Go Ahead - See What Happens.

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When I was a little girl, my mother was fond of saying "Go ahead. See what happens."  This was her way of saying to me, "I warned you about such and such, but if you are hell bent on doing such and such, then have at it. Just don't come crying to me when you get hurt."   When little kids push the boundaries, what they really want is to be reigned in.  They want their parents to protect them from themselves.  However, sometimes, we have to let them "go ahead and see what happens" especially after we have offered advice that falls on deaf little ears. 

I have reached the "go ahead and see what happens" attitude with America.  In the months leading up to the 2008 election I spent countless hours talking, calling, campaigning, and advocating for President Obama and the Democratic Party.  In the 2 years since the election I have continued to spend countless hours talking, calling, campaigning and advocating for the President's policies and the agenda of the Democratic Party.  Then came the mid-term elections.  The Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives.  The GOP and the Tea Party candidates ran for office on a platform which is essentially "Destroy the President."  Many candidates spoke of cutting spending and downsizing government.  What they really meant is cut social programs for the poor, keep tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%, increase taxes on the middle and poor, de-regulate business, increase Medicare and Medicaid deductibles or cut those programs completely, privatize Social Security so the speculators can make more money while we lose out - again.  Mitch McConnell (R-KY) actually said that the number one priority for Republicans is to defeat President Obama.  Not job creation, not cutting the deficit, not reducing our national debt - but defeating the President. 

How will the GOP "defeat" the President?  It's easy for them now that they control the purse strings.  Revenue bills must originate in the House of Representatives.  Millionaire pundits like Sarah Palin are calling for the newly elected GOP majority in the House to "de-fund" the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.  What does this mean for the millions of Americans who are counting on being able to buy health insurance and those Americans who, before health care reform, could not buy health insurance or were un-insurable due to a pre-existing condition? What about those whose coverage was canceled via recission by their health insurance company because they failed to disclose a cavity or removal of a mole?  It means that there will be no way the government can enforce the law. De-funding the health care reform law means that American health insurance companies will continue to take your premiums and then deny coverage when you need it.  The GOP will allow insurance companies to return to denying coverage for life-saving treatments if they can find any mistake in your application.  Hey Sarah Palin, you want to know where the real death panels sit?  They sit in the board rooms of big health insurance companies.  The health insurance companies determine what treatment if any they will approve for payment.  If denying that coverage means you will die, so be it. 

The Tea Party spent the better part of the past 2 years waving (misspelled and hateful) signs demanding that government be downsized and spending curbed.  Yet, for all their noise not one of them ever put forth a workable plan to achieve this goal.  Their mantra was "NO SOCIALISM BUT HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE."  Despite their adamant demands that Medicare and Social Security be protected, they supported and helped to elect Representatives (e.g., Rand Paul) who campaigned on increasing Medicare deductibles, privatizing Social Security and eliminating the Department of Education.  The health care reform act closes the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage gap or the "doughnut hole."  The gap in coverage for seniors means that many of them cannot afford life saving medications.  The reform will close this gap so that all seniors can afford their prescription medications.  But, the GOP will deprive seniors of this benefit by de-funding the health care reform

The GOP seeks to continue the disastrous "Bush Tax Cuts" by protecting the wealthiest 1% at the expense of the rest of us.  We are now living the effects of GOP tax policy.  Still, even after overwhelming evidence that GOP economic policy ala Reaganomics and Bush Tax Cuts do not benefit the economy or the working people of America, a large number of Americans elected Representatives that will revive and continue these policies.  

The potential negative effect of the GOP's platform on the American people is not a secret.  They've been told. Despite evidence that if we return to the Bush era economic policy, we are on a course that will lead to disaster, the people raced like lemmings toward the cliff and elected a Republican majority in the House.
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I'm tired of talking.  I'm tired of explaining.  I'm tired of advocating for reason and rationality.  At this point, the child has to go ahead and dive head first into disaster.  Will the child finally learn a lesson when everything comes crashing down?  I doubt it.  Some kids never learn. Go ahead with the GOP plan and see what happens.