Turn out the lights; the party’s over. The Democratic Party has completely blown this election. In just two short years, despite Republicans logjamming progress with filibusters more often than in any two-year cycle in American history (more in 2009-2010 than 1945-1969, in fact), the Democrats have enacted many pieces of historic legislation which will change America for the better, yet polls show Democrats likely losing the House in today’s elections and maybe the Senate as well.
Unfortunately, rather than proudly proclaiming its accomplishments, the Democratic Party has decided to let the fringe Tea Party movement control the debate. Rather than presenting a unified national message, the Democratic Party has allowed candidates in close races have resort to the same twisted lies and half-truths the Tea Partiers are telling.
The most important thing Barack Obama and the Democrats have accomplished has to be health care reform. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, dubbed “Obamacare” by the detractors, 32 million Americans will finally have access to health care. Insurance companies won’t be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and they will be required to cover recommended preventive services (immunizations, mammograms, pre-natal care, etc.) without charging extra.
Small businesses will be given incentives in the form of tax credits to provide health care for their employees, and low-income individuals will be given tax credits to make health insurance more affordable. In fact, the new law is the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in American history.
Most importantly to young people, the new law requires insurance companies to allow children to stay on their parent’s plan until they turn 26. This will give a young person several extra years to find a job which provides health insurance or at least pays well enough for him or her to afford (now cheaper) health insurance, rather than throwing him or her to the wolves at whatever age the company decides.
And despite the Tea Party lies, the independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has declared that the reform will actually reduce the federal budget deficit by $143 billion over the first 10 years. The CBO also projects that, thanks to lower administrative costs, increased competition and more people in the system, health care premiums will fall across the board, from 3-4 percent for business plans to 14-20 percent for Americans buying individually.
And before the health care law passed, Obama expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover four million more kids. Before Obama and the Democrats took over, George W. Bush vetoed this legislation twice. Before they took over, health insurance companies held America by the neck, charging as much as they could and providing as little coverage as possible, all in the name of profit.
While the Democrats have accomplished much in these past two years, there are still miles to go before America can be free of the insurance companies’ chokehold. Why turn away from progress? Why give the country back to the Republicans, who did nothing about the problem during their six years of power?
Obama inherited the worst economy in 70 years (notice a pattern here?). Obama and the Democrats countered with an economic stimulus, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which despite the Tea Party’s malignment (notice a pattern here?), the stimulus provided tax credits to 95 percent of Americans, helped all 50 states get through budget issues and funded over 100,000 municipal projects across the country.
Sure enough, the CBO concluded the $787 billion stimulus added as many as 3.3 million jobs to the U.S. economy. Republican policies got us in to this mess, and Democratic policies pulled out, perhaps preventing another Great Depression. Why hand the country back to the Republicans?
Unlike his predecessor, Obama has actually confronted the problem of climate change. Although the Senate has not yet voted on American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would establish an emissions trading program, it is refreshing to see our government trying to do something about the issue.
No, Tea Partiers, you can’t just put your hands on your ears and wish the problem away. You can’t pretend it’s some kind of sinister liberal hoax or that there are legions and scientists out there denying climate change is occurring. America has lagged behind the rest of the world in addressing the dire issue, and we need Obama and the Democrats leading the way.
While most Republicans are actually in line with the science on the issue as well, there are elements of the Republican Party who seem to honestly believe it’s all fake and do everything they can to stall progress. Why give the country back to them and allow them to ignore the issue at the whole planet’s peril?
On the subject of war, Obama has, admittedly, been a disappointment. The War in Afghanistan still rages, and although U.S. combat trips officially left Iraq on Aug. 18, 50,000 are still there in an advisory role.
We can debate the semantics of whether this truly means the Iraq War is over all day (I don’t believe it’s over until all of the troops have left), but the fact remains that Obama cleaned up a messy situation left by his predecessor.
Why hand control of the country back to Republicans and crazy Tea Partiers, who are liable to start more shady wars around the world? The Republicans got us into two unwinnable quagmires while in power, leading to the deaths of nearly 7,000 American and allied soldiers. At least we know Obama and the Democrats won’t start any new ones.
We have to remember that George W. Bush and the Republicans drove the country into a ditch, and there is no quick fix. Even though the Democratic Party seems afraid to admit it, its policies have turned America around and given hope for the future.
Unfortunately, polls suggest the Tea Party has won the day, and Republicans will make big gains in today’s Congressional elections.
While it is disheartening to see America hand the country back to the party that got us into the mess, the Democratic Party has no one to blame but ourselves for doing such a poor job of communicating its accomplishments to the public.
Harry Nelson is the managing editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted at [email protected].