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Tea partiers would fragment Congress into ‘venom spitting blocks’

Felicia Muftic/My View
Grand County, CO Colorado

So you want to send a message to Washington? You may not like what you get in the return mail. Voting for a state and federal legislator, congressperson or senator is not a short term deal. That representative or senator will be there for two to six years.

Voting for candidates in anger, willing to overlook candidates’ positions with whom you disagree or who espouse unproven economic theories, could have some unintended consequences.

What may seem important issues such as jobs and debt now, could be quite different two or six years from now as the economy improves and Obama acts on his debt reduction commission recommendations.



Our representatives in Washington serve two roles: one, to vote on legislation; and two, to be a person in power with whom we can communicate if we feel strongly about an issue or need a problem solved. When you ask for help on an issue or service, you should expect you will have their sympathetic ear.

Imagine contacting your senator or representative about social security when that person does not even support the concept .



For 40 years women have fought for the right to control their bodies, yet there are candidates who want government to tell women what they can and cannot do … even in extreme cases of rape or incest. That attitude at the very least indicates a lack of sensitivity to women’s issues .

Concerned about children’s education because you care about their future or about a competent workforce? What if you demand better public schools, smaller classes, teacher funding, reform of the testing process from your representatives? How comfortable will you feel approaching a legislator who wants to cripple the Department of Education and to pass any solutions onto an ill funded state which can and will do little, or who even does not believe government should support public education?

Want to ask for a state’s fair share for infrastructure from a member of Congress who opposes increased use of federal funds for anything worthy, always invoking dedication to smaller government and lower debt?

Griping about the cost of health insurance? Repeal and replace Obamacare with zippo or with poor funding that leaves 30 million uninsured will do nothing to stop the shift of their costs to your insurance policies.

The future will be even grimmer if health care reform is repealed and replaced with legislation that protects insurers, but does nothing to reduce health care costs. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, without Obama’s reform, your co-pays and deductibles will more than double in this decade and one half small businesses would drop health care insurance, leaving ten million more uninsured (http://www.rwjf.org; search Cost of Failure reform).

Jobs? At least the stimulus created or saved three million and the growing economy will add more. While not great, Republicans’ solution is a return to Bush tax policies that failed to create jobs .

Taxes? If your family makes less than $250,000 a year, every Obama program enacted or proposed exempts you from increases. Tempted to vote for smaller government without demanding what that means? Do not assume what will be cut will be the other guys’ pet services. Per a recent letter to the editor: “The promise to cut taxes without telling people what services will be cut, is a fool’s bargain.”

Disgusted with Congress? You have not seen anything yet. Tea partiers, whose agenda is out of step with their party’s Pledge to America, will fragment Congress into several venom spitting blocks. Even if Republicans gain a unified majority in either or both houses, they will not have enough votes to override the President’s veto. Instead, their leaders are planning to hold up any funding of Obamacare or Wall Street reform and conduct hearings until we are sick of them. This could be a session of mind numbing, patience stretching gridlock.

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