My usual frantic pace of posting has died off lately (coinciding with the sudden death of my laptop. Never fear, though, I’ll be back up and running – and switching to Mac – in a week.)
Something that I haven’t focused on enough – and Ryan and Kyle are doing an extraordinary job with over at NNN – is the absolute disconnect of Republicans in this state from the needs of ordinary citizens. From Dave Heineman’s obsessive need to cut taxes for the wealthy at the expense of higher education, to Mike Johanns’ willing cooperation with Bush’s cuts in agricultural programs, to the “Timid Trio” (™ Kyle) and their reluctance to do – well, anything - the Republican Party in this state has shown that it no longer cares about representative government. If, indeed, it ever did.
It’s becoming evident that in the Republican’s quest for electoral domination of this state, the people got left behind. They got taken for granted. You only have to listen to Jon Bruning’s campaign to realize this. Bruning speaks of Nebraska Republicans as a monolithic body, and actually, quite intentionally, ignores the rest of the state. The Nebraska Republicans who disagree with Bush on Iraq? They don’t exist. Independents? Not here. Democrats? You’re kidding, right? There’s Democrats in Nebraska?
Recent polling bears out these facts. A majority of Nebraskans favor a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq and oppose Bush’s “surge.” But you wouldn’t know it to hear the Republicans in this state speak.
For too long, we’ve let them get away with it. We’ve let them speak on behalf of all Nebraskans when, in fact, they speak on behalf of a minority of them. It’s time to give the not-so-silent majority of Nebraskans who have been left behind, by the Nebraska Republican Party, by Hagel and Johanns, by Dave Heineman, by his acolytes in the Nebraska legislature, by Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry, and Adrian Smith, and by Jon Bruning and the rest of his reactionary allies, a real voice. 10 months from the primary. 16 months from the general election. Every race, every district, up and down the ballot, we as a party need to offer the people of Nebraska an alternative to one-party government. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the people of this state.
“…to Mike Johanns’ willing cooperation with Bush’s cuts in agricultural programs…”
I’d like your analysis on how Johanns and Bush are actually hurting the “ordinary citizens” with this. Johanns’ plan caps the payouts to huge corporate farms and doesn’t hurt the small family farms at all. I don’t understand why Democrats are so opposed to nearly all forms of corporate welfare except for when it comes to farmers, so I’d appreciate it if you’d be willing to elaborate on what about Johanns’ plan you take issue with. I think it’s been the first time in history that I’ve agreed with the man.
I’ll readily admit that I’m a city boy with very little understanding of ag policy. But I see the Bush administration moving to make significant cuts to agricultural aid. And given this administration’s stance toward corporate anything, I’m not very trusting.
I try to keep an open mind, but every effort I’ve seen of “reform” from this administration is an attempt to put more control into corporate hands, whether it’s social security, immigration, or medicare. So when I see that the Bush administration wants to cut agricultural subsidies, I have difficulty believing that they are doing it to limit the influence of corporate farms.
Well I encourage you to look into it more. I completely understand the knee-jerk when it comes to this administration and “reform,” but I think in this case, since the biggest corporate farms tend to be Democratic allies, screwing over the big Democratic contributors also happens to benefit the little guy.