Our politicians all combined couldn't lead a 2-car funeral procession out of a parking lot. Our healthcare situation is a mess. The Democrat's answer was ObamaCare, and the best the Republicans can come up with is their ScrewYouAmericaCare. That's it....Plan 1, ObamaCare; or Plan 2, ScrewYouAmericaCare.
Where's Plan 3? "Oh, there isn't a Plan 3" they tell us. That's because we don't have leaders who can count beyond 2! What they've proposed amounts to putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. Not only can't they think outside the box, they can't even find the damn box!
Of course we need to control our borders. Every country does. But proposing a 21st Century "Maginot Line"-like wall to keep the "murdering, raping Mexicans" out, and then expecting the murdering, raping Mexicans to pay for it is about the most ridiculous thing I've ever head of. Somebody please enroll Donnie John in a Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends And Influence People course.
Trade agreements need to be beneficial to all involved, but over time they sometime lose their fairness. Calling all parties to sit down together and negotiate a mid-course re-alignment is reasonable, but that won't work if our Negotiator In Chief is slinging personal insults and threats at the other participants. Make that a remedial How To Win Friends And Influence People course!
With the end of the Cold War many of our NATO partners let their guard down. With just a few exceptions they spent their tax dollars on everything but their own national security, thinking America always had their back. Asking them to step up now and contribute more to the alliance is reasonable, but it should be done in respectful negotiations, not by lining up our allies and lambasting them in public. That was cringe-worthy.
We have many serious issues that need attention requiring a top notch team. So who does President Trump choose to be on his team? Gen. James Mattis at Defense....OK, he got that one right. And Rex Tillerson at State....I must say he's doing much better than I expected (although reports are he's about ready to throw in the towel.) But the rest of them aren't worth shooting. Steve Mnuchin at Treasury? Remember the big economic meltdown back in 2008? Then we had a team of outstanding economic minds who, together, pulled us through. Mnuchin was one of those who got us INTO that mess, and certainly not one who has the credentials to get us out of the next one. God help us!
Beauregard Sessions as AG? Does anyone think he'll last the year? And how about Tom Price, the architect of that great healthcare reform plan that enjoys the support of a whopping 17% of the people? And last but not least, Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary only because her family is a mega-$$$$$ Republican contributor. Of all the possible excellent talent he had to choose from, President Trump chose these? *sigh*
As I said, conservatives deserve to have their agenda fairly heard and debated, just as liberals do. But where are today's composed, articulate leaders like Kennedy and Reagan, leaders who were respected if not always agreed with? Even hardcore Republicans who have been chewing on their tongues for months trying to defend Trump are beginning to turn on him. He's an embarrassment!
It isn't necessarily the message*, but Trump as the messenger that is threatening to send the Republicans into the political abyss, to join Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats who have already made themselves at home there.
I feel like we're living one of those movies where both pilots have flatlined and left the plane, and the passengers, to fend for themselves. You think Air Traffic Control will be able to talk us down?
S
* Well OK, maybe some of it is the message. ;)
We need to remember that the ACA was basically a Republican idea designed by Newt Gingrich as an alternative to Hillarycare in 1994. Today the ACA isn't working well because Republicans have done everything possible to insure it wouldn't work. After eight years of trashing the ACA it's apparent the Republicans only have bad ideas to pursue. They need to strip money from the ACA to pay for their tax give-a-way to the rich. This won't work. Republicans and Democrats need to FIX the ACA, not repeal it. Politicians who really care about the country should support this, but I'm not holding my breath.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the GOP seeing repeal of ObamaCare as their means to justify a tax cut to the rich, but I must respectfully disagree with your belief that ObamaCare failed only because Republicans sabotaged it. It was flawed from the beginning when they negotiated away the idea that EVERYONE had to have insurance, then put in a buy-out back door. Social Security works because everyone who gets a paycheck pays in. Medicare works because everyone who gets a paycheck pays in. ObamaCare doesn't work primarily because young/healthy people just pay the fine, then spend their money on jetskis and monster pickup trucks. How long do you think fire insurance would work if people only bought it when they looked around and saw their house in flames? The insurance companies bought in to ObamaCare day one when they thought they were going to sell millions of new insurance policies to young people who weren't going to make any claims. When that didn't happen due to the opt out fine, the insurance companies numbers didn't work, and now they're dropping out. If they want to fix the ACA, great. Just make everyone buy in, no opt out provisions. But that would rankle the Tea Party who fight everything that even sounds "socialistic". They HATE socialist programs, except their Medicare and Social Security. They LOVE their cheap healthcare and getting their monthly social security checks. That's different. *snicker*
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware of Newt's involvement in the ObamaCare idea. I thought it was based on Republican Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care plan he had passed when he was governor.
The problem is the mindless devotion to corporate donors that creates legislation like the Don't Care Act.
ReplyDeleteThe G-2 Summit should be interesting.
ReplyDeleteG20 that is.
DeleteYup, plane flying without pilot...and you know what's going to happen in November 2018? Incumbents will be re-elected. I'm losing hope here.
ReplyDelete