Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Meet the Pea Party

It can't be excerpted, go read the entire Salon article. Here's the close:
"Enough with the peas and the tea. What America needs at the present moment is a We the People Party -- a We Party. Instead of trying to dismantle the New Deal, like both the Tea Partyers and the Pea Partyers, the We Party would campaign to modernize and, where necessary, expand the system of middle-class social insurance on which most working families rely.

Instead of further slashing taxes on the rich, as the Tea Party proposes, or cutting benefits for the middle class, as the Pea Party proposes, the We Party would raise taxes on the rich substantially, before raising taxes on working families, if that should be necessary.

Rejecting the characterization of elderly Americans as "greedy geezers" enjoying a "subsidized vacation," the We Party would maintain or even increase Social Security benefit levels and avoid future shortfalls by means of slightly higher payroll taxes or an infusion of other tax revenue.

The We Party would demand that the federal government stand up to the medical-industrial complex and impose fee schedules on doctors, hospitals and drug companies in the U.S., in order to control medical costs the way other democratic nations do -- thereby eliminating the danger that Medicare and Medicaid budgets will wreck the federal budget.

Above all, a We Party that represented Main Street rather than Wall Street would reject the claim, made by Tea Party and Pea Party alike, that the greatest threat facing America is long-term budget deficits, instead of short-term unemployment and lack of growth. The We Party would focus on what should be the real priority of this moment in our national history: putting America back to work.

America doesn't need the Tea Party or the Pea Party. It needs the We Party."

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