Problems With the

Contract From America

(The devil is in the details)

1.    Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation.

      This misguided Tea Party \ Republican GOP agenda proposal for placating the Oil Industry is designed to deceive because, in reality, it is utterly incapable of having any significant impact whatsoever on “American dependence on foreign energy sources” according to the Oil Industry itself.  The Oil Industry itself states that the total potential US oil from off-shore drilling and all other potential sources amounts to only about 4% of the current US ‘daily’ demand.  Visit the second website link directly below to get the actual “facts” regarding this issue -- most of which comes from the Oil Industry itself ("The Perfect Storm - The Energy Crisis & Global Warming Crisis Collide").

      The De-regulation proposal is precisely what makes The Tea Party \ Republican GOP mentality so profoundly dangerous.  Just take a cold hard look at how the lack of regulations and the absence of regulatory enforcement single-handedly served to create the horrendous BP Gulf Oil Spill disaster.  Because of this neurotic, misguided Tea Party \ Republican GOP De-regulation obsession, drinking water in Pennsylvania and the midwest is now "flammable" -- if you light a match and put it under the faucet the water ignites like a torch, because of the non-regulated, unsafe process of "Hydro-fracking" which highly pressurizes oil deposits, driving it into the water table.  The Tea Party \ Republican GOP tribes are always in lock-step on the issue of De-regulation, regardless of the proven and obvious hazards.  One could not help but note that the Tea Party \ Republican GOP mentality was absolutely stone-cold dead silent about the BP Gulf Oil Spill Disaster . . . Not a single complaint . . . No expressions of concern . . . Not one single acknowledgment of the fact that it was caused by a lack of regulation and a lack of regulatory enforcement . . . No indication whatsoever that they "care" about the utter devastation and degradation, for corporate profit, of an "Environment" that belongs to all of us.  The Tea Party \ Republican GOP mentality insists that Government regulation is bad.  Why?  Because their constituency is primarily the enormously wealthy corporate wolves who want to raid the henhouse and who do not want the government regulating their henhouse activities.  It's the Wolf wanting to guard the Henhouse while insisting no government intervention or over-sight of the Henhouse is necessary because the Wolf can responsibly handle the matter.  The Henhouse happens to be the Environment and the Environment, which the wealthy corporate wolves want to exploit for their own profit, BELONGS TO ALL OF US.

      So when you distill this down to its core objective, you find the Tea Party GOP Republican mentality trying to cut "The People" out of the picture, out of the process, so the super-wealthy corporate Wolves can dibby-up the 'booty' among themselves, and then send YOU the bill for the damages done to the environment.  The ideal scenario for the wealthy corporate wolves is to conduct business without having to pay the true "costs" for that business.  One way for them to avoid those "true costs" is to pass them off to the taxpayer by making the government pick up the tab.  And that is precisely what De-regulation achieves for them.  It's called "Getting a Free Lunch."  It's called "Corporate Welfare."  It's called "A fraud perpetrated against The People." And it's a fraud perpetrated by The Tea Party \ Republican GOP on behalf of the thieving super-wealthy corporate wolves they exclusively represent.

      Tea Party GOP Republican soothsayers pretend that they are die-hard, militant, iron-fisted pro-capitalist Free Enterprise "Defenders of the Constitution" -- protective zealots who believe any interference with Free Enterprise is unconstitutional, unAmerican, bad for the economy and antithetical to the notion of the healthy open, robust, unencumbered capitalism that this country has come to represent.  A closer look reveals their utter disdain for such an unmolested economic environment and discloses their manipulative molestation of and interference with that very same 'Free Market' concept which they claim to favor.  Normally, if a business can NOT cover (afford) the "costs" of making a product it goes belly-up, in a fierce Darwinian "Survival of the Fittest" hands-off, non-interference economic environment.  But here, the Tea Party GOP Republican mentality wants to interfere with that fierce Darwinian non-interference belly-up consequence by helping the super-wealthy corporate wolves avoid having to pay the "true" costs.  This is accomplished by removing the government regulations that demand the true, actual costs be paid by the enterprise that stands to profit from those costs.  That is precisely what these regulations seek to do, exact the true, actual costs, including environmental damages costs, from the profiting enterprise.

