Letter to the Editor; Thanking the GOP for all they've done

To the Editor:

I would like to thank the GOP for all they have done.

I would like to thank the Republicans for shutting down the government for 17 days. Their poll numbers collapsed. Veterans, tourists and the elderly were upset, to say the least. The Republicans lost the women voters in Virginia, and business people began to question their support of the GOP because of the $24 billion loss to the economy during these 17 days. I really would like to thank them.

I would like to thank House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for guiding Congress into becoming a Do-Nothing-Congress. His leadership comment that Congress “ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal” helped the House avoid finding ways to create jobs for the unemployed, avoid raising the debt ceiling (which put the country on course for default), avoid passing the farm bill with food stamps for the hungry and poor, avoid protecting the environment from mountaintop strip mining and regulation on coal ash while planning on stripping the EPA of authority to regulate greenhouse gases. However, the House Republicans had plenty of energy to vote 46 times to repeal Obamacare. I really would like to thank them.

I would like to thank the Republicans for taking time to repeal abortion, workers’ rights, and voting rights for college students, minorities and the elderly. The GOP has also spent enormous energy in trying to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and the United States Post Office. All of these actions indicate that they have better things to do than make life better for the average American. As some Republicans have stated, any talk about the middle class in America is Marxist talk, for there is no class structure in America. I really would like to thank them.

I would like to thank the Republicans for wanting to deregulate businesses so corporate bosses could operate without any government interference. We saw the results when the economy collapsed in 2008 and millions lost their jobs, many lost their retirement savings, and many too-big-to-fail banks and investment firms would have tanked due to their fraud committed against investors and homeowners had not President Bush signed TARP to save these big banks. The lifting of regulations allowed corporations to get richer. I really would like to thank them.

Finally, I would like to thank the Republicans for their stance that racism is over in this country. That explains their “united and unyielding opposition” to President Obama, the first bi-racial President this country has ever had. A GOP secret meeting before President Obama’s inauguration in 2009 laid the groundwork for obstruction and opposition to everything the President would do. Questioning the President’s birth, religion, political affiliation, personhood and loyalty to America stirred up racial hatred and fear-mongering among many Americans aimed at President Obama. Death threats against the President have gone up from 3,000 a year against President George W. Bush to around 12,000 a year against President Obama. House Republican Joe Wilson’s disrespect of the President at a 2009 speech to Congress established the tone of the GOP about how everyone should treat the President. Using coded language, the GOP has made it clear that minorities in this country are inferior to whites and are lazy, shiftless, incompetent, untrustworthy, dishonest, even evil. I would really like to thank them.

I would like to thank the GOP, but I can’t. If anything, the GOP has undermined the very fabric of America. If the GOP followed its own post-2012 election analysis, “Growth and Opportunity Project,” I might truly thank the GOP for being the loyal opposition. However, the GOP is planning to impeach the President and cut Social Security and Medicare for starters in 2014. I just can’t thank the GOP. I just can’t.

Duane Pitts

Moses Lake