So What?

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at conservatives or the Tea Party’s platforms for the mid-term elections. They seem to have a respectable following, which only seems to be growing. They consist of anti-intellectuals who denounce facts and evidence. They are quick to demonize Democratic policies, and yet are reluctant to propose solid solutions.

It is important to point out that American students are internationally ranked at 33 for reading, 27 for math, and 22 for science in 2009, according to www.geographic.org. In other words, our comprehension, logic, and reasoning skills are lacking in comparison to other nations. Yet, we rank ahead in confidence. Confidence is only substantiated with an intellectual knowledge to back it up. Short of that, it is called arrogance.

Conservatives are calling for a return to the previous Bush-era economic strategies. Republicans have asserted that tax cuts do not need to be offset by lower spending (2010, Republicans Boehner, Kyl, and McConnell). They have been very concerned over the National Deficit Rate, yet they did not show this same concern when these temporary tax cuts were enacted through deficit financing. After all, they were designed to only be a temporary solution to our 1991 recession. Although that was not actually the case. This bill was drafted in 1999, in response to the budget surplus, returning it back to the people. Yet the 2001 tax cut was put into place “to avert the economic recession“, was based upon the “Trickle Down” model, and many aspects of this bill were not to be phased in until up to 9 years later. Though the recession officially ended by the end of 2001, many labor market indicators continued to worsen into mid 2003. So a second tax cut was made into law, based upon the previous one, to not only hasten the aspects of the first bill which were not affected yet, but to also further cut tax rates and capital gains. And yet again, this tax cut was still financed through the deficit spending. The second tax cut’s main body’s centerpiece consisted of $364 billion, the elimination of the tax on corporate dividends. When critics pointed out that these tax cuts primarily benefited the affluent, the response was that in a time of imminent war, the bill can not be expanded any larger and pass through congress. So, what?

The Republican leadership entered us into a war in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003, again financed through deficit spending. This was a response to the attack on 9/11, despite the fact that the pilots involved with the attack were from Saudi Arabia. Out of the eleven reasons for us going to war in Iraq, the only one reason to hold true was, “To fight terrorists there, so we don’t have to fight them here.” Al Qaeda did not have a foothold in Iraq, until after our occupation, capture of Saddam Hussein, and his execution by the hands of Iraqis. Saddam Hussein admitted that he did not have weapons of mass destruction since 1991, yet 22% of Americans still believe the weapons are there. When President George W. Bush was being interviewed by Martha Raddatz on ABC, he acknowledged that Al Qaeda did not have a foothold in Iraq before our invasion, his response was, “Yeah, that’s right. So, what?”

After Barack Obama was elected to the Presidency, both the Conservatives and the Tea Party Movement are crying to “take our country back!” They have claimed that America was founded by Christians and on Christian beliefs, despite the fact that most of our Founding Fathers were Deists. The Tea Party Movement based their objections over taxation, citing “taxation without representation,” as based in the original Tea Party in Massachusetts in 1773. Though today’s Tea Party fail to realize that they are represented in our federal government and we were not founded by Christians or Christian ideal, so what?

So should it really come as a surprise that Fox News has been discredited as an unbiased news organization after their owner, Newsmax donated $1 million to the RNC, yet many Americans still believe in Fox News’ tagline, “Fair and Balanced.”? Are we to be surprised over Fox News hiring Conservative and Tea Party politicians as “exclusive” correspondents? Are we to be surprised that the Republican Party claim to want to lower the national deficit and make Bush’s tax cuts permanent, without being able to detail which spending they propose to cut? Are we to be surprised to hear a call for a return to Bush’s economic model, despite the fact that these economic policies filled with self-regulation spurned on the crash of the housing bubble? Are we to be surprised that Republicans are upset over correcting a discrepancy in taxes over the affluent? And worst of all, with American students comparatively lacking comprehension, logic, and reasoning faculties, So what?

-Silence Dogood