An open letter to the Grand Old Party
Posted September 11, 2009 at 11:33 pm in Columns, Opinion
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Loading ...Dear Republican Party,
I’m afraid things just aren’t working out between us anymore. Please don’t be alarmed by this. I know this is sudden but I have concerns that you may be losing your stability now that you’ve been out of power for nine months.
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan
Recently, your followers even went after the president for having a hidden socialist motif in his speech to children returning back to school. Where was the socialist agenda behind telling kids to study hard and do their part? It leaves me wondering if you even know what a socialist really is when you’re launching wild accusations left and right.
There was a time when being a Republican meant you stood for personal responsibility and individual freedoms in addition to lower taxes and smaller government, but now, thanks to your failure to cooperate in Congress, I’m not sure what you stand for anymore. I understand you were left in disarray after losing the election, but rather than regrouping to develop a new stance fit to match the needs of a changing political landscape, you fumbled back with the same conservative agenda, leaving me more than a little confused.
Would you support a federal stimulus package to assist ailing American industries? No. Apparently, the market will fix itself. That must be why the unemployment rates jumped to a 26-year high at 9.7 percent this August.
Would you support clean-energy bills that promote clean-tech investments? Not that either, I guess. Instead, you seem insistent on making sure our energy policies keep us in the Stone Age. Sponsors of the recent climate/energy bill had to double their efforts on passing the cap-and-trade legislation because you — surprise — refused to cooperate. It’s clear that there needs to be a price on carbon emission to encourage private investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, yet you continue to preach drilling as the answer.
How about agreeing upon health care reform to help cover the 46 million Americans who are currently without health insurance? Instead of accepting Obama’s proposition for a bipartisan approach on health care and leverage on the public option, you laughed as the president delivered his speech to Congress, and interrupted him to call him a liar when he assured that his health care plan would not cover illegal immigrants. Very mature of you, considering the $900-billion plan would cost less than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wars you got us into. Of course no one wants to pay for the bill when you insist that it undermines the private sector and that insured citizens could face changes to their health plan under the president’s proposal.
I can only reiterate what Obama himself said in his joint conference address: “I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out.”
It’s hard to believe you’ve fallen so far from your storied lineage that once begot great leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, who were more than capable of guiding the country through difficult times. Your leaders today, however, have failed to show that type of leadership. Your political stance of simply opposing any propositions made by Democrats is failing the nation.
Now is the time for bipartisanship, yet I’m forced to watch you act like a toddler that always has to have it his way. Under our current circumstances, I can’t afford to sit around and wait for you to settle your differences with the Democrats any longer. This country will move forward with or without you.
All I can offer you now is my condolences on the loss of your identity.
Robert Fragoza is a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering. His column, “Reality Check,” runs Fridays.
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