Excerpt: "We are witnessing a full-on implosion of the Republican Party. GOP used to stand for 'Grand Old Party,' but it now stands for 'Greedy Old Plutocrats.' "
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney listens to questions from the press. (photo: Jim Young/Reuters)
The GOP Is Officially a Third Party
24 September 12
f one political party's standard-bearer for president wrote off half of the electorate as people who would never vote for him, and his message appealed to and was catered specifically toward only 1% of the voting public, why should anyone take that party or that candidate seriously enough for them to have a shot at winning?
It's understandable that Mitt Romney wrote off half of the electorate, because he and his friends in the American corporatocracy simply speak entirely different languages. The nation's median income, which is already a statistic skewed far higher than normal by outliers at the top, is only $50,000. But according to Romney, a household making a quarter of a million dollars a year, which only 2% of households make, is "middle class." And $360,000 for speaking fees, which is greater than 6 median income families make per year combined is apparently not a lot of money. His assertion that the 47% of Americans who pay no income tax are government moochers applies to a wide swath of Americans, including working families with children making anywhere from $30,000 up to above $50,000. These families pay negative federal income tax rates thanks to programs like the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Besides, Romney himself benefited from a $10 million bailout at Bain Capital. For a family of 3 on welfare to receive as much help from Uncle Sam as Mitt Romney, they'd have to be on welfare for 328 years.
For those still convinced that the GOP should still be a major party, Romney's gaffes notwithstanding, take a look at how the Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted over the last few years, particularly for the budgets they've proposed and endorsed. While they have no problem voting down tax cuts for middle class households (those making less than $250,000 a year), Republicans have steadfastly endorsed cutting taxes for the top 1% to even lower levels in their official budget proposal. That same budget makes the bulk of its cuts from social programs that are primarily there to benefit the middle class and the poor. The House Republican budget even makes part of its $4 trillion in cuts by ending federal funding for school lunch programs, meaning 280,000 poor kids would have less to eat, all so millionaires can have even bigger tax cuts.
Not to be outdone, Senate Republicans unanimously voted down a bill that would stop taxpayer subsidies for corporations that fired American workers and shipped their jobs overseas. They voted down assistance for homeless female veterans, and even just recently voted down a bill that would have provided jobs to unemployed veterans. The American Jobs Act, which would have created around 2 million new jobs for teachers, first responders and construction workers across the US, was unanimously rejected by Senate Republicans around this time last year. The reason? To pay for all of those new jobs, taxes on millionaires would have gone up by a few percentage points. Anyone who legitimately believes the Republican Party is there to serve anyone but 1% of the public is simply delusional.
Mitt Romney is now tanking in the polls, Republicans' chances of taking back the Senate despite 33 seats up for grabs have fallen to 21%, and even John Boehner admits there's a 1-in-3 chance he won't be Speaker next year. We are witnessing a full-on implosion of the Republican Party. GOP used to stand for "Grand Old Party," but it now stands for "Greedy Old Plutocrats." The Republican Party is now no longer a major party, and there is no better indicator than their nominee for the presidency openly mocking poor people at a $50,000 per-plate fundraiser.
Since the GOP is an irrelevant third party now, and still being invited to the presidential debates, how about we let other third party candidates debate? Jill Stein, from the Green Party, has a 2% approval rating in the polls despite a fraction of the fundraising capacity, and is on the ballot in 38 states. Libertarian Gary Johnson is winning voters over as a presidential candidate who acknowledges the corporate corruption of the two major parties and the electoral process as a whole. All third parties deserve to be heard by the American voting public on the debate stage.
Carl Gibson, 24, of Lexington, Kentucky, is a spokesman and organizer for US Uncut, a nonviolent, creative direct-action movement to stop budget cuts by getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He graduated from Morehead State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Journalism before starting the first US Uncut group in Jackson, Mississippi, in February of 2011. Since then, over 20,000 US Uncut activists have carried out more than 300 actions in over 100 cities nationwide. You may contact Carl at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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Comments
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I know a few -but they are no longer Republicans.
The remainder tend to be mean-spirited and blinkered lemmings who choose to march in the dastardly lockstep and shadow of those who would screw and despise them -after they have voted for them.
I firmly believe that unless a person is in a life or death situation, only cowards lie. Those that support the lying of their party's leaders are, to me, just as much to blame for this situation, as their leaders are.
The hardest thing for most people to deal with is the idea that they have no one to blame but themselves. The Republican party leaders are looking to blame everyone else BUT themselves.
