The Grand Bargain Isn't Shared Sacrifice, It's Human Sacrifice

If you're on the Blue America mailing list, you get an e-mail every week from Digby, John and I, usually about a new candidate or an action Blue America is taking. The only way to get on the list is to donate-- even if just one dollar-- to any one of our candidates on any of our many ActBlue pages, like the standard page for our House candidates or the page for our 3 Senate candidates or one of the more exotic pages, like the one to stop Paul Ryan or for stopping Eric Cantor and for permanently stomping out homophobia in Congress... or for our next awesome contest (which no one knows about but you, since it doesn't officially start 'til next weekend). So a buck to any candidate on any of those sites (or any other Blue America contribution site) and you're on. This week, though I want to share the latest newsletter. Digby wrote it for us and my favorite line is the subject of this post: "The Grand Bargain isn't shared sacrifice, it's human sacrifice."

Last week we alerted you to professor Jacob Hacker's manifesto called Prosperity Economics and asked you to take a look at what could be the blueprint for a progressive approach to our nation's economic problems. We believe this is a plan that can restore growth, reverse inequality and revitalize our democracy. It will even cut the deficit without resorting to slashing vital government services and the already frayed and weakened social insurance programs.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the plan of many of the leadership of the Democratic Party which remains focused on Grand Bargains, "balanced approaches" and Simpson-Bowles, all of which are basically conservative con games devised to slash government at the worst possible time. The Democrats have inexplicably defined victory in these negotiations not as the preservation of vital government programs but winning a nominal tax hike for the wealthiest Americans in exchange for their cooperation in cutting the safety net. Unfortunately for the American people, the Republicans seem to be seeing their winning hand: GOP moneybags David Koch revealed this week that he would be in favor of the tax increases. If his congressional minions follow suit,  the Democrats may get their "victory." Unfortunately, the people will lose, and lose big.

This is why we must have a progressive bloc in Congress that is willing to stand up to both parties in cases like this and be the bulwark against a raid on important government services in the name of austerity. This is why we need our Blue America candidates to be elected this November.

Just as we asked you to look at Prosperity Economics, we asked them too. And the response was remarkable. We asked our candidates to look at them too. You can read them all at this page.

Alan Grayson  had this to say:

"This coming election is too important to be about nothing. And that is why Jacob Hacker and Nate Loewentheil's 'Prosperity Economics' platform is important-- it's not nothing, it's something. Something big. For a Democratic victory to be meaningful, for it to create a 'mandate,' we owe it to America to explain what we would do with that victory. We need to make some promises, and then do our darnedest to try to keep them. 'Prosperity Economics' is a coherent, comprehensive plan that offers the hope-- the essential hope-- of leading us out of the wilderness."

This is where the Democrats should be planting their flag. Agreeing to cut vital government programs including Social Security and Medicare in order to obtain some tip money from millionaires isn't "shared sacrifice"-- it's human sacrifice. Up until now the Tea Partiers in Congress have refused to take yes for an answer. But if David Koch is now willing to accept some token tax hikes you can be sure the Republicans are waking up to how foolish that stance is.

No matter who wins the presidency and the majority after November's election, the nation will be facing the GOP's well-laid trap of the so-called "fiscal cliff." And unless there is a bloc of Democrats willing to demand Prosperity instead of Austerity there is a very good chance we will be thrown into another recession, just as our British friends across the pond faced when their government chose the slash government  in the midst of an epic slump. And even if we manage to dodge that bullet, we will have more slow growth, rising inequality and the further degradation of our vital social safety net. It is the wrong prescription for the Democratic Party and the people of this country.

You can help by helping elect these progressive House candidates who will come to congress with Prosperity Economics as their mandate. We urge you to read their comments at Blue America's Americans for REAL Prosperity page and give what you can. We simply must make our voices heard in Washington on this important issue. 

And the newest candidate to get behind "Prosperity Economics" as the antidote to the failed Austerity agenda being pushed on us by conservatives and corporate shills, is Missa Eaton who's running against reactionary multimillionaire Mike Kelly in northwestern Pennsylvania (PA-03). Like most of us, she explained that she's "been a part of a middle class family all my life. I have seen the hard work that goes into making sure dinner is on the table every night. I know what is like to live paycheck to paycheck, and sadly I have seen the American dream beginning to slip away. I announced my campaign as a candidate who believes the American dream is still attainable for anyone who follows the rules and works hard. The “New Strategy for Prosperity” given to us by Jacob Hacker will help us achieve just that. The principles of this new economic policy are something anyone should be able to support. It ensures an economic policy that isn’t built on deregulation and tax cuts, policy that works for the middle class. The policy keeps Medicare and Social Security solvent and adds a public option to the Affordable Care Act. This policy does not allow corporations the same rights as individuals and allows us to move our country forward."