Posted by Shyam Moondra
In recent years, the voting record of Republicans has been mystifying. Here is their track record:
• First, they voted for right-wing ideologues like House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who adopted the disastrous policy of “say no” to everything that Democratic President Barack Obama proposed, took inflexible position on the debt issue that resulted in the S&P downgrade of the U.S. government securities, and pursued a strategy of deliberately damaging the economy and driving up the unemployment rate with the expectation that a weakened economy would make it easier for them to win the presidency in 2012.
• Second, Republican voters embraced the members of the toxic Tea Party that openly advocated a default by the government on its debt which would have brought disastrous results for the global economy.
• And now, the Republican voters are rooting for an unlikely candidate, Herman Cain, who is currently leading the pack. Cain, a Black man, has no political experience (he already made several gaffes), has questionable background (recent reports suggest that he engaged in sexual misconduct), and has flip-flopped on the core Republican issue of abortion. And to top all that, in a bizarre campaign ad, his chief-of-staff is shown puffing away on a cigarette.
What the heck is going on? Why are Republican voters being so erratic and nonsensical? Today, the country is in a big fix largely because of how the Republican constituents voted and what the elected Republicans did. President George W. Bush and Republican Congress caused most of the current budget deficit and national debt by spending over $1 trillion on the unnecessary war in Iraq, by handing out $1 trillion worth of unnecessary tax cuts to the rich and tax subsidies to the corporations, and by relaxing regulations that led to the financial crisis requiring close to $1 trillion in bank bailouts.
Here is a winning strategy for Republican voters for the upcoming 2012 elections – exercise good judgment and elect better quality people who would fight for the middle-class and not for the rich campaign contributors. Republicans must elect people who are not hardcore ideologues and who are able to solve people's problems by reaching out to the opponents and making the necessary compromises.
