By Van P. Keele, Hamilton
The war in Iraq is finally over. I welcome our troops home and wish them well. We thank you so much. Unfortunately, leaders of the Republican Party want our troops to stay in Iraq for many more years, some say indefinitely. Amazingly, they’re angry we’re leaving! Back home, level-headed Republicans and Democrats are thankful of our troops’ return. We realize their mission is done, that Iraq is a sovereign nation with the right to tell us to leave; that Bush’s timeline to exit and Obama’s promise to leave have been kept. Nor can we afford 50 or 100 billion dollars a year to stay there. We need that money here at home. So it amazes the family on Main Street that Wall Street Republicans are so shamefully disconnected. Who are some of these out-of-touch Republican elites who want us to stay? Try millionaires like Denny Rehberg and the ordained Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney.
These same disconnected Republicans believe only in tax cuts that enrich millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. Middle class tax cuts, like the payroll tax cut, bore Republicans. Billionaire tax cuts make them giddy, knowing their campaign stocking coffers will overflow. To Denny and Mitt, middle class cuts are a waste and don’t stimulate the economy. They stand stone-faced in disbelief that a $1000 payroll tax cut could possibly make a difference to a middle class family. Their Republican pledge not to raise taxes applies only to the rich, not us. They don’t realize it’s middle class consumer demand for goods and services that stimulates the economy and creates jobs. We’re the job creators, not Mitt or Denny!
These out-of-touch Republicans are totally disconnected to our needs, our views, our reality. Simply put, neither Denny nor Mitt is one of us.