BY MIKE WALSH In the big picture, the Democrats and the Republicans are just two different sock puppets on the same rich man’s hand. Elections will change nothing until the swamp of de facto bribery that is our current campaign contribution model is drained and elections are publicly financed. Only then will elected officials be responsive to the will of the electorate instead of the corporate paymasters that put them in office. Likewise, this country will continue to slide into a Second World Power until the two party stranglehold is broken and elections are opened up to the marketplace of ideas. In the mean time, given the options available, the choice is clear. The Tea Party is a hard right-wing Republican front for corporate America, and they’re determined to do everything in their power to dismantle social programs that benefit middle class and poor in exchange for even lower taxes on the super rich and mega-corporations. Voting straight Democratic ticket is the only bulwark we have against these corporate trolls and the empty-headed racists that do their bidding, which includes:
–Suppression of voting rights. The Tea Party is trying to disrupt the voting process to suppress the vote. The lower the turnout, the better the chances for Republicans.
–More partisanship. This motivates Republican to vote and suppresses Democratic and independent votes, because Democrats and independent voters are turned off by partisanship. That’s why the Tea Party hacks attack Democrats so often–it helps their vote count.
–Unlimited fracking, regardless of how the citizens of Pennsylvania feel. The GOP controlled state legislature even passed a law to prevent communities from keeping fracking out of their downtowns. In other words, the state GOP have allowed fracking in town park and next to schools—anywhere that the gas industry wants to frack.
–No campaign finance control in Pennsylvania, no ethics laws in Pennsylvania, no health care for children in PA, no conflict of interest laws. The GOP has controlled the PA Senate for decades and they’ve managed to block common-sense ethics laws, making PA one of the most backwards states in the country.
–A rollback of women’s rights to the 19th century. GOP politicians Richard Mourdoch, Todd Akin, Joe Walsh, Steve King, and Paul Ryan have made clear that the Republican party thinks of women as 2nd class citizens. But women want to be able to start families at a time they choose, not when rich, older, white males want them to. When will they understand that free contraception for all women in this country helps not only women, but the country as a whole.
–No rights for gays either. They hate gays.
–No Obamacare. Even though the requirement to buy health insurance affects almost no Republican politicians (because, after all, they all get free government health care), and even though the ideas behind Obamacare came from Romney and the GOP, and even though not one person who has to purchase health insurance ever even spoke out against the program, the GOP opposed it simply because Obama is a Democrat.
–To dismantle Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The entire Tea Party platform has morphed into an attack on the New Deal.
–To reduce or eliminate pollution controls. The Tea Party has been attacking and trying to eliminate the Clean Air Act since 2010. They also lead the global warning deniers.
–No Wall Street regulation. They want to let Wall Street run free and fuck up Main Street for the 99% all over again.
–No consumer protections. They have fought against the formation of the common-sense consumer protection agency ever since it was approved. As we said, the Tea Party represents the rich, not consumers.
–An end to Roe V. Wade, even though Roe V. Wade has been found constitutional several times. They will stop at nothing to stack the Supreme Court and outlaw abortion.
–No common sense gun control. The more guns and the more shootings, the happier the Tea Party.