      Remove those regulations and you relieve the super-wealthy corporate wolves of capitalism's inherent requirement that an enterprise be self-sustaining in order to survive and be viable.  These same Tea Party \ GOP Republicans "claim" to have vehemently opposed the "too big to fail" multi-billion dollar bailouts persumedly because it 'interfered' with the natural and necessary Free Market consequences of making bad business decisions.  Yet the 'regulations' which the Tea Party mentality despises, are precisely the mechanisms needed to hold business "accountable" for their "devil may care" mistakes, so that the ones who are responsible for the mistakes and the ones who stood to profit from the mistakes are the same ones and the ONLY ones who should have to bear the costs of their mistakes.  It is "regulations" that accomplishes this, while "de-regulation" let's them shift the costs to the victims, the government, the taxpayer.   Ordinary folks are held accountable for their actions and mistakes by "laws" ("Regulations") that impose 'responsibilities and liabilities' on individuals.  It is that way for each and every ordinary citizen.  Why should Big Business suddenly be any different?  Why would Tea Party \ GOP Republicans WANT it to be any different?  That is Tea Party \ GOP Republican "interference" with Free Enterprise in order to help their super-wealthy corporate wolves constituents avoid the perfectly natural consequences that ordinarily would extinguish any enterprise that cannot cover (afford) the actual 'costs' of production.  In short, it's a corporate swindle via the Tea Party Rupublicans, calculated to shift those 'costs' to the government, i.e., to the taxpayer, so the super-wealthy business that stands to profit handsomely from the enterprise can get a Free Ride, and further increase its profits.  And that is a particularly hideous objective given the fact that, as everyone well-knows, the 'profits' in the Oil Industry are already the highest in the World.

      Ground Zero in this "De-regulation War" is the Environment, because the Environment belongs to ALL the People and the super-wealthy corporate wolves want to appropriate it for themselves, WITHOUT having to 'protect' it, or pay for it, or pay for damages they inflict on that precious asset (The Environment) that belongs to All the People.  The Tea Party GOP Republican mentality is like that disgusting roommate you may have had at one time or another, the roommate who invokes his constitutional right to dirty the kitchen, the dishes and the utensils to prepare his meal, and then invokes a constitutional hands-off, "Free Enterprise" non-interference right to shirk the rules and regulations that otherwise would require him to clean-up after he has gorged himself.  He wants the other roommates to cover HIS responsibility, while he alone absconds with the benefits.  He wants a Free Lunch at YOUR expense.  The first link directly below explains, in graphic detail, the dire consequences of letting this De-regulation "slob mentality" have their way.  There are consequences.  And those consequences are enormous.  Before we marry ourselves to this slob mentality called "De-regulation," we need to take a cold hard honest look at the gluttonous dolt we are thinking of marrying.  The first web link directly below provides that kind of candid scrutiny which is so crucial to this issue.

Here's What the Tea Party \ Republican GOP "De-regulation" Agenda Gets You

Take a Cold, Hard Look at Exactly What This De-regulation Has Already Done

Living With the Consequences of De-regulation

http://gbruce.com/thanx_republicans.html

The Perfect Storm - The Energy Crisis & Global Warming Crisis Collide

Addressing the Tea Party \ Republican GOP Global Warming "Nay sayers"

Exposing the Dishonesty in the Off-shore Oil Exploration "Drill Baby Drill" Policy

http://gbruce.com/energy_crisis.html

2.    Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011.

      As the description makes clear, this is the tax break that primarily benefited the wealthiest people in this country, while serving to drastically erode the middle class in this country.  Only the unpatriotic “Rich” are clamoring for this one.  And it’s designed to deceive those who are clueless about how the tax laws work (the vast majority of people in this country).  Proof of its fraudulent intent lies in one of the subsequent agenda items in this Tea Party \ GOP platform, which calls for a “Flat Tax” where everyone pays one set percentage, with no deductions or exemptions for anyone.  By calling this “Flat Tax” agenda proposal the only truly ‘fair’ tax system, they are in effect openly admitting the inherent unfairness of the Bush tax system.  This is known as a political shell-game subterfuge calculated to deceive voters and benefit only the wealthy.  Anyone who advocates a "Flat Tax" plan does so because they understand that only the very wealthy get to utilize all the deductions, exclusions, reductions and exemptions contained in the Bush tax plan.  And for this reason, they also realize that one cannot, in good faith, favor BOTH the Bush Tax Plan and the “Flat Tax Plan," without exposing one's self as a flim-flam shyster who's trying to defraud the public.

3.    Reject emissions trading: Stop the "cap and trade" administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.

      This is the most deceptive item in the platform.  To understand why, note that it inconspicuously fails to propose any alternative.  This “sleight-of-hand” surreptitious omission is deliberate and is intended to gratify the corporate world, which can dramatically increase profits by not being forced to pay the ‘real’ environmental costs associated with its environmentally destructive methods of exploiting that environment for profit. It’s exceptionally cunning and crafty because “true” environmentalists have always opposed the "cap and trade" policy because they felt licensing corporations to be irresponsible was sending the wrong message and legitimizing bad conduct.

