On September 11, 2001, our nation came under attack by an unknown enemy. Lives were lost, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage was suffered and Americans came together in an awesome showing of solidarity and patriotism. On 9/12 flags flew in almost every home, appeared on bumper stickers and were displayed on lapels from coast to coast. Everyone rallied behind the president.
And the party in power, Republicans all, demanded and received a national unity that echoed that of the WWII era. The members of the Democratic Party set aside ideological differences, serious doubts and disagreements to rally to the President's call. A nation in crisis, the Republican leadership and membership cried, demanded no less!
Fast forward 7 years... On September 18, 2008, US Congressional leaders were informed by then Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, that after over a year of Administration attempts to strengthen it, the US economy stood on the brink of total financial meltdown. A total crisis that had already cost the economy billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs, threatened to become a depression on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Our national financial system, already suffering from significant financial carnage, was poised to collapse and with it the world financial system.
National unity was needed, and a call for Congress and all Americans to unite behind the president was issued.
And once again, all Americans rallied... for about a day and a half.
Despite the fact that the incumbent administration was Republican, and the fact that the Republican promoted legislative strategies of "market deregulation", lax or no oversight and little accountability were at the root of the national crisis, it was the Republican Congressional leadership that rejected the Administration’s proposed fix. Despite the fact that the remedial and preventive strategies that had been employed by the Republican administration had not repaired the problem, it was Republican members of Congress that began deserting the president and refusing to back his Administration’s proposals.
Gone was the bi-partisan response to disaster that had been demanded and exhibited on September 12, 2001. Gone were the calls to patriotism and unity in the face of impending national peril. Not this time...
Of course, perhaps the imminent elections had something to do with the suddenly penny-pinching, "principled" approach of the Republican response... which amounted to the standard prescription for all matters economic, i.e. cut taxes. But what it was not was patriotic. Instead the Republicans began a campaign of open criticism and refusal to cooperate. Their lame duck leader simply retreated into the White House and became almost invisible.
As the Bush administration sputtered to an end, the Republican party, as represented by its elected Congressional representatives, consciously made the decision to place Party before Country and to oppose the incoming president’s attempts to repair the broken national economy. Despite widespread consensus among mainstream economists, the Republicans decided to oppose any attempt to inject much needed fiscal stimulus into the ailing economy. Instead they complained that fixing the economy was too expensive, unless it was done solely by way of tax cuts. In the face of a national crisis unlike any since the Great Depression, they complained that it was simply too costly to attempt to meet the challenge. This is Republican patriotism!
The President has issued multiple calls for action and unity to meet the national challenge. Did the Republicans rally to the flag? Have they come together to burn the midnight oil in search of a national solution to the loss of over a half-million jobs a month? Are they advocating the raising of new sources of revenue to help forestall the loss of millions of homes to foreclosure? Launching bond drives? Holding unity rallies? Urging constituents to step up and come to the aid of the nation?
Not a chance!
Rather they are once again trying to find the fissures that can separate red states from blue. Again they are using hyperbole to undermine the unity of the nation. And worst of all, they are openly hoping for the President to fail. A failure that would mean a national plunge into deep and sustained economic disaster!
This is Republican patriotism?
Our country is in peril. Our families and our neighbors are losing their jobs at a rate of 1 million plus every 60 days! Our families are declaring bankruptcy at the rate of 120 an hour! Our neighbors and friends are losing their homes by the thousands every week! The market is tanking, the banking system is in disarray! And the rate of economic decline promises to foster a generation of jobless graduates!
If this isn’t a national emergency then Katrina was simply a spring shower.
This is a time for patriotism! It’s time to rally to the President and to the flag. It's time to fly the same flag we flew on 9/12/01 in front of tour homes in support of country and neighbors. Let’s see those bumper stickers that said "I’m Proud To Be An American" again. And dig out that old flag pin and ... well... at least show the flag.
And if you’re Republican... I challenge you to show some actual patriotism! Put self interest and party aside, roll up your sleeves and come to the aid of your President and your country in time of need!