutions are. Imagine what would happen when voters saw that what the GOP has in the way of ideas are the same ones that they rejected in 2006 and 2008?

A second thing is point out that what the GOP wants to do is likely going to make things worse, doing nothing is not going to improve the situation, and attempts to repeal legislation will be blocked or vetoed.

When a child doesn't get their way; they scream, stamp their feet, and refuse to move. The GOP and it's corporate contributors seem to be doing much the same thing.