BY KENNY BELFORD

Republicans find the term “The Party of No” very offensive. It’s a recent term applied to them, but over the decades they’ve more than earned that label.

The Republican Party was opposed to Social Security. They’ve never forgiven Roosevelt for that one, and they continue to hatch schemes to undermine it. Remember Bush’s plan to privatize it in the stock market? The Republican Party was opposed to child labor laws – they saw nothing wrong with 10-year-old coal miners since they could be paid less.

The Republican Party was against worker safety laws, and continues to search for methods to undermine current law. The Republican Party was opposed minimum wage, and they still attempt to block all efforts to raise it. The Republican Party opposed the Civil Rights Act and as recently as last Saturday Republican leaders called in their Tea Party branch to come to Washington to protest. They spit on Black congressmen and yelled out calling them “n——.”

The Republican Party was opposed to Medicare and Medicaid, and under the Bush Administration, with Republicans in control of Congress and Senate, they voted to not negotiate for lower pharmaceutical costs boosting profits to record levels for the drug companies, and make it illegal to import the same drugs from Canada where they’re priced at a fraction of what we’re forced to pay here.

On health insurance reform, every single Republican in Congress cast a “no” vote in support of the big health insurance companies. They cast their “no” votes against the interest of Americans, and proudly stood on the side of excessive corporate profits over helping people.

The Republican Party, while they controlled Congress and the Senate, did vote “yes” to strip away decades old regulations governing housing and the stock market. That put events in motion bringing on the worst recession since Republican Herbert Hoover gave America The Great Depression.

The Republican Party did give us George W. Bush, the worst president in our nation’s history. They did help cheerlead us into a needless war with Iraq, a country that had no weapons of mass destruction, no nuclear weapons program, and had no involvement in the 9/11 attack on America. That war has cost us $714 billion so far, and 4,386 Americans have died so far from that colossal blunder.

Summing it up, “The Party of No” is against Social Security, child labor laws, worker safety laws, minimum wage, civil rights, Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance reform. But they are in favor of needless wars, especially if it’s your kids that have to go fight and die in them.

They better be happy it’s only “The Party of No” they’re being called. Personally, I have a few other labels, equally true, but considerably more derogatory I think they should be called.

– Kenny Belford lives in Tulsa, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer