GOP is sabotaging America for the hope of political gain

The Republican party, with the help of the Teabaggers and the tacit agreement of the media, is deliberately sabotaging the economic recovery. They've blocked jobs-creation legislation, they're decried economic stimulus to the point of making it a dirty word.

They've blocked and are continuing to block unemployment benefits for the people who have lost their jobs. This means less money goes into the economy, people lose their homes. This devalues property prices and depriving already cash-starved states and municipalities of tax revenue both from decreasing property tax rolls and lost sales tax because the unemployed have no money to spend.

They're happy to let jobs languish until the elections in November of 2012 - 17 months away - in order to try to hurt the President. Have we ever had a situation where the minority party has been willing to plant bombs in our own economy and hurt our country for it's own political gain?

I believe this view of the economy echoes their environmental stance, which seems to be that it's so big (the environment and the economy) that it can't possibly be really, really, really, seriously crippled. You know, America forever, we're exceptional, yada yada yada.

And the media allows it to happen. It acts as if both sides have valid points on every issue. Except they don't. Politics has been reduced to sport: "Strasburg goes for his 4th start against the Dems tonight, let's see if he can blow further oil company incentives past the heart of that Dems line-up."

The Democrats, for their part, are too mealy-mouthed to really stand up and scream. They play the Beltway Game too, while America is dying.

Meanwhile, the largest financial collapse in history happened 18 months ago and we still have no legislation to prevent it from happening again. And the largest environmental disaster in history happened and we're arguing over whether the practices that generated it are really, truly that bad. We also gave the oil companies $38 billion in incentives while denying that same amount in unemployment to resuscitate the economy.

As the Senate discusses a climate bill, John Kerry recites the phrase that, as Ezra Klein says, should be engraved on the dome of the U.S. Capitol: “We believe we have compromised significantly, and we’re prepared to compromise further."

This is fucked up.