The Republican followers are also looking for others to blame, so they can stay in denial of how much they are also clupable for what is happening. At some point in time, we must hold those responsible, republican and democrat alike, responsible for the consequences of what is happening in Washington , and every state capital in the U.S.
And we must hold ourselves responsible as well. By not challenging the politicians and zealots enough, we allowed the idiots and psychopaths to gain a foothold. By waiting for someone else to do our job for us, we fell down on the job.
Time to take our country back.
We used to have a productive balance between Republicans' first commitment to entrepreneurs-i nvestors-busine ss and Democrats' first commitment to employees-aged- ill-young-impov erished. The but teach group understood they needed the other so there was collaborative problem-solving . Now we have people who have made millions or billions, often by avoiding their share of contribution to their beloved "civil society" and who want more for themselves, less for the others they demonize.
They are given free rein by some small business owners, some farmers, some high paid secure blue collar workers, financlal drones and others who hope to catch the coattails of the new robber barons and soar with them into the benefits of unequal opportunity, privatization to make a buck off public education/healt h/transportatio n/military and de-regulation.
If "you guys-Mitt" gets elected I will always believe our elections are rigged by diebold machines, voter suppression, and whatever.
Our domestic policies can be straightened out still - but can our foreign policies/action s ever be? I believe the military cartel in these United States has too much power and will lead to disaster in the future. Remember the Brits tried to rule the world and ran back to good ole England with their tail between their legs (sorta)
GO OBAMA -- and put out your agenda for the next 4 years before the debates begin: This alone will sink the Mitt/TP candidates - like watching the end of the movie - Titanic (!!!)
Monsanto and Dow with their foreign buying Food Companies are going to follow stricter regs...didn't like these, watch out Moms are on the loose, Grandma is following very close behind.
Fracking, tar oil gonna go away. Your reserves are only 5 years good so then jobs are gone again, Some idiots vote in GOP and here we go again.
No imports from Companies that left America.
No China or other food, toys, clothes that are not fit for the human body, animal. No more Poisons....
Restructure Investing, no more offshore investments. If anyone has offshore investments and do not declare they are taxed at 75% and no write offs.
There will be percentage of 1% taxes that will go towards loans taken during ReaGun, Bush's terms to pay back SS, Medicare.
Welfare...get it for 9 months than you must get part time work. Will get benefits for two years then must pick up your own. Deadbeat parents will pay support and a small percent towards medical or carry the child(ren)
Simple.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/08/mitt-romney-and-bain-company
from the Economist (a center/right magazine) "The federal government was involved, because one creditor bank had been taken over by the FDIC" so while there was $10 Million cut from Bain's overall debts (they paid off a $15 million dollar loan with $5 million dollars) not all of that money came from a government bank. The private sector banks were squeezed as well.
The FactCheck.org article http://factcheck.org/2012/09/democratic-disinformation-from-charlotte/ seems to be correct:
The Economist article itself agrees with FactCheck.org, that government money was not involved: The money was paid by private sector banks. This "probably makes the word 'bailout' a stretch," it says.
I hasten to say that to me personally, Romney's actions, while apparently legal, were (and remain) reprehensible.
Romney and his party have done more for the Democrats than anyone dreamed possible. Obama could save all the money by not running ads. Just let Romney and his rich 1% continue to put their feet in their mouth. I love it. Better then Stewart and Comedy Central.
Really the Democrats could prove they are fiscal by not wasting money...They are getting free ads, and publicity daily by good people, good TV Shows.
Once you start lying, the ball just keeps rolling. I think it is great because it shows what kind of Christians, Jews or whatever they pretend to be. Certainly making us thing more about Religion now than even in the 60's We promoted Love, we promoted living with each other and the earth. Now what are schools and religion teaching.
Given enough rope....they will all swing, burn. What goes around is coming around.
Please stop drinking that neo-con kool-ade. Democrates DO NOT want to bring down the successful. We just want them to pay their fair share. 30% of my paycheck went to the government. Only 14.1% of Romney's paycheck (not including the off-shore $$) went to the government. Is that fair?
Quoting: "Of course, you must realize that some people's only income is derived from tax exempt bonds, i.e. loans to the government, and they pay no federal income tax at all." Care to elaborate on this? I want to "learn" more.
The rethugs are way more whiny then the dems. Have you heard cry baby Romney lately...Oh Please! I dont care that Mitts rich, its that hes blatantly oblivious about real people. As far as Im concerned, the right wingers are way more whiny. Im sure after the next election they be whining even more after Obama wins.
