The GOP used to be called the party of no. Now the truth dawns. The GOP is the party of no governance. Zilch. Nada. It is possible that Ryan and McConnell will finish the year without having passed one bill that Trump has sent them. Not the health bill. Not the wall. Not the incredible budget suggestions. This is how the GOP works. It is not new.
Nothing pays better
Doing nothing pays better, GOP legislators make substantially more than Democrats in contributions from lobbyists. Here is a breakdown.
Lobbyists: Money to Congress | OpenSecrets https://t.co/XKQqq3AH8x++ via @opensecretsdc
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) May 25, 2017
The GOP folk take in an average of around $37k a year and the Dems around $10k less.
There is clearly no penalty for not governing. The electorate still sends the nay-sayers to Washington.To get killed at the polls the GOP must do something voters hate. Now we come to the reason the GOP cannot govern. Whenever it tries it fails.
Healthcare Waterloo
Back when the GOP was trashing Obamacare with repeal bills that died in the Senate they could go home and pound their chests. They promised that one day they would send the hated Obama law straight to hell. Righteous indignation flowed like a polluted stream.
Racism fed it but only as a subtext. They thought twice abut saying all lives matter. The Congressional Budget Office said they were imperiling lives of tens of millions. Their voters showed signs of apoplexy.
CBO cold water
Now the CBO has looked at the second healthcare effort of the GOP. They spoke just yesterday. It is as much of a disaster as the first. No one wants this Trump atrocity to pass. No one wants to have creeping Medicaid destruction. No one wants to force millions off the insurance rolls. It looks bad. The chances the Senate will offer this jerry-built failure for a vote are minimal.
Underneath it all
Underneath it all is the prospect of a full year with no governance. This is but the truth revealed. If the GOP passed big laws once, it does so no more. It sits there and takes in contributions. It goes home to get reelected. Trump is minor. If he did not exist the GOP platform would rise up. It would be the agenda.
It is as noxious as anything Trump conjures up in the White House.
Can the Dems do it right this time?
The secret of being a successful Democrat is to be JFK-like. Combine toughness with aspiration. Be smart enough to smack the GOP where it hurts. I have just discovered someone who seems JFK-like. She is a soldier first, then a member of Congress. Her name is Tulsi Gabbard. I wrote about her a few days back. If you want to see how dumb the GOP actually is read my piece.
