SIGNS THAT THE APOCALYPSE IS NEAR: THE GOP IS TALKING ABOUT "GOVERNANCE"

The current crop of congressional Republicans is lacking in any number of very important ways, as their record per the 112th and 113th Congresses---they currently vie with each other for the honor of “Worst Congress in American History”---indicates. However, I do give them credit for, if nothing else, temerity.

A little history:

On the night of President Obama’s first inauguration, the GOP congressional leadership and its top fund-raisers/donors met (along with the once-respected journalist, George Will) over dinner in D.C. and mapped out plans per how they would, through obstruction, gridlock and a game plan of “investigate and litigate, but don’t legislate,” prevent the newly-inaugurated president from achieving any kind of policy success that required congressional action. According to Mitch McConnell, the point of refusing to allow the country to move forward in any real way for four years was to insure that “this president will be a one-term president.”

It was strictly a political consideration with no serious thought given to the consequences it would impose on millions of Americans who, in 2009, were trying to make their way out of the devastation of lost jobs, lost homes, lost investments, lost pensions and lost hope that followed the collapse of Wall Street and the banking industry only four months earlier---a collapse that occurred under Republican leadership and was primarily occasioned by a suicidal combination of Republican economic policies.

Except for the 167 legislative days of the 111th Congress that the Democrats enjoyed a majority in both chambers---the 111th Congress, by the way, is generally considered by congressional historians to have been the most effective Congress since the LBJ-era---the Republicans have been able to follow their script perfectly.

In the Senate, Mitch McConnell and his acolytes had, as of May 22, 2014, filibustered an astonishing 540 bills and nominations introduced on the Senate floor during the past two sessions of Congress. Just to put those numbers in perspective, Lyndon Johnson, during his six years as Senate Majority Leader, faced one filibuster. In four years as Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid has now faced over 555. The result? The Democratic majority in the Senate has been able to accomplish almost nothing.

In the House, Speaker John Boehner and his Republican majority have simply refused to bring to the floor anything of import proposed by the Democrats---in most instances, he has not even allowed Democratic-sponsored legislation to make it to committee.

On the other hand, Mr. Boehner has had his Clown Show pass and send to the Senate over 350 pieces of what is called “theatre legislation.” This is legislation that a party passes for the benefit of its donors, passing it for show while knowing (and, sometimes hoping), all the time, that it has no chance of passing through the other chamber of Congress.

This “theatre legislation”---you can find and read the substance of these bills on the Speaker’s website, but make sure you read the actual bills and not his staff’s revisionist synopses---primarily involves (1) major tax cuts for wealthy corporations and individuals and (2) deregulation in the environmental and economic arenas. They are bills that would create minimal jobs---cf. the Keystone Pipeline---but hefty profits for their corporate benefactors. At the same time, they would further compromise air/water quality, threaten prized wilderness preservation areas, further reduce already reduced wildlife habitats and accelerate the exponential growth of the wealth/capital/income/opportunity inequality that bodes ill for the futures of millenials and the generation that will follow them.

Needless to say, any number of House and Senate Republicans were privately relieved that the House bills never even made it to the committee level in the Senate---it would, after all, be embarrassing in an election year for voters to find out just whose bank accounts legislators were most concerned about. [This last sentence written with all apologies to the late Ms. Mary Hogan, my wonderfully encouraging high school Latin teacher who also read my admittedly woeful English papers and, along with advice about organization and content, never failed to red-line a preposition I had stranded at the end of a sentence!]

Now, however, after authoring four years of total gridlock, Republicans have the temerity to talk about “ending the gridlock caused by Democratic obstructionists,” “getting things done” and “doing the work of the people.” These are, in fact, direct quotes from Mitch McConnell, who, after describing himself as “the proud guardian of gridlock,” now demonizes Harry Reid as being “America’s Number One Obstructionist” and asks Kentuckians to re-elect him because he suddenly wants to “get things done.”

Where were he and Senate/House Republicans the last four years, when the American people needed them to work across the aisles and “get things done?”

One supposes that, for two of those years, they were doing all they could to make Barack Obama a “one-term president.” Having failed---by 5,000,000 votes---at denying him a second term, one supposes that, for the last two of those years, they were just trying to punish him for beating them so badly.

Whatever the case, two things are certain: (1) Wherever they were, the Republicans were not “getting things done,” and (2) the only people who actually got punished were people like you and me---you know, people who could least afford to take the hits.