MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Opinion

Discussion

August 3, 2012

THE PEOPLE SPEAK – Republicans act like kids in sandbox

— All of us readers, I suspect, have seen or been 5 year olds in a sandbox or play yard. Sooner or later, a dispute develops over a toy or turf, and an adult has to step in and settle the dispute. This is the scenario our Republican congressional leaders are acting out this year, though adults are in short supply.

Determined to deny the sitting president credit for any accomplishment, they sit in their corner of the sandbox and say “no” to any offer to cooperate or compromise so they can deny this president a second term. Cheered on by the Tea Party, their motto is “keeping millions out of work to put one man out of a job.” How noble and statesmanlike.

Our charming Oklahoma governor has apparently adopted this strategy. She drags her feet on setting up health exchanges and Medicaid expansion in our state, hoping that her presidential candidate will be elected in November and we can return to the previous system in which one-third of Americans have no access to health care. And then, our Oklahoma Attorney General, assuming the role of “toughest kid in the sandbox,” seeks to block “Obamacare” from reaching our state. Would someone please tell him that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled it constitutional?

So here we are, the citizen-taxpayers, paying these geniuses to sit on their duffs and do nothing. By the way, if they insist on labeling the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act “Obamacare,” they should label Social Security “Roosevelt Care” and Medicare “Johnson Care” don’t you think?

BILL MOORER

Muskogee

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