Republicans are daring Democrats to cross the line

Republicans continue to preach the virtues of fiscal conservatism, even as they spend us into oblivion. The problem, they say, is not that we tax too little, it is that we spend too much. They have become nothing more than a flim-flam Party.

Like a hammer and a nail, they see only one way to fix Medicare. Cut it. End it. Give the old folks a gift card and tell them they are on their own. There is nothing old folks like better than to go shopping for healthcare when they are sick or on their death bed.

Democrats are hesitant to say that the Republicans are wrong. Yes, we do tax too little. We need to let the Bush taxcuts expire and we need to raise more revenues. It is time to end corporate welfare. We choose the needs of the people over the needs of corporations and Big Business. We have seen the effects of trickle-down economics for the last thirty years and it doesn't work. It has been a catastrophic failure and we need to end this nonsense as soon as possible.

Republicans want Democrats to say they will raise taxes. They believe that is a winning political issue for them. However, it is time for the Democrats to take a stand. It is time for a little progressive politics. We need it. We cannot survive without it.

And most Americans - even many on DU - are good with that. Change is not coming soon. Lines will be respected, not crossed.

That time came about a long time ago but I've so far nothing has come of it.

We should be hammering them on the prosperity that we had under Bill. (Yes I know he had his bad side- Nafta, etc., but we don't have to be brutally honest at all times, right?). Keep saying- All we need is to go back to the slightly higher rates under Bill, and cut the military back like he did, and happy days are here again. Repeat, wash, lather, rinse, repeat...

We should walk away from their lines. Show them no respect.

Why?

Because for the last thirty years they ahve moved center so far to the right that views once merely "liberal" are now hard left. I always thought that Lakoff and framing had something to do with it. But standing up to the Teabagicans and refusing to play by their rules is tep 1 to stopping it.