- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Jesse Jackson
Ask Americans what they are concerned about most and -- in overwhelming numbers -- they'll reply: jobs and the economy.
Ask them what the highest priority of the
So how is the new Republican majority in the House spending its time? Its notorious first debate was on repealing health care reform. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reports this would add more than
Republicans' second priority received less publicity. They voted to strip 5 million people of democratic representation in the
Consider the U.S. citizens living in the District of Columbia, who happen to be majority African-American. They pay more taxes (about
Imagine if the government of Afghanistan stripped residents of Kabul of the vote. Or if the head of Iraq decided Baghdad had too many Sunnis and should have no voting representation. Or imagine the condemnations that would be unleashed were Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to decide the people of Caracas should have no voting representation.
Republicans seem intent on scoring ideological points, not on helping to get the economy moving. They dubbed health care reform the "job killing" health care bill to pretend that repeal had something to do with jobs. They didn't even resort to that pretense on stripping voting representation from D.C. and others.
Then the
Are Republicans focused on what is needed to get the economy going? Hardly. Are they interested in budget deficits? Their votes on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich and repealing the savings built into health reform add literally hundreds of billions to projected deficits. And now the chair of their budget committee is championing a "Roadmap" that would give the wealthiest Americans massive tax cuts while imposing a "value-added tax" or savings tax on all goods Americans buy. Their chair of the
What we need in this country is a national plan for the economy, one that will ensure that we make things in America once more, and one that will put people to work. In the midst of World War II, FDR declared that America had embraced an economic bill of rights grounded on the right to a job. We'd be wise to return to that pledge.
People want work, not handouts. Instead in its first days in office, this Republican majority is intent on dividing us to make ideological points. They keep talking about their mandate, but they aren't listening to the American people or taking a good look at the straits we are in.
AMERICAN POLITICS
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
Why are Republicans Doing This? | Politics
© Tribune Media Services