In a recent press conference, Republican House Whip (the No. 2 Republican in the House) Steve Scalise described the United States as a nation with numerous crises confronting it. He then proceeded to present a laundry list of crises in our nation, all largely being fueled by the failed policies of Joe Biden and his allies in Congress.
First, he talked about the economic crisis of rising prices (inflation) and overly generous unemployment benefits. The excessive unemployment benefits have created a labor shortage crisis with employers having difficulty finding workers to fill positions, forcing them to offer higher wages, which, in turn, further fuels the economic crisis of inflation.
Second, there is a national security crisis. President Biden’s inept dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the just completed summit have hurt U.S. interests. Additionally, little has been done to deal with Russian cyber attacks against us and the increasing control Russia has exerted over Europe’s power supply has largely been ignored. China also poses a serious national security threat, including failure on the part of the Biden Administration to fully investigate and hold China accountable for the creation of the Covid-19 virus and its subsequent leak from a Wuhan lab.
Next, there is the border security crisis that has been mishandled by the Administration and has resulted in three other crises: a homeland security crisis, a humanitarian crisis, and a public health crisis. Scalise argues that the root of these crises has been the surge of illegal migrants at the border that the Biden Administration has effectively ignored.
And so it goes: there is an energy crisis caused by the canceling of the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and the canceling of oil drilling permits and leases on public land; a crisis in our public schools due to the teaching of critical race theory, the allowance of transgender athletes to compete in sports, and the delayed re-opening of many schools across the nation; a crisis with Israel due to anti-Semitic attacks by Democrats such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, which resulted in President Biden’s failure to support Israel in its recent disputes with Palestinians and Hamas; a crisis of crime in our cities due to the “defunding” of police.
To ensure this message of crisis was fully understood, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) turned to reporters as other Republicans left and said; “Thank you so much for embracing our effective messaging. America is in crisis.”
She is correct; America is in crisis, but not for the reasons given by Scalise.
Not surprisingly, there was no mention of the real crisis that our nation is confronted with: the continuing efforts of Donald Trump and his cohort of enablers, apologists, and sycophants to undermine our democracy and overturn our election. These same Republicans who “worry” about the state of our country and the supposed crises it faces, refuse to deal with the real crisis our democracy is in by not supporting a bipartisan investigation into the events of the January 6 deadly insurrection at our nation’s Capital.
The Republican hypocrisy in delineating a list of false crises while refusing to deal with the true crisis our nation is facing is both disingenuous and dangerous. It also reveals the second real crisis our nation faces; a Republican Party that increasingly supports and defends anti-democratic forces, both at home and abroad.
What is it in our educational system that can help people process thought. We need to do a much better job at independently analyzing situations, ideas, concepts, information, data, and etceteras. I can recall a comment from a high ranking official in our last regime responding to Greta Thunberg that she did not understand economics. How ironic.