Machiavellian Minorities

I’ve noticed something interesting in the way Republican members of Congress follow trends. When they controlled Congress during the Bush II years the Republicans broke almost all of the tenets of their platform, of which a 2008 version can be found here. For example, they broke rank with fiscal conservatism, instead deciding they could lower taxes while fighting wars on two fronts in a time when the economy was on shaky grounds as it was, largely due to 9/11 and more recently the housing situation, massive bank failures, and Wall Street conundrums. Why are they advocating now for a stimulus package that is pure tax cuts, when that has obviously failed before?

One might say Congressional Republicans are out of touch, but it is truly politics for them, as they have found that they can actually get what they want and appear to hold true to principle at the same time. It was proven in the recent vote on the stimulus package that the Democrats (when united) can woo enough Republicans to pass almost any bill, be it good or bad. In a time when it is blatantly obvious that tax cuts will do more harm than good, Republicans are remaining fairly united in their NO votes. This will lead to two different outcomes; if the bill succeeds, Democrats look good and Republicans look good just by having the good fortune of being in office when everyone starts to do better. If, however, the bill does not work and the economy further collapses, the Democrats have to accept full responsibility and have little wiggle room here, whereas the Republicans can be confident that it was not because of their actions, being that they did not vote for the bill in the first place. Either way, the Republicans have assured themselves that their job is secure while being able to get what they want, namely, a bill which may save the economy.

What this means is that it may great to be the ruling party in Congress most of them time, since your party sets agendas, decides who heads what, and is looked at to lead the way, being in the minority party (in a 2-party system) at a time when your vote does not affect a thing, whichever way you happen to vote, can and will grant you power in the long run. Truly Machiavellian.

Since the stimulus bill has passed, it seems the only way for the Congressional Republicans to show their solidarity with their beliefs now, as well as the beliefs of their constituents, is to refuse to accept any aid or help as a result of the package, as Stephen Colbert called on them to do in a recent airing of his show, The Colbert Report:

“Last night's Party line vote was a great start for the 111th Congress, but these hard times demand and even larger, meaningless gesture. That is why I am calling on every Republican who voted against this bill to put no money where your mouth is. Refuse to accept a single penny of the 800 billion dollars for your Congressional district. Think of it like a hunger strike, then just sit back and watch in glee as the Democrats face the wrath of their constituents, suffering as that 800 billion dollars tears though their district like a force five cash-o-cane. It won't be easy, but you are fighting for a principal, if we can't have a perfect bill to stimulate the economy, you would rather have no economy at all.” – 1/29/09

With that in mind, I leave you with a picture I created from a drawing of the human anatomy I found online here.