Frustrated Republicans

Yesterday, I wrote about how the Democrats were frustrated that all their "investigations" are stalled and/or failing.  When you're running for office and all you offer is hatred for Trump, Socialism and scatterbrained ideas like the Green New Deal, it's a big blow if the main hope you have for increasing Trump hatred is a total failure.

Today, I think it's worth writing about frustrated Republicans.  There are plenty of reasons why GOP politicians and party members are frustrated.

1.  The most timely example of frustration is Mitt Romney.  He's still seems to be unable to grasp the fact that America twice turned down his bid to be president but selected Donald Trump on his first attempt.  As a result, Romney is letting his frustration show with his continuing never-Trump behavior.  Just today, Mitt called the statement by congressman Justin Amash calling for Trump's impeachment "courageous".  Of course, Mitt immediately followed that statement by saying that he himself didn't think there was a basis for impeachment.  Romney wanted to take a shot at Trump but he didn't want to actually be courageous enough to put his future in the Senate on the line by supporting impeachment.

2.  Another example of frustration are regular Republicans who have to watch a fool like Romney make statements like the one just discussed.  The Mueller Report cleared President Trump and his entire campaign.  We know that.  Romney knows that.  Why does Romney put his own hurt feelings at being rejected by US voters ahead of logic and what is good for the country?  He was elected to be a senator not to be yet another prima donna in Washington.

3.  Republican voters are also frustrated with the lack of progress on immigration law.  There is a real crisis at the border.  The main reason is that our asylum laws allow illegal aliens to seek asylum once apprehended.  After that, they get scheduled for a court hearing and are released into the population, never to be seen again.  No one disputes the crisis anymore, not even the Democrats who called it a phony or manufactured crisis for months until even they had to admit the obvious.  It would take one week to change the immigration law so that asylum could only be requested at a port of entry or at an American embassy or consulate abroad.  Anyone inside the country illegally would be subject to immediate deportation even if they requested asylum.  It's not a big move, but it would take away the entire reason for the caravans trying to get across our border.  Imagine if 30,000 fewer people per month were to seek to sneak into our country.  Those who meet the requirements for asylum could still be granted entry, but they would have to wait in Mexico or elsewhere to get the decision.  This wouldn't hurt anyone already here, even illegal aliens, but the Democrats won't even talk about it.  In a ten minute conversation, the worst of the border crisis could be over with no wall, no changes to legal immigration or the like.  Those would still have to be worked out.  The Democrats won't talk about this; they won't help solve the border crisis.  It's terribly frustrating.

4.  Americans are also very frustrated about healthcare.  Democrats won't tolerate the idea that Obamacare is not the answer.  Sure, some want to go farther to some sort of government run healthcare system, but we've seen how those work with the VA and the health systems in Canada and the UK, for example.  Healthcare shouldn't be rationed by the length of the line.  A sick person needs to be able to see a doctor quickly, not in six months.  Similarly, our system shouldn't tell someone who is 78 that she has to suffer in endless pain and can't get a hip replacement to end her crippling arthritis because she's too old for the procedure.  We're also frustrated that no one in Washington seems to be working on ideas that could improve healthcare while reducing the cost.  For example, we all know that when we go to a doctor, we have to sign forms saying that we've been given the privacy policy of that office or hospital etc.  No one reads those policies; most people don't even get them.  Nevertheless, federal law requires each doctor, hospital, etc. to adopt a privacy policy and then to show it to patients and get a written acknowledgement that the patient has reviewed the policy.  We don't know exactly how much gets spent each year to do this, but it has to be billions of dollars.  It's a total waste.  Someone in Washington ought to be looking at ways to get rid of these useless federal policies that just drive up cost while providing no benefit.

5.  Republicans are also frustrated by the hatred shown by the media and the Democrats for the President.  We're fine with political arguments; our society is structured so that we can resolve those arguments with elections.  We want to be able to read a newspaper or watch a TV news show and to assume that the reporters were at least trying to tell the truth.  Lies and phony sources ought not be the regular stuff of which the news is composed.  By the same token, political opponents should respect each other and the decisions of the people.  The idea that the entire Democrat party spent over two years telling us over and over and over that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians when there was not a single piece of evidence that showed such collusion is unacceptable and very frustrating.  Republicans and Democrats disagree about policy, but we ought to be able to rely on the good faith of the other party.  We should all be able to believe that the political opposition party is acting honestly to promote the best interests of the country rather than dishonestly in an attempt to grab power no matter how that effort harms the country.