Republicans

I just don't get it: The Republican party, a la Mitch Mconell, has openly said that their number one goal is not to better this country or protect the interests of its people, but rather, to unseat Mr. Obama as president. How do any Americans agree to take seriously a party that has openly admitted that politics, not policy, is its number one agenda?

A few ways that the party has proved its words through its actions:

1. The Debt Ceiling Crisis - It was the consensus of economists and Wall Street that passing the debt ceiling raise was essential to not causing Great Depression 2, yet the Republicans, instead of doing what the country needed, chose to use this as an opportunity to try to bully Obama: They made their agreement to not actively cause the US economy to tank conditional, in order to get political leverage. Their threats not to raise the Debt Ceiling caused the stock market to go down during the deliberations, causing monetary loss to Americans, and also caused the US to be downgraded by Moody's, which rightly concluded that the US political system was not up to the challenge of solving its debt issues thanks to the Republicans' actions.

2. The recent payroll tax fiasco: Instead of passing something that would continue to allow Middle Class Americans to have an extra 1500 a year, which could then be re-invested in the economy - and 1500 makes a difference to the Middle Class - the Republicans, these anti-tax people, choose to not extend the Middle Class tax-cut unless it is linked with cutting unemployment insurance - therefore harming a large swath of the American population. Of course, economists also agree that unemployment benefits are economically stimulative, because they are spent immediately and thus pour money back into the economy. Of course, these same Republicans want to extend the Bush tax-cuts and refuse to raise taxes on the top 5% of wage-earners, earning of 300,000 a year - so apparently, its ok to raise taxes on those earning less than 300,000 and to cut unemployment benefits that might be the difference between eating and not eating or homelessness and lack thereof for many Americans, but it's not ok to tax the rich - not even to tax them just enough to offset the extra 1500 the middle-class would get from the payroll tax extension - talk about class warfare!

The truth is, its in the Republicans' best interest for Middle Class Americans to have 1,500 less, and for the American economy to tank - that way, they are more likely to vote Republican come 2012. Since the Republicans have admitted their number one goal is to unseat President Obama in 2012, it makes sense that they are pursuing that goal in the most expedient way possible - by actively trying to derail the US economy - and one needs only look at their legislative record if one wants proof.