Blount County Democrats

Nashville Tea Party convention falling apart! 

Two of the convention’s scheduled speakers, Republican Congresswomen Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, have bailed out of the Feb. 4-6 event. Both claimed the House Ethics Committee advised them against attending the convention, organized by the for-profit entity Tea Party Nation.

Most Tea Party activists claim they are part of a grassroots movement advocating less government. Multiple media reports have linked the movement, however, to vested corporate interests and prominent Republicans like former Congressman Dick Armey  of Texas, who has lobbied on behalf of some of the biggest corporations in America.

Tea Party Nation is led by Franklin attorney Judson Phillips, who has reportedly had past financial problems including a bankruptcy and federal tax liens.

It appears the Tea Party movement has been duped by a bunch of greedy and extremely partisan Republicans trying to co-opt the movement and use it to feather their own nests and fund their deceitful campaigns.

Most Republicans, including Bachmann and Blackburn, supported the very measures of the previous White House administration that got us in this economic mess in the first place. In fact, we went from record budget surpluses during the Clinton and Gore administration to record deficits under the Bush and Cheney administration.

Phillips and his organization have been criticized about the event’s $549 ticket prices and limited media access, as well as a reported $100,000 speaking fee for  the keynote speaker, former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Palin has indicated she plans to attend despite Blackburn and Bachmann’s abrupt pull outs, as well as that of several sponsors.

Tennessee General Assembly Republicans continue their hypocrtical ways.Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly also have been talking out of both sides of their mouths lately. They claim to be protecting the best interests of ordinary, hard-working Tennesseans, but their real intentions are to help themselves and the special interest groups like Big Oil and Wall Street that help fund their campaigns.Perhaps the most glaring example is that of state Rep. Glen Casada of Franklin. 

He has introduced a bill repealing state law prohibiting corporations from making donations to candidates for office. “Politics is special interest. People get involved because they want to see a specific law or laws overturned. … It just opens the process up more to everyone,” Casada told WPLN radio in Nashville.

Casada said he filed the bill in anticipation of the U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling that corporations, perhaps even foreign corporations, may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress. The court made the ruling by a 5-4 vote, which, according to legal experts, may have implications to Tennessee law. Federal law prohibits corporations from giving money directly to federal candidates, and current state law prohibits corporations from giving money to candidates and political parties for any purpose.

Casada’s bill goes far beyond the Supreme Court ruling. His Republican colleague in the state Senate, Ron Ramsey, who is running for governor, is salivating at the chance to get his share of the Big Oil and Wall Street cash. 

State Sen. Bill Ketron introduced a bill that stymies more fair and accurate elections here in Tennessee. Lawmakers passed the measure, which delays implementation for  two years of the Tennessee Voters Confidence Act. As originally enacted, the TVCA required all county election commissions to make the switch to optical scan machines and paper ballots before the November 2010 elections. Ketron and Republican Secretary of State Tre Hargett argued they were trying to save taxpayers money despite the  fact we already have about $35 million in federal funds set aside to purchase the machines and train workers on them.

 And then you have state Rep. Susan Lynn, a candidate for the state Senate seat  being vacated by Sen. Mae Beavers who announced she will not seek re-election to the Senate. Lynn introduced a resolution last year reasserting state sovereignty  as if there were a conspiracy in Washington, D.C., to grab more power than granted by a Constitution written by our nation’s founding fathers who fought against tyranny to establish the Republic we live in today.

 In addition, Lynn’s fellow Republican colleague in the House, Matthew Hill of Jonesborough in East Tennessee, has introduced a bill making it a felony for a state Department of Transportation official to enter into a contract for work on Interstate 69 in West Tennessee. He is using the state sovereignty issue as a reason for the bill. That is just plain lunacy because good roads and other infrastructure are critical to a community and region’s economic development efforts. Our state’s elected officials should be working to help us prosper, not divide us with political rhetoric and stunts.

 Democrats have a real plan to grow our economy.  To grow the economy and ensure our leadership in the world market, we need to focus on three key priorities for investment- (1) a series of steps to help small businesses grow and hire new staff; (2) an additional investment in our nation’s infrastructure to continue modernizing our highways, railways, bridges, tunnels, airports and seaports; and (3) a new proposal to provide rebates to consumers who retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient.

The nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the basic measure of a country’s overall economic performance, grew by 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the fastest growth since 2003, a sign that the economy is moving out of recession. 

TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) is expected to cost taxpayers at least $200 billion less than anticipated this summer. This creates an opportunity to pay down the deficit faster than previously thought possible and shift funds that would have gone to help banks on Wall Street, to help create jobs on Main Street. The government used $364 billion in TARP funds ($204 billion on banks), and banks have repaid about $70 billion. The government expects as much as $175 billion repaid by the end of  2010, and the Treasury expects to recover all but $42 billion of TARP funds disbursed in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30. 

Some claim that we have to choose between paying down our deficits and investing in job creation and economic growth. But that is a false choice. Ensuring we have strong and sustained economic growth and job creation are critical to ensuring that we are increasing revenues and decreasing spending on things like unemployment so our deficits will start coming down.

The government can only do so much, even during difficult economic times. Job creation will ultimately depend on the real job creators: businesses across America.