Ryan ChartrandPresident Obama told Anderson Cooper on Tuesday that America has lost one million jobs in the past two months. Because of the California budget crisis, the state of California has paid their employees in IOUs and we at Cal Poly are facing a spike in our registration fees.
I do not think Republicans should just passively accept Democratic proposals. I want the Republicans to offer new, creative ideas. I want them to come to the table and offer solutions.
However, for the past few weeks the Republicans have simply recycled their trickle down economics talking points from the ’80s. All Republicans have to offer is tax cuts, and anything outside of that single idea is socialist and a failure to include them in the dialogue.
We have a parallel situation in California. Republicans in California want to cut taxes and drain money from public education, which I find to be unacceptable. You should too, because these budget decisions could determine whether some of our colleagues return to Cal Poly next year.
The unfortunate difference between California’s ideological divisions and national ideological divisions is that while California can’t pass a budget without Republican approval, House Republicans’ disagreements with the stimulus package are largely inconsequential.
President Obama’s stimulus package passed the House last Wednesday without a single Republican vote, and their continual reign on the media and chorused talking points reminded me simultaneously of a bad zombie movie and a toddler’s temper tantrum.
The fact that no Republican broke rank shows one of two things: Republicans are either so committed to their ideologies that they refuse to vote for an idea that just might work, or they mindlessly do whatever their superiors tell them to do. Perhaps it’s a combination of both.
I must give credit where credit is due, however. Republicans were very effective last week in the media. I wonder whether the media allows themselves to be controlled by Republicans because they have the ability to inflame the dialogue and make a story, or if the media are simply as partisan as both sides of the political isle allege.
Regardless of whether the media is biased, it is true that the week the House voted on Obama’s stimulus package the media clearly leaned to the right. A Think Progress report found that all of the major cable news stations, including CNN, FOX Network and MSNBC, hosted far more Republicans than Democrats from 6 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 26 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28.
MSNBC hosted 20 Republican lawmakers and around 12 Democratic lawmakers, with the most guests of all the news channels. At least they had somewhat of a variety. CNN had the worst discrepancy between the lawmakers they hosted, with seven Republicans and two Democrats. Shockingly, FOX News had the most “fair and balanced” guest list, hosting eight Republicans and six Democrats.
Regardless of the apparent media control that Republicans enjoyed last week, they do have a few dissenters in their party who, to my chagrin, can’t cast a vote in the Senate or Congress. But these people – 19 to be exact – give me hope about future political discourse and the realm of ideas in America.
A list of 19 Republican governors signed a letter of support for Obama’s stimulus bill, because they recognize that the bill will ease the burdens of states’ financial shortfalls. One such hero is Republican Governor Charles Crist of Florida.
On “Hardball” Tuesday, Gov. Crist said, “My guy didn’t win but President Obama is my guy now, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that my president succeeds because this is about my country. And I want my country to be successful. I want us to move forward. I want us to get out of this economic mess. I want us to make sure that we are doing everything humanly possible together, as Americans, to make sure that the administration is successful because if it is, then my country is successful, and that’s what I care about.”
That should be the face of the Republican party. If only the rest of the party would take some advice from Gov. Crist, maybe legislators would get the stimulus package on President Obama’s desk by their goal of Feb. 16, and maybe we would receive our college grants on time, banks would start lending again and government could follow through on its goal of doubling foreign aid so that multitudes of suffering people around the world won’t die of preventable diseases.
Sadly, it seems that there are only 19 Republicans in our entire government who have such forward-thinking ideas. It’s a start.
Stephanie England is an English junior and a Mustang Daily political columnist.