Has Newt's Republican Revolution reached its high tide?

[pinto]

Newt opened the door, marched the young acolytes of the House to the steps of the Capital and pronounced a revolution.

He opened the door for extremist special interest groups, and their money, to take advantage of the new term limits to seat a Republican House that is as unfamiliar with Robert's Rules of Order, as unfamiliar with the notion of political consensus, as most of us are with Emily Post. Not that that matters, so much.

But the point is that the Republicans elected particularly ideological mouthpieces, who were more than willing to parrot the RNC line, in lieu of the concerns of their local constituents. Ultimately, that is a breach of trust.

Methinks Newt got more, even in his somewhat flawed retirement, than he suspected. As did we. I know we all got more than expected from his efforts in loosing the dogs of extremism.

I trust a certain national consensus, as true as a pendulum, to right this wrong. We've been through worse. And I still expect the best.

[Inland]

1. Contract with America morphed into theocratic, fascist movement.

The contract with america didn't have a big ass theocratic element, nor did it ask for a concentration of power into the president, nor did it call for foreign adventurism.
Look at it, below. Tax cuts, some reforms, antipornography.
Those were the good old days.

Seen Newt's latest book? He has picked up all the fundie shit about ten commandments and God as US founder that he would never have even bothered to mention when he was Speaker.

*******

FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

[pinto]

2. Yeah, I think their Contract was flawed from the get go. And now we see.

[Inland]

4. My take isn't just that the contract was wrong or silly, which it was

It just doesn't have any of the shit that drives todays' repubs. It's irrelevant today.

No gays, no putting God on every monument, no wars. Instead, it has balancing budgets. HA.

Today's fascist, theocratic leanings are all new with the POST contract congresses.

[drthais]

3. Newt's Contract On America

went out with a low tide long, long ago
what we have now does not resemble in any way
what we hated about Newt Gingrich
and his influence in 1994

what we have now
is pure, unadulterated evil

[tabasco]

5. The American People demonstrated their stupidity ...

with ~60 million votes for George Bush last election. I have little faith that they have become enlightened in the last six months. The right wing controls the media and the People seem to fall for the propaganda.

George Bush is keeping us safe ??! This is what we are dealing with. People that actually think Bush is making us more secure.

I'm rather pessimistic that some magic pendulum is going to swing back our way. We need to fight the corporate profiteers to the death. I don't see traditional republicans admitting they were wrong about Bush. They lack the guts to admit a mistake, like their leader.

We still have a long fight ahead of us. We will be fortunate if we get out of this without a total economic meltdown. We already have a military quagmire, but the People think that's cool to watch on tv.