You got suckered. The two party system failed you. It turned the first 100 days of Donald Trump into a partisan nightmare that ended with the GOP’s surrender to Democrats. You lost because our two party system provides for lawmakers and their politics, not you and your family.
Two party system farce fails you
There is a very good reason they call it a system. The spending bill the House just passed dumped much of what brought out the vote for Trump because it was all about preserving the Capitol Hill equilibrium, not representing the will of Republican voters.
So far this year our two party system brought you failure, fear, and chaos. You worry about insuring your daughter’s heart defect if the GOP screws up its plan for pre-existing conditions. Your spouse works in a big city and fears for his safety. Your eldest son is counting on a free ride to college that isn’t coming. You are a police officer and worry about whether your next traffic stop will put you in the headlines or worse, jail.
That’s what the two party system did for you. It stirred you up. Made you angry. Raised doubts and even fear. If that wasn’t enough, both sides are still trying to dupe you into believing they have your back.
They don’t. They have each other’s. That’s how we got a spending bill that keeps funding sanctuary cities.
Republicans defeated us
If you voted for Republicans in the last election the first 100 days of this year were about as painful as it gets. We thought we won. Now we are either fighting ourselves or throwing in the towel on the issues that earned our votes and put people in office.
Yesterday Paul Ryan boasted that the House’s new spending bill “marks the beginning of a new era.”1 He’s right. It proved to Republican voters that majorities don’t matter and some of the biggest problems with the Obama years can’t be gotten rid of if Democrats object.
The words “sanctuary” and “wall” were not used in Ryan’s remarks.
It’s quantity of bills, not quality that counts?
The speaker is elated over the House GOP’s legislative record:
Since President Trump took office, this Congress has sent 29 bills to his desk. That is the most for a president’s first 100 days in office since 1949.2
I’ll admit I don’t know what those 29 bills are. Most Republicans probably don’t. What we do know is that some major issues that cemented the Republican majority and won the White House got yanked from under our feet with barely a whimper. Big concessions to minority Democrats in the spending bill became wins for both parties.
How about you and your family?
Health care charade continues
Uncertainty over something as critical as health care doesn’t make our lives better. In the best Republican Party tradition members turned on themselves over the sweeping health policy changes they have been working on for seven years. It comes up for another vote today (and passed the House, see update).
Health care for the families the GOP thinks it appeals to seems less of a priority than fulfilling what before this week was a promise without a plan. This is supposed to be about making health care better, but the country is just as shaky on the details as when the ACA was passed. If anything, we are less certain what happens if we are already sick.
It’s not the victory that counts. That’s the mistake Democrats made.
You and your family deserve better than “pass the bill to know what’s in it” legislating. This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a matter of properly serving taxpayers who will pay the price for failure.
Party for working families, but not yours
Stronger, bolder Democrats strutted their stuff after Republicans caved on spending for Trump’s wall and saving money on wayward sanctuary cities. They also celebrated their support for immigrant families.3 Do they think we don’t know what families they are talking about?
If you are a citizen, they aren’t talking about yours.
Crowley’s 100 days of failure
House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley (D-NY) called the president’s first 100 days “an utter failure” and accused him of doing “nothing to strengthen our economy or improve the lives of the American people.”4 He recently introduced an “Equality Act” for LGBT Americans,5 supported H.R.921 to ensure money goes to sanctuary cities, and backed legislation to address a doctor shortage projected to hit by 2030,6 an old proposal we’ve seen and heard before.
According to the CDC, LGBTs are 2.3% of the population.7 Obamacare is floundering and doctors are turning up their noses at Medicare patients. If health care costs too much a doctor shortage won’t matter. What do these bills have in common? They ramp up the dialogue against Republicans. Other than that, they will go absolutely nowhere.
Crowley’s measure for Trump administration success was putting food on families’ tables.8 Which one of these things helped your family? How about the bills to prevent discrimination against international Sikh basketball players9 or make it easier to hold a soap box derby?10
… and then there’s Trump
The president is stuck in no man’s land. He is caught between a party that would prefer if he disappear from the face of the earth and a party willing to dismantle his agenda piece by piece.
Can you guess which party is which?
Neither can I. That’s how the two party system works.
UPDATE: Republican health care finally made it through the House. We saw a lot of backslapping and self-congratulating after the vote. Both the House and Trump scored victories and to be fair, getting GOP lawmakers to agree was an accomplishment.
Today is another day. Don’t expect the togetherness to last now that the cameras have stopped flashing.
Footnotes
1. “Speaker Ryan: Funding Bill Turns the Page on the Obama Years.” Speaker Paul Ryan. May 3, 2017. http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/speaker-ryan-turns-page, retrieved May 3, 2017.
2. “29 Bills to the President’s Desk: Speaker Ryan’s Remarks from Leadership Press Conference.” Speaker Paul Ryan. April 26, 2017. http://www.speaker.gov/general/29-bills-presidents-desk-speaker-ryans-remarks-leadership-press-conference, retrieved May 2, 2017.
3. “Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference Celebrating Immigrant Rights Day.” Nancy Pelosi. May 1, 2017. http://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/pelosi-remarks-at-press-conference-celebrating-immigrant-rights-day, retrieved May 3, 2017.
4. “Chairman Crowley on President Trump’s First 100 Days.” The House Democrats. April 28, 2017. http://www.dems.gov/chairman-crowley-president-trumps-first-100-days/, retrieved may 2, 2017.
5. “Chairman Crowley Statement on Introduction of the Equality Act.” May 2, 2017. http://crowley.house.gov/press-release/chairman-crowley-statement-introduction-equality-act, retrieved May 3, 2017.
6. “Chairman Crowley, Congressman Costello Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Address Looming Doctor Shortage.” Joseph Crowley. May 2, 2017. http://crowley.house.gov/press-release/chairman-crowley-congressman-costello-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-address-looming, retrieved May 3, 2017.
7. Ward, Brian W., Ph.D., Dahlhamer, James M., Ph.D., Galinsky, Adena M., Ph.D., and Joestl, Sarah S., Dr.P.H. Division of Health Interview Statistics. NATIONAL HEALTH STATISTICS REPORTS. “Sexual Orientation and Health Among U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2013.” July 15, 2014. Number 77. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr077.pdf, retrieved May 3, 2017.
8. “Chairman Crowley on President Trump’s First 100 Days.” The House Democrats. April 28, 2017. Op. cit.
9. “Chairman Crowley, Rep. Bera Urge International Basketball Federation to Change Discriminatory Policy Against Sikh Players.” Joe Crowley. http://www.dems.gov/chairman-crowley-rep-bera-urge-international-basketball-federation-change-discriminatory-policy-sikh-players/, retrieved May 3, 2017.
10. “Hoyer Remarks in Support of Resolution Allowing the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby.” Congressman Steny Hoyer. April 25, 2017. https://hoyer.house.gov/press-releases/hoyer-remarks-in-support-of-resolution-allowing-the-greater-washington-soap-box-derby/, retrieved May 3, 2017.
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