You’ve Got to Be Kidding!
by Robert A. Levine
Congressman Eric Cantor is the poster child for everything that’s wrong with Washington. A rigid right-wing ideologue in a Republican leadership role, he considers compromise a dirty word and has made it nearly impossible to get any deals done with the Democrats.
Cantor is also the antithesis of the “compassionate conservative” and appears to have a selective memory. After Hurricane Irene devastated the Northeast a few weeks ago, Cantor said that any disaster relief for the region must be offset by spending cuts in other government programs. Emergency federal aid for damage caused by natural disasters had previously been passed almost Eric kantor automatically by Congress with no trade-offs required. Cantor subsequently backed off on his initial response after the public and the media excoriated him. Some Republican governors whose states were hard hit were also unhappy with Cantor’s stance.
Interestingly, Cantor forgot that he had pushed for emergency aid for his own congressional district in 2004 after Tropical Storm Gaston caused considerable devastation. At that time, he did not try to delay the release of the aid or request any offsets in government spending to deliver relief to his district. This was during the Bush presidency when the Republicans controlled Congress. Spending was already spiraling upwards and the deficits and national debt were climbing rapidly due to fiscally irresponsible tax cuts when the country was at war. In fact, Cantor never asked for spending offsets when war appropriations or tax cuts for the wealthy were passed to try and balance the budget. With President Obama now at the helm, things have obviously changed for Cantor with demands that any new spending be offset with cuts in other areas to reduce the budget deficits and national debt. Could it be that Cantor doesn’t want to do anything that will show government in a positive light? He certainly doesn’t want to allow Obama any legislative victories.
On September 21, the House defeated a stopgap spending bill that would have funded disaster relief and would have kept the government running. Cantor did support this legislation though the measure provided far less than what was actually needed for relief. There were also offsets in the legislation that cut funding from a federal loan program involved in the production of energy-efficient cars. The bill went down because a combination of Democrats and conservative Republicans voted against it. The Democrats felt the total aid, $3.65 billion, was woefully inadequate with the Senate already having passed a measure authorizing nearly double the amount to provide help. And conservative House Republicans wanted even more spending cuts to offset the assistance offered. Unless another bill is enacted to finance operations, the federal government will be forced to close up shop as of October 1.
The intransigence of Republican conservatives makes governing increasingly difficult with constant obstacles placed in the way of the executive branch. Cantor is one of the forces in this movement. Then again, Obama hasn’t exactly been a strong leader willing to challenge the Republicans or use the bully pulpit of the presidency to highlight what has to be done to get the country on the right path.
Maybe we need a third party of the center to change the whole tenor in Washington; a party without ideological constraints that is pragmatic in its approach to the country’s problems.
A VietNam vet and a Columbia history major who became a medical doctor, Bob Levine has watched the evolution of American politics over the past 40 years with increasing alarm. He knows he’s not alone. Partisan grid-lock, massive cash contributions and even more massive expenditures on lobbyists have undermined real democracy, and there is more than just a whiff of corruption emanating from Washington. If the nation is to overcome lockstep partisanship, restore growth to the economy and bring its debt under control, Levine argues that it will require a strong centrist third party to bring about the necessary reforms. Levine’s previous book, Shock Therapy For the American Health Care System took a realist approach to health care from a physician’s informed point of view; Resurrecting Democracy takes a similar pragmatic approach, putting aside ideology and taking a hard look at facts on the ground. In his latest book, Levine shines a light that cuts through the miasma of party propaganda and reactionary thinking, and reveals a new path for American politics. This post is cross posted from his blog.