DuPage County GOP Driving On Cruz Control To Dishonor Lincoln

 

It's possible the Du Page County GOP could have picked a worse political leader to keynote their May 10 Lincoln Day Dinner, but I doubt it. The honoree they picked, Sen. Ted Cruz (Rep. TX), not only looks a tad like 1950's champion demagogue, Sen. Joe McCarthy (Rep. WI), he demagogues like him, too. Cruz, who attended Harvard Law from 1992 to 1995, once told a Texas Fourth of July political rally that there were more Commie professors at Harvard than Republican professors. He then said his predecessor at Harvard Law, Barack Obama, would have made a great Harvard Law School President, since he's the most radical president in US history, making him right at home amongst those "dirty dozen" who believed in Communist overthrow of the US.  That talk resonated with Texas Tea Party faithful attending, and up in Demagogue Heaven, Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy was smiling.

But Cruz doesn't limit his demagogueing to partisan political events. At the Chuck Hagel Defense Secretary hearings Cruz implied that Hagel accepted speaking fees from the North Koreans. This brought an unprecedented rebuke from far right Republican colleague Lindsey Graham (Rep. SC) who called Cruz's crazy talk "out of bounds".

Cruz fairs no better when not channeling McCarthy. Threatening to filibuster all reasonable gun control measures in the wake of the Newtown massacre, Cruz called the families of the victims "political props" for the Obama administration simply because they petitioned Congress to enact sensible gun legislation.

Cruz voted against Hurricane Sandy relief for blue state victims in New York and New Jersey prompting conservative Republican colleague Representative Pete King to publically state, "He went out of his way to attack New York on the bill. There were really phony charges made against Sandy aid, and if Ted Cruz had prevailed, my constituents would be homeless." Yet, when a fertilizer plant blew away most of West, TX, Cruz had he gall to demand Uncle Sam devote "all available resources" to help his constituents.

On immigration relief Cruz is fighting to sink bipartisan immigration reform by demanding that a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants be "taken off the table".

Just this week, Cruz broke Senate protocol by publically trashing Republican colleagues who privately told him in closed door meetings not to threaten filibustering all gun control legislation in advance. He called them "squishes" because after privately criticizing him, they rolled over and voted for the filibuster as well.

What nonsense Cruz will offer the DuPage GOP faithful this Friday remains to be heard. Maybe he'll come up with a new "birther" slam at the President. Maybe he'll turn the spotlight on Illinois state representative Jeanne Ives (Rep. 42) to honor her demagogic comment that "Same sex marriages are completely disordered". "They're trying to redefine society."  "They're trying to weasel their way into acceptability so that they can then start to push their agenda down into the schools, because this gives them some sort of legitimacy... And we can't allow that to happen." Maybe Cruz will share more of his private battles with Republican colleagues that are trying to tamp down his driving lust for power and self aggrandizement.

Is the DuPage GOP trying to insult the legacy of Honest Abe or are they simply tone deaf. If actor Daniel Day-Lewis donned his Oscar winning Lincoln garb and tried to gain entry this Friday, security would scrutinize his scruffy beard, non elite clothing, and obvious humanitarianism and tell him: "Get lost, pal, you're not one of us". 

It's wheels up for high flyers; wheels off for homebound hungry

As soon as the Sequester created hours long air traffic delays, the nation's privileged high flyers took umbrage. They talked, and the Congressmen walked...straight into legislative session. Voila, a bill appeared and the air traffic delays magically vanished from the Sequester cutbacks.

Meanwhile, the folks really in need, such as those homebound and dependent upon the 365 million Meals on Wheels served yearly, have seen a 5% cutback in service. That represents an annual reduction of almost 20 million meals. They're talking too....but nobody is listening.

The folks promoting the Sequester are doing High Fives, finally achieving cutbacks in the social safety net they have been championing for years. They even have a new name for the wonderful program that provides early education for the needy so they can gain a semblance of parity with their affluent peers: Head Stop.

Don't Let Anti Government Clique Destroy Postal Service

As a 40 year logistics industry veteran, I know first hand how Fred Smith, founder of Fed Ex became a billionaire two times over. And it wasn't by providing excellent delivery service at Chevy prices; it was providing excellent service at Mercedes Benz prices. Scare the daylights out of people with million dollar ads touting the end of their job if they don't use Fed Ex and you can get individuals and companies to fork over exorbitant prices for what the United State Postal Service (USPS) does routinely for much less.

That is why folks like Fred and his counterparts at UPS are pouring millions into the coffers of the "destroy good government" crowd in Congress to take down their current bête noir, the United States Postal Service.  The 2006 legislation that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund retiree health benefits costs for the next 75 years within 10 years, is like shackling this wonderful provider of tens of thousands of good middle class jobs with a ten ton anchor, throwing it out to sea and chirping: "Swim for it". That is reprehensible and must be rescinded. A good starting point is to learn about and then support H.R. 630 / S. 316, a bill introduced by Rep. Pete De Fazio (Dem OR) which will do just that.

How? First and most importantly, H.R. 630, The Postal Service Protection Act, eliminates the USPS's unique and unprecedented burdensome pre-funding requirement. Second, it provides for the USPS to recover the estimated 75 billion in overpayments. Third, it provides for permanent establishment of six day a week mail delivery, whose elimination would disrupt timely and efficient service without any significant cost savings. Fourth, it would end the current prohibition on USPS from providing non-postal opportunities, including notary services, issuance of licenses, services to state and local agencies, and shipping of wine and beer. Other countries have had great success with these non-postal services; so should America from the USPS. Fifth, it would give the Postal Regulatory Commission binding authority to prevent post office closures that would adversely affect communities and employees. Sixth, by creating strict standards for delivering First Class Mail on time, it would make it more difficult to close area mail processing facilities, saving thousands of good middle class jobs in the process.

If I've learned two things in my 40 years in logistics, one is that Fred Smith doesn't need a third billion. The second is that Chevy may be the heartbeat of America, but the Postal Service is the heartbeat of great middle class jobs providing fine mail delivery at Chevy prices.