Monday, November 08, 2010
Republicans Are Going To Kill Themselves At The State Level
It's been depressing since the elections, hasn't it? It seems hopeless: Republicans in Congress are going to continue to do nothing, and then they'll try to blame it all on Obama.
But wait! Are you forgetting the other election results? The GOP has made huge gains in state government nationwide, and it is here that they are really in a pickle, and they won't be able to hide it. This column by Laurie Roberts in the Arizona Republic should be a real eye opener into the problems faced/caused by Republicans at the state level. See, "cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes" may make a certain amount of political sense at the federal level, but when you add to that an even more maniacal extreme of tax cutting within the states, you end up with big, harsh trouble. Leave it to Arizona, natch, to lead the way.
Arizona is going to become, basically, a nightmare as they are forced to cut absolutely everything, and they're not going to be able to blame Democrats, because they've more or less gotten rid of all of them. Not only are they going to cut the head off all social services, in doing so they're going to spite their faces by simultaneously losing shitloads of federal assistance ($7 billion in Arizona!) as a result. Education and health care will especially suffer, and incoming funds will continue to sink as giddy, unchallenged Republicans continue to cut revenue after revenue. It's not sustainable. The terrible results will be right in front of everybody and everybody will know who is to blame.
That's my theory, at least, and I'm sticking to it. It's hardly a silver lining.
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And here in Texas, we're not far behind: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-health-resources/health-reform-and-texas/lawmakers-discussing-dropping-health-care-program/
Whee! Or something.
I am less sanguine than you about the supposed inability of the Republicans to successfully spin a causal tale that makes the horrors that result appear to have other origins. Remember that a large portion of their audience consists of people who actively rebuff reality in favor of bullshitte that fuels their sense of aggrieved righteousness.
I don't think they'll be blamed, because it's just too easy (and fun!) for them to push the blame onto poor people, government bureaucrats and illegal aliens. You don't have to actually spend much money on welfare to be able to blame welfare for the hole in your state budget. I think we're screwn.
...sadly, the same is going to happen here in Ohio...and we just started digging ourselves out of the mess the GOP in the state had left us 4 years ago...sound familiar?
There was a time when the cry of "We need good schools!" was a vote getter and had some ability to stop the most draconian budgets, but the conservative movement has done a good job demonizing public schools and teacher's unions, so we could easily see some worst case scenarios playing out around the country.
The thing that doesn't make this much of a silver lining is how fast the public will give power back to the party that made the mess in the first place.
They say all politics is local, an idea that I try to wrap my withered little bean around.
Our Repub. guv candidate conceded rather quickly, which told me that he wasn't all that hot to win in the first place, given that he and our guy were ultimately only about 3000 votes apart. But who in his right mind wants to deal with a $100 million deficit?
Right mind... what was I thinking. This is, after all, politics...
The Republican argument is a very childish one: you can expect to get something for nothing.
It was one of those elections where I wonder how much of the predictions just became self-fulfilling ones, i.e. media early-reported predictions of losses, which themselves fed into either galvanizing voters for the GOP and/or disheartening Dem voters into staying home.
Cali went mostly the way I thought it would, except Prop 19, which was disappointing (though not as much as Prop 8). And baffling.
What happened to you, California? Did you just get tired of being the butt of "Fruits and Nuts" jokes?
Now we get what I've come to think of as "Voter's Buyer's Remorse." I've lived here long enough to see stuff I saw pass the first time around get repealed.
Which is a long way of saying, watch out, Arizona. It'll be Tough Times or it'll emulate the national GOP and spend money you don't have. And if, like CA, you also have a balanced budget amendment, expect to be unable to pass a working budget for years.
to rptrcub: The Republican/conservative argument for many years is that with taxes, you pay something and get nothing.
They'll still find a way to blame it on Obama.
On a side note, my huge extended family is planning a big reunion next summmer and we all nixed Arizona as a destination. Santa Fe made more sense.
Bringing everything crashing down into rubble is a FEATURE not a bug to these nihilists.
Baby Jeebus and his magical flying soul carpet is a'comin and all the Good People will be airlifted away to heaven.
When you BELIEVE (clap harder)TRULLYBELIEEEEVVVVE-uh! that Armageddon is nigh, who gives a rats ass what you do to everyone else.
I expect that the new Lege will make it legal to shoot hippies wwithout a limit and outlaw the Democratic party.
Hey! But at least the retirees will stay happy.
Right?
Last night I had a dream that I finally found a job, but it was in Arizona, for some reason. Moral dilemma! I woke up EXHAUSTED.
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