      As for the Tea Party \ GOP suggestion that “providing economic incentives for achieving reductions” will adequately replace the "cap and trade" policy, this is where their stealth fraud hits high gear, because it hides behind the fact that the Tea Party \ GOP have always virulently and vehemently opposed the idea of government creating “dis-incentives” for businesses to pollute or damage the environment.  When you hear the Tea Party \ GOP mindset miltantly opposing "regulation" (advocating De-regulation) as in the first agenda item above, note that it is because they oppose regulation that manifests as a "dis-incentive" because they characterize that as a "punishment" and therefore an interference.  So they want to ‘reward’ good corporate behavior via intervening laws and regulations, but they refuse to punish “bad” corporate behavior.  If you raise your kids this way, you’ll end up with a Ted Bundy or a Charles Manson.

      The idea is fraudulent in yet another sense as well, because in reality, if you claim to believe in the “incentives” approach to "regulating" corporate conduct, there is absolutely no logical, rational justification for opposing “dis-incentives” since that is simply the flip-side of every  “incentives” approach (if Corp A gets an incentive for good behavior [an advantage] and Corp B does not because of bad behavior [a disadvantage], Corp B is being punished with a dis-incentive because it is being declared ineligible for the benefit).

      This exposes the biggest reason why this deceptive Tea Party \ GOP agenda item is fraudulent, namely, because it tries to surreptitiously divert our attention away from the true bedrock issue.  The Tea Party \ GOP agenda has always tried to mislabel the issues by casting this as a “reward” (incentive) versus “punishment” (dis-incentive) -- "Regulation vs. De-regulation" policy issue.  It is NOT. The real issue is, and always has been, about “forcing big business to pay ALL of the TRUE costs of doing business.” And chief among those costs are the “Environmental Degradation” costs and “Environmental Protection” costs and environmental clean-up costs, which big business keeps passing on to the taxpayer by leaving the U.S. government responsible for cleaning-up the environmental mess they leave behind. Note, for example, how BP deducted hundreds of millions of dollars from their "U.S. Tax Bill" by declaring deductions for losses resulting from their own irresponsible conduct resulting in the horrific Gulf Oil Spill.  It's just one of a zillion ways the super-wealthy are permitted to shirk their responsibility in the name of profits, while shifting financial 'responsibility' for the resulting damages to the taxpayer via the government.  BP wanted a Free Lunch, so it sent the bill to the government.  It's proof positive why strict regulation of these sociopaths is absolutely vital.

      And the most paramount issue of all, which Tea Party \ Republican GOP card sharks try to hide in the deck, is the legitimate, indisputable need for the government to protect the most precious asset on Earth, the Environment -- because it belongs to ALL THE PEOPLE, and because it is the only thing that sustains humans' existence on this planet.  Standing alone, by itself, this indisputable, legitimate regulatory need utterly decimates any disingenuous Tea Party \ GOP Republican smoke-screen outcry for "De-regulation."  Business & Corporate Enterprises in this country need to be told, in terms certain, that environmental protection regulation is, in itself, one of the indispensible, unavoidable 'costs' of doing business, and it MUST be paid! If these Business & Corporate Enterprises can not cover or cannot afford these 'costs' then they cannot justify their existence in the marketplace. And out of fairness and prudence, this country needs to slam this same message home to the foreign businesses that seek to do business in this country. Tell them all that "No one is getting a free ride."

4.    Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

      Once again, to see the dishonesty in this, note that the Tea Party \ GOP ideologues offer nothing to take its place.  There is one thing that all sides do agree on.  The Health Care System we previously had was an apocalyptic failure that was profoundly damaging to the economy, while it was rapidly exhausting the government’s finite resources.  Everyone is in agreement on this much.  The path we were previously treading was destined, with certainty, to “sink the ship” if we did not make some radical changes.  Yet the sanctimonious Tea Party \ GOP ideologues who drafted this agenda would simply leave things as they were, on a short course to self-destruction.  It's so easy to be just an incessantly negative obstructionist "nay sayer" misanthrope armchair critic.  It is infinitely more difficult to offer positive constructive ideas, which explains why the Tea Party GOP pundits have remained useless in this regard.  So we must note, with critical eyes, that these sanctimonious Tea Party loud-mouths totally failed to slam any alternate solution on the table.  Their Talk is cheap.  Their total lack of an alternative solution is fiscally irresponsible for the country and "deadly" for millions of people in this country.

SUMMARY:    The negative misanthrope "nay sayer" obstructionist mentality is all we have ever seen or heard of Tea Party \ GOP Republican ideologues for the past two years.  They don't stand "for" anything.  They're just 'against' everything and they are crossing their fingers, hoping that every effort by the Dems to solve the many serious problems we face, will fail miserably.  In fact, they do everything in their power to help make those Dem efforts FAIL.  Why do they want the U.S. to fail?  Because they care more about their "Quest For Power" than about the Welfare of the U.S., and by definition, that means they are “Not Good For America.”

                        The web links below provide a rich resource, with footnote citations, for accurately understanding the acute problems we face and for ascertaining which proposed solutions are viable and which are delusional.