OK, from time to time, I get broadsided by some conservatives and Republicans because of my opinion of the Republican Party, and their history of failures. Let me open this door a little wider for you. I WAS A REPUBLICAN for many years. George W. Bush opened my eyes, and made me realize that I want no association with the Republican Party. I still consider myself a conservative, as do most of the Republicans, even though the Republican Party itself shows no signs of conservatism anymore. Instead of me doing a ton of research and hunting down all of these facts, I found a web site that summarizes the demise of our countries economy and lays out the truth in a very efficient manner. No doubt there will be some hardline Republicans that will dismiss this a far left propaganda, but history is what it is. History. You can not change history. Source: http://x2t.com/demise Lets look at a few simple facts and judge for yourselves. Under the Republican Party during the George W Bush years: Manufacturing fell to its lowest level in 26 years . By the end of the decade, the jobless rate reached a 26-year-high . There were 6.5 job seekers per job opening , by the end of the decade. “One in five Americans are unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work.” Bush finished his term with the worst track record ever on jobs since the government began keeping records in 1939 Almost 7 million jobs were lost (perhaps permanently), 14.5 million were left unemployed A $236 billion surplus projected to last year’s into the future was turned into a $412 billion deficit, in just four years by George W Bush and the Republican Party including the likes of John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, Judd Gregg and a host of others. At the time President Bush said “that there was a benefit to the government’s fast-dwindling surplus, declaring that it will create a fiscal straightjacket for Congress; he said that it was “Incredibly Positive News” because it would halt the growth of the federal government.” Bush and his Republican cronies used the existing surplus (and the $5.6 trillion surplus projected over the next ten years) as justification for huge tax cuts for the wealthy and big oil companies. As the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan spiraled skyward, Bush refused to pay the costs of waging two wars with tax increases or other budgetary offsets, choosing instead to pass along this cost along to the next generations of American children. The result was the government ran a deficit, and paid for some of its biggest expenditures with borrowed money and they lied to the American people claiming in 2007 the Bush administration predicted a $61 billion surplus by 2012 , yet they presented a 2008 budget that added $251 billion to the deficit creating the ‘new math’ of the Republican Party. George W Bush and the Republican and teabaggers who supported him, presided over the weakest economy in decades and it was the worst decade for the stock market , which was down 26% from where it started in 2000 . And who can forget when Republican war monger, Dick Cheney, who dismissed the importance of deficits stating in November 2002 as first recounted by Paul O’Neill , “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Republican Party leader Michael Steele said on February 3, 2010 sticking up for America’s rich said “Trust me, after taxes a million dollars is not a lot of money, this is a country where the median family income is $50,000 a year”. The 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, (passed under reconciliation) increased the U.S. deficit ( created by President Bush ) by $1.7 trillion. These Republican Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans gutted the earnings and purchasing power of the middle class, and crippled the nation’s economy with huge historical debt. The lesson is that it is fine to pass tax cuts for the wealthy but an outrage to help middle-income and poor people with unemployment benefits.  If fact, Republicans are blaming the unemployed for not having a job and blaming the unemployed for being lazy ! Tom Corbett, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor “The jobs are there, but if we keep extending unemployment, people are just going to sit there .” Sharron Angle (R-NV), Senate Candidate “ We have put in so much entitlement into our government that we really spoiled our citizenry and said, you don‘t want the jobs that are available.” “We should cut unemployment.” Dean Heller Nevada Republican recently warned that “unemployment benefits may be creating a nation of hobos .“                              Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said “You know, we should not be giving cash to people who basically are just going to blow it on drugs .” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)  “That doesn‘t create new jobs.  In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work ” but Bush tax cuts for America’s wealthiest should be extended!!!! The results of Republican tax cuts? Decayed infrastructure, mandatory two-income families, bad schools, fast food, cheap imports, poor health and obesity, job outsourcing, increased consumer debt, privatization of public services, free-market monopolies, a corrupt financial sector, and corporate-controlled media and government. Interestingly, in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that “ two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.”  General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam.  Exxon Mobil, reported in 2009 a record $45.2 billion profit , paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS , with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi.  (See Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in 2009 taxes).  According to the New York Times, the oil industry has spent $340 million over the past two years lobbying against cuts to subsidies. Republicans have shipped thousands of jobs overseas, while the jobs that remain in the United States are low-wage. Republicans have for decades turned their noses up at the industrial manufacturing sector and fight against green jobs, green energy, and rebuilding America’s decaying infrastructure. We must not forget big oil companies are the biggest winners of the Republican tax cuts and even with the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, Republicans are defending oil companies who own them as oil companies reap billions from tax payer subsidies, even as Democrats renew their call to end oil company tax breaks .  In June, a proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would have cut $35 billion in taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil companies was soundly defeated in the Senate by a 35-61 vote, with every Republican voting against it. Sanders argued “Twenty-two percent of the children in this country live in poverty, we have record-breaking deficits, we have a $16 trillion national debt, and Exxon-Mobil receives $156 million in a tax refund after making $19 billion in profit.” Texas Republican Joe Barton actually apologized to BP for President Obama’s $20 billion fund to help those hardworking American families whose livelihoods were obliterated by BP saying “ BP paying oil spill victims is a shakedown and a slush fund .”  Senate Candidate Rand Paul said “ criticizing BP is un-American !” Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle said regarding the BP oil spill “this shows we need less oil industry regulation”! Rep. Paul Broun (Republican from Georgia now lies to the American people with an outlandish conspiracy theory saying “ this oil spill was purposeful ” a planned event between President Obama and BP. Republicans seem to be conveniently experiencing a particular form of political amnesia from their reign of fiscal abuse heaped on the American people.  America has been down the ‘fiscal responsible’ Republican Party road before and any hardworking taxpayer is experiencing where it put American families. Despite what Republicans and ‘teabaggers’ would have Americans believe in their effort to rewrite history, Americans MUST remember the economic meltdown began long before Barack Obama was elected president. Even a cursory historical glance at the facts makes it clear; the deficit that has conservatives so alarmed was created on their watch !  It is unrealistic to expect President Obama to repair the fiscal and financial damage in 18 months which took Republicans decades to create.  Republican leadership under President Obama: Republicans stood against health care reform for American families but stand with Big Insurance companies. Republicans stand against Wall Street Reform which will save American families from financial ruin. Republicans stand against an Energy Policy to reduce green house gasses, remove dependency on foreign oil, because they are in the pockets of every major oil company in America. Republicans stand against Immigration Reform because they really like the cheap labor which allows larger profits for American companies. Republicans fought against creating jobs in America. Republicans consistently fight to eliminate Medicare, Social Security and every social program that takes care of America’s citizens.  Republican Leadership under President Bush: The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, ending the lives of thousands of service members and millions of civilians, adding trillions of dollars to the deficit, allowing widespread corruption by private companies, some of whom benefited the administration directly Torture, not just of terrorists but of innocent citizens too, ending habeas corpus and bringing down the reputation of the country among the global community Warrant-less wiretapping of Americans The gutting of regulations in the financial and mortgage industries, paving way for the worst economy since the Great Depression Massive tax cuts for the wealthy, born on the backs of the middle class, passed through reconciliation Abandonment of our troops in Afghanistan, allowing the leadership of the Taliban and al Qaeda to re surge causing President Obama to finish what Republicans refused to do Setting record setting, out-of-control spending, turning budget surpluses into historical deficits The middle class have turned into the “peasant class” by the Republican Party. American families have been taken over by a few wealthy Republicans and their activist Republican lead Supreme Court. We have become an Aristocracy. Except the ones in control are not royalty, they are politicians and business people hiding behind a cloak of deception that is Corporate America. It is striking to me that the people who dislike trying to fix the budget and create jobs, the ones who these programs are intended to help (many of America’s poorest citizens) seem to have a deep emotional attachment to the Republican Party that serves only the interests of its richest Americans and big business.  It is easy to manipulate the uneducated, desperate and fear-filled masses with lies, racism, snake-oil and deception which are the hallmark of the Republican Party. We must remember the reason so many American families are struggling is because the Republican Party have robbed us all. They want to place the full tax burden of the U.S. Treasury squarely on the backs of hardworking Americans while giving Corporate America massive tax breaks.  The amount of financial, medical, hunger and other suffering in the United States of America is literally a crime against humanity initiated, implemented and continuously pursued by Republicans, Wall Street and Corporate America. Now, while I have been ripping on the tragedy of the Bush administration, this goes back further than Bush. Ronald Reagan raised the debt ceiling 17 times and tripled his deficit during his administration, and even apologized for his spending in his exit speech. Democrats too have had some bad administrations and shady operations, but none compare to the raping of this country that the Bush administration handed out. I consider George W. Bush the "Charles Manson of presidents". Republican, YOU are standing up for, and behind, a party that has turned it's back on YOU and this country. You are holding on to a dream of times long gone. You need to open YOUR mind and YOUR eyes to the reality of today's America. The Propaganda Minister, Rush Limbaugh, has been twisting the truth and spewing lies ( for his own profit ) to brainwash and dumb down the American People for years. YOU are intelligent enough to look at both sides of any issue and make YOUR own decision on what is right and wrong, what is good and bad for the country and the people. YOU are intelligent enough to listen to all the arguments, between Democrats and Republicans, and say to your self, "Wait... This doesn't sound right, this doesn't make sense, what is the underlying factor here?" And YOU are intelligent enough to make a difference. YOU don't have to give up your beleifs and values, but don't hide behind a party that doesn't hold the same beliefs and values and pretend that they are speaking for you. By doing that you continue to give them the power to continue to destroy freedom and democracy for all of us. The great people of this country need to get involved in the operation of this country, and stop taking for granted that our government has our best interest in hand, because there is nothing further from the the truth. Thomas Jefferson said: "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." I fear what our government is doing. I fear the direction our government is leading us. I fear that the Greatest Nation in the World, built on Liberty, Freedom and Democracy is quickly fading away. Let me finish up by saying, I don't agree with everything the Democrats are doing either. I'm Libertarian, and so far the Libertarians have not had a chance to govern this Great Nation. But I'm not afraid of that chance, I'm not afraid of that change. And there has to be something, anything, better than what we have been, and are going through now. I would welcome a Libertarian or Green Party President. And, again, I know there will be no miraculous over night fix by electing either. But this see/saw government we continue to go thru every 4 years is going nowhere. One party builds, the other tears it down to rebuild, and the cycle continues over and over, at our expense. They all talk about a better tomorrow, and a brighter future. But tomorrow never comes, and I don't see the light.
Posted by wisemagic

I agree with you and feel the same pain and see the same issues.  TERM LIMITS MUST BE PUT IN PLACE FOR ALL POLITICIANS!    That will be the beginning of the change, if not a revolution will come in the future that will not be pretty.   I hope we will never see that. 
Posted by SER