What's Good for the Goose............

Hi Everyone,

By now, you all know that when I write about the utter lack of common sense which most politicians seem to be missing these days; I am an equal opportunity abuser, be it a Republican or a Democrat. I call them out like I see it, using my common sense in combination with facts not spin.

 As we all are so painfully aware, Washington D.C.'s dsyfunction has now fully boiled over into a government shut down. People have been arguing about whose fault it is all week. Whatever side of the fence you may be on, check these out.

Some interesting facts:

1)- There are currently 433 members of the US House of Representatives; 233 Republicans, 200 Democrats and 2 vacanies.

2)- There are approximately 38 +/- Tea Party members in the House, which only represents 16% of the total GOP membership in the House.

3)- A 9/26/13 poll showed that 22% of adults support the Tea Party. Which means 78% do not support the Tea Party!

4)- A few days ago, 100 GOP House members, (which is 42% of the GOP House total) stood on the steps of the US Capital and said that they would reopen the government by voting yes on the budget that President Obama submitted.

5)- The GOP talking points say that the majority of Americans don't want the ACA. Maybe that is true in only some of the states they represent but:

6)- In a recent poll, 57% (which is a majority) of Americans do want the Affordable Care Act.

7)- Mitt Romney, while Governor of Massachusetts, supported and implemented an "ACA" for his state; which became the template for the US version.

So where is the disconnect?

Here are even more interesting facts:

8)- The Affordable Care Act has been law for about 3 1/2 years.

9)- A minority of GOP members, specifically the 38 +/- Tea Party members have been vehemently opposed to the ACA and have tried to kill the ACA over and over again.

10)- The House has now voted over 40 times, (see my 7/21/13 blog), to abolish the ACA. All to absolutely no avail, but has so far cost a whole lot of money, while also wasting a whole lot of time.

11)- The GOP even tried to abolish the ACA through the US Supreme Court and lost. Even Chief Justice Roberts voted against them, go figure?! 

12)- Mitt Romney's biggest platform agenda was to abolish the ACA, even though he supported and implemented such a program in his home state. Well that didn't work out to well for him in 2012 did it? Remember that he got trounced in the Electoral College vote in that presidential election.

13)- The GOP controlled House would not vote on a budget unless the ACA was defunded. Which was just another attempt to abolish the ACA.

14)- Then Ted Cruz held a filibuster for some 21 hours. What did he accomplish? The only thing that he accomplished, that most everyone agrees on, is that he got his name out in the national media; probably so he can be a presendential candidate in 2016.

15)- Now they want to delay the effective date of the ACA by one year.

They just don't give up and it will hurt them in upcoming elections for years to come. This very small minority of House members, 38, is holding the entire American people hostage as well as holding their own entire House of Representatives hostage, (please refer to the above number 4 again). The result of their absurd actions has now concluded in the shutting down of the US government. There are now hundreds of thousands of American government employees out of work and not being paid.

But wait, isn't today's blog titled, "What's good for the Goose....."? Why yes it is. Since I was taken back a bit, but not really surprised, to learn that while the government is shut down, these protected politicians still receive their full paychecks. What the hell?! If that isn't absurb, I don't know what is! So, I am now suggesting that a new common sense law be passed, asap. The law is very simple and direct. Any time the US government is shut down, for any reason, all members of Congress will not be paid, (no salary, no reimbursements of expense accounts including: meals, airfare, car rentals, hotels, personal car mileage, etc., etc. Then let's see how long a government shut down lasts, or if there is even another one. When politicians wallets/pocketbooks get hurt, they will quickly sit up straight and think long and hard, before they vote that would stop them from being paid. Of course and as usual, don't hold your breath.

And yes, I firmly believe that the budget could and should be cut some, but not at the expense of the ACA. A small minority of people should NEVER, EVER be allowed to hold everyone else hostage. Enough is enough! Note to GOP: you lost, get over it and do the job you were elected to do. PASS A BUDGET!

Please, please always remember, people are entitled to their own opinions, but to their own facts!

Til next week.

Peter