GOP obstructionism sabotages all of us

Recently, every Republican senator, including Mark Kirk, voted to obstruct discussion of President Obama’s American Jobs Act.

This was not a vote on the bill itself, but rather a vote to move forward without even talking about it. With unemployment over 9 percent and no alternative Republican proposal offered, they voted in lock-step to keep the Senate stalled even though a majority in the Senate voted for it — all Democrats.

In just the past few months there has been the Republican debt-ceiling obstruction, the GOP-driven ratings downgrade, Republican leadership lobbying the Federal Reserve to not do anything to improve economic conditions, and multiple threats of a government shutdown.

Why it is almost as if they want the economy to suffer — but that means we suffer — just to make President Obama look bad heading into the 2012 election season. Remember, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell notably remarked that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

In light of this sabotage, the growing Occupy Wall Street and Chicago activism reflect a true national movement of frustration with this type of mendacity and cynical gamesmanship. Middle class income has been flat or declining for years, corporations continue to outsource jobs, poverty and homelessness are growing, pensions and benefits are reduced, and our young adults are finding the combination of crushing college debt and extremely limited job opportunities a generational threat.

At a minimum, I want to see Medicare improved, Social Security preserved, Medicaid protected, an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an end to the destructive Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and passage of President Obama’s American Jobs Act — that would be a good start to addressing our nation’s real concerns.

Peter Lopatin

Sugar Grove