Despite the fact that a majority of Americans indicate that
they distrust and dislike Congress, and that they object to the obstructionist
tactics of Republicans in Congress, polls say that they are likely to give
control of Congress to the Republicans this year. Why? I would think that
people would become so disgusted with Republican obstruction that they would
vote Democratic so that Congress could finally do something about the nation’s
problems.
First and
most important is the economy. Under President Obama and the Democrats the
economy has been lifted out of the worst recession in modern times and is well
on its way to a boom. One of the factors in the improvement of the economy has
been the bond-buying program carried out by the Federal Reserve. In the past
few years the Fed has bought over $4.5 trillion worth of bonds. The bond-buying
program helped reduce long-term interest rates and stimulated bank-lending and
other aspects of the economy. The Dayton Daily News reported that Doug Handler,
chief economist at HIS Global Insight, has asserted that the greatest impact of
the bond-buying program “was instilling confidence in consumers and the
business community that Fed officials were determined to do everything they
could to stimulate growth.”
Most
people do not realize that the Republicans opposed the Fed’s bond-buying
program and opposed much else of the Obama Administration’s efforts to
stimulate the economy. Mitch McConnell, Republican minority leader in the
Senate, made it clear that the main Republican effort these past six years was
to unseat President Obama, not to help improve the economy. He led the effort
to block virtually all of the President’s programs to get the economy moving.
As a result, Americans continued to suffer long after the actual recession was
over. Now that the economy is recovering without Republican help, they want to
take-over Congress and deal with the economic issues about which they were so
wrong.
Somehow,
Republican leaders have succeeded in getting many people to dislike President
Obama. One issue that they have seized upon is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I
admit that I do not understand their opposition to this law. Under it millions
of people who did not have health insurance are now covered. By expanding
Medicaid, the law makes it possible for poor people to have something which
many consider a natural right. The law does not drive the nation into
bankruptcy. It is financed by revenue provided for in the law and that revenue
could actually lead to a governmental surplus.
Many other aspects of the ACA help
people other than the poor, for example: it allows young people to remain
covered under their parent’s insurance until age 26; it prohibits health
insurance companies from denying coverage on account of pre-existing conditions;
it provides for the elimination of the “Doughnut Hole”--That
is the period during which seniors have to pay the full cost of their
prescriptions; it
eliminates co-payments for preventative services and exempts preventative
services from deductibles under the Medicare program. It does many other things
that benefit both the poor and the middle class. Yet, for some reason, Republican lies have
succeeded in making the law unpopular.
I think I
understand some of the dynamics of Republican anger against President Obama and
the Democrats. Let’s face it, Republicans despise and resent poor people, especially
Black people. They feel that these people are a cause of too much crime in America
With all
of these things in mind, people who vote Republican will ignore the actions of
Republican Congressmen in obstructing legislation that would benefit all
Americans, will ignore the improving economy, will ignore the benefits of the
ACA to everybody, and will vote their prejudices.
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