Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) AP Photo
(CNSNews.com) - Although the tea party's influence is "undeniable,"
it is not inevitable -- and it must be crushed for the good of the
nation, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued in a long political speech
on Thursday.
"They've won elections, stymied Democratic
priorities and taken a sledgehammer to programs that are important to
tens of millions of Americans," he complained.
Among other
recommendations, Schumer suggested an IRS crackdown on funding for tea
party groups. "We have to look at electoral reform," he said.
"Our
very electoral structure has been rigged to favor tea party
candidates in Republican primaries, even when the district or the
state may not be that red."
Schumer said "the tea party
machine" has a particularly strong influence on Republican primaries,
partly because the far right turns out to vote; and partly because of
gerrymandering -- "where Republicans have learned to capture state
legislatures and then use innovative technology to draw districts
where a Democrat could never be elected.
"Hence, the
Republican House member only has to look over his right shoulder and
moves much further to the right than the average voter in his or her
district would want."
The same thing can happen in Democratic primaries, Schumer admitted
-- "but at the moment, it is far more exaggerated on the Republican
side."
Schumer said one way to "lessen the grip of the tea
party on the electoral process" is to have a primary where voters of
every party can vote, leading the top two vote-getters, regardless of
their party affiliation, into a run-off.
"This would prevent a
hard-right candidate from gaining office with only 22 percent of the
vote. It would force the most extreme candidates in Republican
districts to move closer to the middle to pick up more moderate
Republicans and independents in order to be one of the top two
vote-getters and enter the run off," he added.
Government is good
Schumer faulted Democrats for failing to counter tea party attempts "to make government the boogeyman."
Instead,
Schumer made "tea party elites" the boogeyman, portraying them as
"wealthy, hard right, selfish, narrow" and fearful of "an America that's
not reflective of themselves." He said these "elites" have manipulated
their millions of grass-roots followers into believing that
"government is the explanation for their ills."
"Their mantra --
'dramatically shrink government and our problems will end' -- is the
fundamentally false, but not effectively challenged premise, that is the
core weakness of the Tea Party, and one we can exploit to turn
American politics around to the benefit of our nation."
Schumer
said the best way to deal with the tea party's "obsessive
anti-government mania" is to "confront it directly" and show people
that they really do need government "to help them out of their morass."
Health care reform a mistake?
Schumer offered a number of examples where Democrats have failed to provide an "antidote" to the tea party's "quack medicine."
For
instance, he said Democrats didn't do a good enough job explaining the
nature, causes, severity of the financial crisis, nor did they
"explain how the stimulus and government spending would help ameliorate
the problem."
And after the financial crisis, Democrats turned
to health care reform instead of income inequality: While healthcare
reform "was a worthy goal," it wasn't a concern for most Americans, he
admitted -- "they weren't focused on it because they weren't unhappy
with the health care they had."
Schumer said Democrats must make
the case that government helps Americans. "The average Tea Party
member, like the average American, likes government-run Medicare, likes
government-built highways, and likes government support for education,
both higher and lower."
He said there are four ways that
Democrats can "answer the Tea Party" and convince its followers that
government is not always the problem and is "often the solution to
middle-class woes."
-- First, Democrats must "stop playing defense and go on offense when
it comes to the need for government. We must state loudly and
repeatedly that we believe government is often a necessary force for
good."
-- Second, Democrats in 2014 -- an election year -- must
focus "on four or five simple but compelling examples of where
government can help the average family. (He mentioned raising the
minimum wage, paying for college with a "simple, concerete
government-funded program," increasing aid for K-12
education,infrastructure spending, equal pay for women, and fair
trade.)
-- The third way to "constructively channel
frustrations," Schumer said, "is to address the damage done by the
Supreme Court's Citizen United decision," which created "huge holes in
our campaign finance laws. ...Obviously, the Tea Party elites gained
extraordinary influence by being able to funnel millions of dollars into
campaigns with ads that distort the truth and attack government."
Schumer
said although the House is controlled by Republicans, "there are many
things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other
government agencies -- we must redouble those efforts immediately."
She met Jeff Davis, a lawyer 13 years older than her, married him and
had a second daughter. He paid for her last two years at Texas Christian
University and her time at Harvard Law School, and kept their two
daughters while she was in Boston. When they divorced in 2005, he was
granted parental custody, and the girls stayed with him. Wendy Davis was
directed to pay child support.
Her ex husband was granted custody of her two girls and SHE was directed to pay HIM child support.
