A Liberal President? We Can Fix That

You would think that with the spotlight on the President of the United States nearly every day, he would be largely the focus of the concentration of power in this country. While that is what we are led to believe, it is what we learned as far back as High School that is playing out in the modern day political landscape. Each branch of government is extremely powerful and can drive not only an agenda, but political will throughout the country.

Since the early days of the Obama administration, it had become clear that the Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate would do anything they could to obstruct an economic recovery effort by the new President. This so that any achievements in returning the country to prosperity could not be credited to a democratic president. What did they need to do achieve their objective? Nothing. What "nothing" means is that every proposal and every idea proposed by the President and the democratically controlled House and Senate to help drive the country out of the ditch was summarily opposed by the minority party in the two houses.

Were the ideas proposed by the administration and supported by the legislative branch's democratic majority radical or unusual? You would have thought so if you had listened to the republican minority but in reality the proposals made were no different than any other president or legislature in modern times had proposed, democrat or republican. The cost to turn around our economic problems may have been a bit higher due to the more dire nature and depth of the downturn but nothing radical was proposed. Yet the opposition screamed that these solutions represented a socialistic trend set by our president.

In one of the most glaring examples of a double standard and contradiction, John Boehner who was the Minority Leader in the last two years of the Bush administration cheered on the bailout as it was being presented and proposed by his party's chief executive. Just months later as this program was being rolled out and administered by the new President Obama, he railed against the identical proposal.

In another astounding example of hypocrisy Mitch McConnell, the Minority Leader in the Senate just stated that now that a war or military action was being proposed by a Democratic Commander In Chief, he and his party felt that they were free to oppose it. This from a party that gave the Bush administration a blank check to fight two wars.

But the conservative ideology and its effect on us is not just limited to a minority legislative branch. The Supreme Court has also weighed in on a couple of very important decisions in the past year. The first involves what the court deemed as "free speech." For nearly 100 years a law had been in place saying that corporations needed to limit the amount of money they contributed to political campaigns. This so that individuals, actual people, could compete with the deep pockets of our country's largest corporations. Over the years there was very little opposition to this rule of law and the results were considered equitable. But in a case brought before the Supreme Court, the court overturned this law. It said that essentially that money was speech. That if corporations were unable to use their money to promote their political point of view, that this was a restriction of freedom of speech. Therefore the limits placed on corporations to fund political campaigns was considered unconstitutional. Constitutional scholars were surprised and caught off guard by the decision wondering how corporate entities could be considered people. But John Boehner, now Majority Leader called it a great day for free speech.

The Supreme Court also struck down a class action lawsuit by women who were passed over for promotion saying that the suits were too broad and required them to file lawsuits individually. The judgement effectively said that these women cannot band together to file a class action because the details of their discrimination are all different. This while Walmart, the defendant, uses their size and scope to squeeze vendors across the globe for the lowest wholesale prices. Now since filing a lawsuit is so costly many who have been potentially discriminated against will never have the chance to have their stories told in a court of law.

This is not to say that the president and the Executive Branch has had the chance to affect change. While he ran a campaign of change back in 2008, many do not believe that the change has gone far enough. While campaigning and governing are two different matters the President has gotten through several pieces of important legislation since he replaced George W. Bush. They would include a stimulus package that has resulted in a slow but steady economic recovery. Some say that a stronger package, blocked by republicans, would have meant a greater and more rapid recovery. He passed landmark health care legislation, that despite the outrage by some, had been called for in some form by every president since Richard Nixon. He also ended the policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the military. While some said it did not go far enough, it was a big step forward for civil rights for gays who serve our country.

These are just a few examples of legislative victories by the Obama administration. But one glaring example fell short because of minority opposition. Obama pledged to end tax breaks for anyone making over $250,000 a year in salary. Because of republican opposition and a possible government shutdown, republicans in the House of Representatives who were in the minority and in a position to block a new budget wielded their power and retained tax breaks for the most wealthy in this country. Since the Republicans in House have become the majority as of this past January, nothing has gotten through of any consequence. Most recently a jobs bill was shot down by the republican majority and will not be passed this session further stunting the economic recovery.

So if you think that the country has gone left in the past three years since Barak Obama has become President, you would be wrong. If you think that the President is soley to blame for a lackluster economic recovery, you would also be wrong. Now more than ever, the minority has a louder voice than every. The legislative branch and the judicial branch continue to erode the rights of the little guy. If that were not enough, you can point to the states where an assault on organized labor is taking place by republican governors in both Wisconsin and Ohio. Just be tuned in and ask yourself if you want these guys to run country again in two years?