Republicans are tirelessly trying to set the Democrats up as a straw man that they can knock down.  As a born and raised Republican, Goldwater campaigner, and Reagan supporter, I’m ashamed of this behavior.  This is not the Republican Party of old.  It is not the Republican Party of responsibility and stewardship of our treasured American Values.  It is a new movement heady with power that submerges and suffocates dissent, to the great discredit of the Republican Party itself and to the detriment of our Constitutional Republic.
 
Why are Republicans accusing Democrats of not having a plan? 

   o  Aren’t the Republicans completely in charge of our government? 
   o  Haven’t they been in charge without opposition for 5 long years? 
   o  Have they not stonewalled the Democrats at every turn, right down to the meanest detail?
 
Remember the committee meeting lorded over by Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), in which Democrats and their witnesses were effectively muzzled? This was followed shortly thereafter by Democratic Representative John Conyers’ hearing on the Downing Street Minutes, relegated to a basement broom closet and distracted by an unusually large number of floor votes.  And this kind of small behavior not befitting our leadership goes on unabated!
 
After five long years of Republican dictatorship and aggressive belittling of any opposition as “unpatriotic” and broadside accusations of not supporting the troops, no matter what the issue, Republicans own the responsibility for a plan.  Republicans cannot now get off the hook of responsibility granted them by We the People!  Blaming others ala George W. Bush may be in vogue among Republicans, but it is not a pretty picture.
 
Whether the Republicans like it or not, their “plan” is on trial in November.   They can no longer hide in front of our troops.  They cannot hide behind a straw man.
 
Republicans have had whiff of absolute power and been found wanting.  The party needs a good purging and a return to Conservative values!  And We the People need to assist it by restoring the essential Checks and Balances so sorely lacking.
 
But what do I know?  I’m just an ex-Republican.