Open Letter to Republican Leader Eric Cantor, On Being an American Statesman

[babylonsister]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1938

Burt Hall: Open Letter to Republican Leader Eric Cantor, On Being an American Statesman
by Burt Hall

Many centuries ago a man of your religion (Nehemiah) persisted until his King finally granted him a leave of absence and enough resources to rebuild Jerusalem. But, there were those who would not benefit if he succeeded and they constantly obstructed him. Today, our new President has set out to rebuild America and he will persist. Will you go down in history as one of those obstructers or will you be statesman enough to help him and America succeed?

In times of national crisis a statesman supports good decisions by the President and provides constructive alternatives to those he questions. However, from the very outset, you and the right wing of your party have opposed our new President every step of the way. According to you, the President has done nothing right since coming to office. While you have presented alternatives to the President's proposals, they are mainly worn out ideas that have failed our country in the past and have contributed to the mess we're in today. The minute he announced his plan for strengthening our financial institutions, you responded negatively once again. Yet, by the end of the day, the market had gone up 500 points.

Tom Friedman of The New York Times reports that he sat through one of your entire TV interviews:

It consisted of him trying to exploit the A.I.G. situation for partisan gain without one constructive thought. I just kept staring at him and thinking: Do you have kids? Do you not have a pension that you're worried about? Do you live in some gated community where all the banks will be O.K., even if our biggest banks go under? Do you think your party automatically wins if the country loses? What are you thinking?

The Republican Party I once knew had great statesmen of moderation - people like Senators Arthur Vandenberg, Edward Brooke, Howard Baker and William Cohen. Today, I could not name one. They have all been swept into oblivion by the far right, which now controls the Republican agenda. That wing of your party wants to mold others in their image and believes that they have a divine right to govern, regardless of the outcome of elections. They let nothing stand in their way - ethics, rules, legality, or even the Constitution. Instead of representing your constituents here in Virginia, like me, you appear to be seeking power and a quick return of government to far right control -- no matter the consequences. Your predecessor, Majority Whip Tom DeLay, did the same thing in the 90's, and we can ill afford a repetition of his behavior. (See book, Misuse of Power.)

For three decades you and your predecessors have undertaxed the wealthy, practiced deficit spending, financed an unnecessary war and underregulated our financial institutions. As a result, we are now $10 trillion in debt and the American dollar is in trouble. Because of this debt, you now insist we cannot afford to invest in education, healthcare and renewable energy. The fact is, if we are going to put our economy on a sound footing, we cannot afford not to.

You are associated with decisions that got us into this crisis, and you need to help us get out of it. It is unreasonable for you to use the red ink you helped create to limit the new President's flexibility and priorities. The honorable thing for you to do is to use your leadership skills to restore equitable taxes and close loopholes for the wealthy and trim every dollar from the budget that doesn't have to be spent. Your goal should be to help the President cut future deficits in half without undermining his priorities. This might make you unacceptable to some of your colleagues, but success would certainly make you a national hero and possibly a future candidate for president. On the other hand, if you find that in all good conscience you cannot work with the President, please do the right thing and resign from Congress rather than continue to obstruct.

Times of crisis demand statesmen who put America first. We have only one President at a time. Statesmen, like Republican leaders of California, Florida and New York City, are now actively working with the President to rebuild America. And, they are making constructive proposals consistent with his new direction. They realize the alternative is at best a mediocre nation or at worst a failed state. It's your choice.

Burt Hall
Mechanicsville, Va.

Burt Hall served as Group Director in the Government Accountability Office on matters of national security. He has authored articles on 9/11, the Iraq war, terrorism strategy and repairing our broken democracy. He co-authored with Ed Asner, the book, Misuse of Power.

[1776Forever]

1. Tom Friedman and I have the very same attitude toward this issue:

Tom Friedman of The New York Times reports that he sat through one of your (Eric Cantors') entire TV interviews:

"It consisted of him trying to exploit the A.I.G. situation for partisan gain without one constructive thought. I just kept staring at him and thinking: Do you have kids? Do you not have a pension that you're worried about? Do you live in some gated community where all the banks will be O.K., even if our biggest banks go under? Do you think your party automatically wins if the country loses? What are you thinking?"

.............

When I was in college in the 90's most of my fellow adult classmates, who were doing very well in their careers, were totally against making sure our elderly and disadvantage get ahead and have at least a decent quality of life, I asked them one question as follows:

"So your saying you don't want to help our elderly and disadvantage and are only thinking of yourselves and in the future you will be happy to drive through disheveled homes and neighborhoods where empty houses line the blocks in order to get to your gated communities that will be fine with you? When you have to hide your heads in your home so that those in need don't come after you and your families that is fine with you? So that when those around you develop diseases that would effect you and your families health when they don't have adequate health care, that is fine with you? You know what that reminds me of?

Try this on from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Authoritarianism

Fascism:

In the view of these groups being in perpetual conflict, fascists believe only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and have an aggressive warrior mentality by conquering, dominating, and eventually eliminating people deemed weak and degenerate."

...........

Who would ever vote for the man Eric Cantor, and especially those of his own religion? Makes one wonder where people like him crawl out of.

[Poiuyt]

2. Eric Cantor is a smarmy little weasel

Sorry I can't be more eloquent.