Congress and the federal government are in crisis mode once again, with almost nothing being done to address the growing size and scope of the many massive problems facing working people. Fanatically anti-worker Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives -- and Senate -- have driven Congress to the brink of yet another federal government shutdown, by working feverishly to defund and wreck the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA – or “Obamacare” to most – is scheduled for a leap to the next major stage of its deployment on October 1st, when the on-line health insurance markets are slated to begin functioning in many states.
House Republicans have tried unsuccessfully for several years now to repeal or defund Obamacare; but with the Senate in the hands of a Democratic Party majority there is no chance of this strategy bearing any fruit. The resulting gridlock has spilled-over to block practically all Congressional business, and with the government running out of authorized funds to operate a full-blown federal shutdown appears imminent. Tragically, even if the shutdown can be averted, it will only be postponed for a few weeks or months at best, as has been the case repeatedly for the past several years. Republicans remain largely unified around an anti-Obamacare and anti-President Obama agenda that has assumed pathologic proportions. At the same time most Democrats remain in steadfast defense of the bizarrely complicated Obamacare health plan. In the midst of the crisis President Obama keeps up his record-setting schedule of making speeches, all while fruitlessly seeking ways to accommodate the very corporate and banking forces who have driven our nation into the economic ditch for their own profitable ends.
This is – very sadly -- what our two-party “system” has brought us to. Working people are under attack every day in the workplace by emboldened employers, while ferocious anti-worker and anti-union Republicans try to wreck the federal government for their own political purposes. Republican attacks now multiply at the state level, further endangering our basic rights and living standards. Working people are forced to rely on elected Democrats for defense from this assault, as that any substantial independent political representation is largely banned on a de facto basis. Many elected Democrats do hold the line in defense of workers and unions, but where is the counterattack? Where are the Democrats who are ready to push back by prosecuting the corporate crime wave, and supporting workers and unions in our daily battles with the bosses? Where are the Democrats who will support the single payer solution to the over-priced health care fiasco? Where are those who will support the preservation and expansion of real pensions and Social Security and not merely their timid defense? Where are those who will stand with workers to help us win the kinds of substantial wage and salary increases that we need, and deserve? Where are the Democrats who will say "No!" to the corporate plan to continue to offshore and destroy good jobs? Where are the Democrats who will stand up against out-of-control military and spy spending -- which is at the root of our national fiscal calamity?
As with most things for working people, there is no easy way forward. But our tasks going forward are self evident; the menace of the Republican anti-worker machine must be stopped. The Democrats who refuse to fight back with working people must be pushed aside. Without new, independent, and pro-worker political action this stagnant and toxic situation will continue for as far as the eye can see. As this crisis unfolds and takes whatever twists and turns that come periodically check the web page of Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont. The web page of Independent Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) offers the best pro-worker reports on the sorry situation now imposed on working people by our increasingly rigged, corrupt, and broken two party "system."