Who's whining except you and the other "victims?" You know of course that 51% of households pay no income tax. Is that fair? I wonder how many people in this group were too lazy to graduate from highschool? Are they victims too? What about the people who couldn't wait until they grew up and got married before having babies? Are they victims too? How is it that people who graduate from high school and get married before having babies are not likely to live in poverty even in today's economy?
Regarding your high school/married claim, sounds like simple stereotyping. So you've taken a survey of everyone on how many or little, etc. live in poverty based on not being married? Everyone has to be married to be good parents? That's contradicted by reality.
What do you think of that unequal relationship of capital over labor? Don't think it hasn't had/have an effect., along with too few having too much and too many having too little? That can kinda cause some repercussions, usually for labor.
I suppose being "fair" is leeching off an economic structure long established that has had originally some "quotas" involving race, class, gender and property ownership. Past does not disconnect from present. Things of course have changed but let's just say the "legacy" still survives where it's easy for a 1 percenter to whine and moan-crying foul and poverty-with a large financial buffer. Guy, being a leech is especially true in relation to economic inequality. Money is "god" for a few, or maybe more, in terms of where the sky is not even the limit. Sounds fetishistic. But if you don't like my Leftist version of "events," too bad. BTW, I'll provide sources if necessary.
Since 30% of my paycheck went to the federal government (to pay for the roads that are used by the 1%), and only 14% of mitt's paycheck went to the federal government (that's not including what he's got in his off-shore accounts) I would consider it UNFAIR.
Ignore the rmc ignorance is bliss for those who keep their heads either in the sand or
Now I am a Christian and Jesus is my Savior but I also believe in the seperation of Church and State! These crazy nuts do not! As a poor person I know that the republicans are my enemy!
Time we all stayed home from Work and Church...let's see who will foot the bill
Churches like the Government are leaches...I mean all Faiths who think passing the plate is what Creator intended.
Do not need a Church to Believe. Do not need any Place of Worship to Believe Jesus had not Church, he had no desire for wealth. He shared what he was given.
Religion seems to miss a lot of what they wrote for us to follow. I will go back to the Ten Commandments. Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods hmmmmm Not Kill hmmmmm those are just two
green new deal together since 1991 Where are they? They are elitists in many areas, snobs. They do not run or get candidates in rural areas to start the ball rolling. I love them and other good parties but...they have done nothing in over 20 years....We need to rid ourselves of Dems/Repubs. We need Libertarian, Independent, Green and Social Justice to Change things around and let us vote for them. The other two are warn out boastful, lying has beens They are not moving forward, they either stay in a rut or move backwards...the y both lie.
He's already getting all the policies of any republicans wet dream from Obama, without even having to get up in the morning and show up at the office.
From his or any republicans perspective, why would he want to fcuk up what he thinks he wants when he's already got it and he can let Obama take the blame?
The whole two party system is a set up. A con job. A circus show put on to fool people into thinking they're making a choice.
A suckers game.
Like a football game where the team owners rake in the millions while they couldn't care less which team the audience waves pom poms for, as long as they show up and buy tickets.
Rah. Rah. Sis. Boom. Bah. Humbug.
This is outrageous extreme idiotic political theater designed to make Obama look like the lesser of 2 evils, cause if you vote for someone who would actually represent you, "You Are Trowing Away Your Vote".
While I may not understand the Republicans and may feel them to be a "third party" there are vast regions (more than just states) of the country that feel strongly for the Republicans.
How will this regionalism be resolved?
By expecting more from our Media whether Paper, internet, TV. Newspaper in my area and it is not a one horse town is lucky to be 15 pages.
No intelligent articles. Nope it is more like a town paper than one that goes into many Counties. Very bad went to worse... Lehigh Valley has gone from real Repub to Maybe we will think greener ooops got to go back to repub now we are losing people...so we will write less about more.
I find that unless I buy a Major newspaper, the others are not worth the trees we allow them to kill. I thought one went to school to be a Journalist not a advertiser.
It has covertly and insidiously transformed into the American version of the old NSDAP (Nationalsozial istische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) yes, that one that Karl Harrer founded and that Adolf Hitler eventually had taken over. In other words, the American GOP has become in secret that Nazi Party anew of the United States of America. The principles in this organisation are virtually similar to the NSDAP albeit the scapegoat is no longer the Jewish population, but the impoverished, the so-called 'low income' or simply put -- the poor!
