It is one thing to disagree with your political opponent's philosophy or policies. That is the name of the game. It is quite another, however, to bring out the adjectives such as "unpatriotic". Remember when the Democrats felt put upon when some in our country questioned their devotion to the U.S.A. over protesting the war in Iraq? Double standard?
The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents — #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.
This tone continues to this day from President Obama and his administration. The Democrats on Capitol Hill are frequently video taped saying despicable things about Tea Party members. The latest from Rep Fredrica Wilson in Florida who told her audience this week that the Tea Partiers are "the real enemy", just as others have called them terrorists (Joe Biden) and that they can "go straight to hell" (Maxine Waters) and that they want slavery to make a comeback (Jessie Jackson). And, yes, on the conservative side there is the occassional blog post about beginning impeachment proceedings on President Obama and the like. It just seems there is less from the conservative side while the left says such vile remarks with utter ease.
Two Republican leaders spoke to this public discord in the last day or two. Jeb Bush spoke to Fox News Channel's Neal Cavuto and stated that Republicans have to offer solutions, not just bash Obama, in order to win the election. He said it turns off middle of the road voters to just hear the negative without persuading them to vote for your party's candidate.
Senator Marco Rubio said as much to the audience as he spoke at the Reagan Library Tuesday. He said it is easy to criticize the President but these problems began decades ago. Obama's policies are accelerating the pain but he is not the sole problem.
And, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, has asked fellow CEOs to sign a pledge to abstain from political contributions until Washington gets out of its dysfunctional mode.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is annoyed with politicians. Rather than just expressing that annoyance, he has promised to cut off politicians where it hurts — in the campaign war chest. A few other businesses, such as the NASDAQ, have agreed to follow suit.
Schultz’s pledge
In an open letter sent to other business leaders and published by several newspapers, Howard Schultz outlined his plan:
“I am asking that all of us (forgo) political contributions until the Congress and the President return to Washington and deliver a fiscally disciplined long-term debt and deficit plan to the American people.”
In the last five years, Schultz has donated slightly less than $28,000 to D.C. politicians. The total amount of donations Schultz made are comparatively a drop in the bucket in the $5.2 billion or more spent on elections each year.
The staunchest of ideologues will pooh-pooh this notion that there must be a path to those elected to represent us in Washington working together to save our country. Everyone from the President on down have very low polling percentages. The public is fed up.
Political principles can be maintained while working with the other side of an argument. It takes leadership, though. The President does a disservice to his party as he brings a whole new level of vitriol to politics, using his bully pulpit to smear Republicans at every opportunity. It is no wonder that Democrats further down the line feel entitled to ratchet up the dialogue.
We need true leadership. And some grown ups in Washington.
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