It’s Not That Difficult to Understand

I don’t know what’s it going to take to convince house Republicans that they only control one-third of one-half of our government. There are 234 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 201 Democrats, so simple math will tell you that it takes 218 “yes” votes to pass legislation in the lower chamber. John Boehner knows that he has 40 far-right members of the tea party who have no interest in compromising or governing for that matter. If the speaker doesn’t yield to them, then the only way, he can pass legislation is to rely upon the votes of the opposition party. If he opts for the latter, he can kiss his speakership good-bye.

There’s no question that Speaker Boehner cannot control his party because in March of this year, he said that the defunding Obamacare would lead to a government shutdown. Yesterday, he said his party would attach an amendment to defund Obamacare in the continuing resolution (CR) they will send to the Senate. They know full well that Majority Leader Reid will strip the defunding Obamacare and send it back to the House. Some tea party members are trying to spin this off as; the Senate is opting to shut down the government. Let’s go back to the math, one-third of one-half of the government do not make a ruling party. For example, even if the Senate went along with some portion of it, the executive branch would veto it. The president put it best yesterday when he said, “what would happen if the Senate sent a bill calling for a 20% hike in the corporate rates?”

Humans have a knack for taking a simple proposition and then spin it enough to make it very difficult to understand. I have not commented on letters to our editor recently because I don’t understand what the letter writers are trying to say. One writer was clearly trying to equate our constitution to a religious document, and another writer attempted to make a case for isolationism. They are pretty good at quoting sound bites like “Obamacare is a train wreck.” It’s perfectly legitimate to have an opinion, but it helps if you have the statistics to back it up. The Congressional Budget Office is on record saying that the Affordable Care Act will help lower the deficit, and we know that healthcare costs have stabilized; maybe not for all but for the majority it has.

Yesterday on “CNN’s Crossfire” Governor Rick Perry and Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley debated the virtues of their respected states. I believe it’s common knowledge that more people would rather live in Texas than in Maryland but due to the ineptness of our governor, Maryland won out as the most likable place to live. Rick Perry thinks that the citizens of Texas would rather use the emergency room than have healthcare, because it allows them to keep their freedoms.

I’m just guessing, but I think that the 40 tea party of the House of Representatives represents about 600,000 people, and that’s all they care about because believe it or not, there are people in those districts further to the right than those representatives. There’s a bench load of wing nuts waiting for their chance. They’re protected with gerrymandered districts and are funded by special-interest groups, so we’ll have to put up with this for a few more years, unless they shut down the government. Remember all the Democrats need is about 18 more legislators and Nancy Pelosi will become the speaker again. Grandpa may belong to the tea party, but he loves his Medicare and Social Security.