If Romney should win this coming election and become sworn in as the next President of the USA then it shall commence an era of darkness, though maybe not immediately, but the jumping off point of what would eventually be something that could potentially wind up even far worse than the Hitler, NSDAP has ever been (and that was certainly bad enough)!
It is absolutely critical for not only the survival of the States, but the world as a whole that Romney and crowd not be allowed to take ower at all costs. This is a very serious situation and as Obama was far from perfect, at least he would save this planet from utter destruction from the next Adolf Hitler reincarnate, that being Willard Mitt Romney.
Thank you.
I think you meant to be talking about the MEAN income vs the MODE income. The first is what we generally think of when we "average" something and the latter is the largest single grouping within a population. In a perfect bell curve, the mean, median and mode are the same. In our economy the mean is shifted to the upper end of and the mode is shifted to the lower end.
Obama has his drone attacks and indefinite detention proposals. Romney wants to start war with Iran. Who needs 'em? I'm definitely voting "third party" this year. The best thing Americans can do to save the principle of popular government is to abandon the rotting hulks of both major political parties.
However, the World likes our money, whatever is left and will sucker up to whomever is in Office to get it.
Now we got to start changing our Vote back..no more electronics.
Obama continued the tax cuts for the rich under a democratic congress, why?
Obama bailed out the financial industries that caused the melt down.
Obama is not the friend of the working people.
Guess we were lucky Bush W was stupid.
Most of them do not care about the working people. Hell we knew that in the 60's didn't you hear us then or read about our Protests? You all let it happen, the Yuppie have to have generations bought yourselves out of jobs, economy and allowed the USA to go to WAR.
You don't want WAR then I suggest you put a referendum on Ballot fot Spring 2013 about reinstating a DRAFT that allows no Exceptions...Ag e Starts at 16.
Want to see the Hypocrites come out of the wood work like Roaches...get a Real Law into Affect that puts the DRAFT back on the Books.
Wait to see the Brakes come on....
Obama's widely hailed "withdrawal" of troops from Afghanistan will be a reduction from 98,000 to 65,000 at the end of 2012 - a "reduction" to about twice the 32,800 US troops there were in Afghanistan when he was inaugurated.
Obama's "withdrawal" from Afghanistan is a troop "reduction" to about DOUBLE the maximum number of troops George Bush ever had there.
The graph is made from numbers supplied by the March 2011 Congressional Research Service paper "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11" by Specialist in U.S. Defense Policy and Budget Amy Belasco.
PDF: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf
GRAPH: http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/afghanistan_withdrawal.png
He's the best Republican President since George Bush. On your credit card.
Most would not have the attention span of a slug to read a one document so let's just say what we hear. Very sad. I do not get to read as much, but I have gone to so many meetings in my life, that I know they haven't changed, there are more meetings, more at stake, more money to buy people....no one cares what will happen to people like us
Off with the major parties! They have sold us out.
The *mean* income, however--the simplest form of average, in which everyone's income is added up and that number is divided by the number of people--is another story, subject to the "Bill Gates effect" whereby Bill Gates walks nto a bar and the average income of everyone insiode soars. People need to be careful not to confuse the two sorts of average, which are useful for different purposes.
"Since the GOP is an irrelevant third party now, and still being invited to the presidential debates, how about we let other third party candidates debate?"
PLEASE!!
The Green Party has a great "Green New Deal". Please take a look at it.
Full Show: Challenging Power, Changing Politics - with Moyers, Sanders, Stein, Honkala
http://antemedius.com/content/full-show-challenging-power-changing-politics-moyers-sanders-stein-honkala
Jill Stein: People's State of the Union
http://antemedius.com/content/jill-stein-peoples-state-union
The Party of Our Discontent: An Interview With Green Party Candidate Jill Stein
http://antemedius.com/content/party-our-discontent-interview-green-party-candidate-jill-stein
I love their Candidates but I love Independents, Liberals also...sorry you wait til Sept to show us your new plan again, and again...
IF ONLY !
Deceit, Lying seems to be around a long time. No one esp those Religions want to cease it...
All the third Party Please get it together four years before a race for President starts. We see almost none of you locally, so when you start coming around, getting people involved at local levels...esp Greens, we will take you more seriously. I can count on one hand the Greens who have Seats.
As I said before, many of the Greens were snobs, hung out with money...sure wanted grunts to do tables and hand outs but..... I saw Independents more on the surface of Working Class
This implosion is long overdue. Hopefully it's permanent. I'll add to altering the GOP acynom: Grossly Obese Party, Greedy Old Parasites,and perhaps more.
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