ELECTION IRONIES

The ironies of this election season appear beyond the pale.  In the first place Romney should be praising the President for his efforts on the economy.

 The financial system and economic healing over the last four years have been most generous and forgiving to wealthy citizens, many of whom are Romney clone Republicans.  These individuals depend on Wall Street and the favorable tax treatment of unearned income for their high maintenance sustenance.  Luckily for them, it was necessary that the first steps to recovery were to save the world’s money centers (banks, insurance companies and investment houses) and Corporate America to avoid a global collapse.  These wealthy individuals who have no job or earned income, like candidate Romney, have increased their wealth exponentially as finance and industry recovered from the recession and the stock market rebounded to new highs.  The “one per centers” who made the simple “buy low-sell high” decision to invest a few million dollars in the Dow or S&P at the 2008 lows have more than doubled their money. 

There is no question that the wealthy who do not work for a living and contribute nothing to the economy, except to buy goods and services, are much better off than they were four years ago.  And yet, these same individuals who should be thankful to the President and his policies are working the hardest to remove him.  Is it any wonder that Mr. Romney does not want to disclose his tax returns.  Not only were his taxes low because of tax loop holes including capital gains and dividend rates, he made a fortune as his “blind trust” advisors plowed his investment capital into stocks and bonds with the rising market.  I can only hope a debate question will be presented as:  “Mr. Romney, are you better off than you were four years ago and is it fair to ask you to share some of these gains with less fortunate Americans?  A second debate Question: “How has the trickledown effect of your families’ purchase of a new home with garage elevators helped the average American?”

The next irony, which is beyond my understanding, is the large percentage of white middle class citizens who insist on identifying with the Republican Party.  There is nothing Republican about being unemployed, having a family member in need of social services, having a child who is being denied a good education, not being able to obtain a low interest mortgage from a bank, or being compelled to face retirement with less social security or Medicare.

More specifically, how can any member of the middle class support a candidate who spent his earlier life’s work firing people? Who now disavows 47% of the electorate as lazy and shiftless?  No middle class in the world, outside our own white Republican voters, wants the kind of austerity measures being pushed by the Romney ticket.  This misplaced and cruel austerity policy has not worked to fix either deficits or unemployment in any other western economy. 

The last four years were necessary to build a foundation for the economy and it enriched the Romneys of America. It seems obvious that the next four years must be dedicated to bringing back the middle class, with policies that do not include austerity, except for reasonable tax increases for the wealthy.

Lastly, is the irony of foreign policy. The neocon mantra of the Bush II presidency was to strike first and hard against dictators in the oil patch to bring democracy to the masses. (Using nuclear weapons as a smoke screen and the locking in of oil reserves as a not so hidden motive) For better or worse, Bush II opened Pandora’s Box in Iraq.  Now that the Arab Spring is accomplishing this same goal from the bottom up, the Romney campaign is attacking the President for not supporting dictators and not taking steps to slow down the democratization process.

          Democracy is a messy business.  The model for Muslim countries is not that of a western democratic republic and is bound to include large majorities not aligned with our interests.  The Republican response has turned 180 degrees from attacking sovereign countries and creating democratically elected regimes to shutting off financial aid for Muslim governments elected by their citizens. This plan will guarantee the growth of anti western terror and give the neo cons someone new to attack.

Top tier Republicans are wealthier than ever, continue to scam the middle class, and are preparing for a new round of saber rattling.  The Republican scheme is to aggressively adopt the opposite of whatever policy the President presents. Maybe there is no irony at all and things remain the same.