Sabria Chowdhury Balland :
“This is not some equivalence between the parties. The reason government does not work right now is because the other party has been captured by an ideological, rigid, uncompromising core that ignores science is not particularly interested in facts is not particularly interested in compromise but is interested in having its own way 100% of the time…
So, the answer to our own challenge is actually pretty simple:
We need a better Congress.”
—President Barack Obama
The above quote from President Obama refers to the US midterm elections on November 4, 2014 in which voters will essentially elect a new Congress. Currently, most of the members of Congress are Republican.
The essential problem with this majority Republican Congress (in other words, Conservatives) is that it opposes, without fail, anything which is related to President Obama’s ideas and policies.
Conservatives incessantly oppose and criticize the “awful” policies of the Obama administration and how “terrible” Democrats are. What they fail to accept or maybe even realize is that their own party has failed to achieve anything for them, let alone the country.
Conservatives fail to acknowledge the long list of President Obama’s achievements. In the five years since he has been elected, he has:
created over 10 million jobs
passed much needed health care reform
found and rid the world of Osama bin Laden
saved the US auto industry
controlled record high stock prices
brought back the troops from the Middle East
re-established and maintained respectable foreign relations globally (something which was very seriously damaged in the eight years of the Bush administration)
introduced increasing the minimum wage. The list is not inclusive or ends there.
These are just some of President Obama’s accomplishments. Conservative Republican Party supporters cannot claim in the least bit anything close to such achievements from their party and yet choose to ignore and ridicule what this administration has done. Can President Reagan’s “trickle down economics” claim any success at all in achieving anything positive for the economy? Not in the least bit. Conservatives constantly blame Democrats for raising taxes. They are wrong (nothing new!) Taxes are at an all-time low since Reagan and the wealthy are doing extremely well as are many large corporations. So are small businesses thanks to all the incentives which have been given to them by the Obama administration.
If Conservatives are griping about gun laws, they need to recall that President Obama has not passed a single law taking away their precious gun rights. The only suggestion he has made is universal background checks for gun buyers and magazine size. Is that a negative? Is it wrong or immoral to want universal background checks after so many countless killings such as Colombine and Newtown ( just to name two in a very, very long list).
Conservative gun lovers obviously cannot even wait one week for background checks to be completed before buying weapons! Of course, it is for “self-defense”…a paranoia that has been hugely destructive to the core of American society.
When Conservatives once again gripe about the millions on welfare, they are once again choosing to forget that millions of Conservatives are on welfare. Furthermore, everyone on welfare is not abusing it. In fact, only a small percentage of people on welfare do so.
“Obamacare” is one huge point of contention among Conservatives (as if affordable healthcare for millions of Americans is such an evil thing). However, the original idea was one devised by the Republicans in the 1990’s. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney even passed the exact same law as Governor of Massachusetts. However, when an African American President supports such a law, suddenly it becomes an evil socialist plot.
In the eight years of the Bush presidency, Republicans controlled most of Congress as it does currently. However, even with a Republican President and majority Republican Congress, the Bush administration failed utterly to balance the budget, combat terrorism, pay the national debt, create jobs, etc. The only people who thrived were the wealthy. It also left US foreign policy in shambles and completely destroyed the nation’s reputation globally.
So, for the millions of voters who have voted early and those heading to the polls on November 4, 2014 to elect members of Congress, it is of utmost importance to keep these facts in mind. Do we want a Congress which continues to oppose all sensible proposals just for the sake of opposing the President, even when it is not in the least bit beneficial to the country? Or do we want a system of governance in which the Congress works peacefully hand in hand with the President to ensure that sensible, just policies are put in place domestically and internationally?
