Peter Roskam’s First Year

“What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?” Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Institute Address, February 27, 1860.

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” Abraham Lincoln’s First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

I can quote from Lincoln too, Mr. Roskam, but that doesn’t make me look like him any more than it does you.

On December 28th, Peter Roskam published a glowing self-assessment of his first year in Congress, complete with liberal quotations from Abraham Lincoln to try and make himself appear a statesman.

By Roskam’s account he spent the year battling against partisanship but in the end triumphed by squeaking out a temporary fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax and an Energy Bill. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Roskam and his obstructionist Republican colleagues repeatedly refused to let the Democrats pass a fiscally responsible bill to relieve middle class taxpayers of liability for the AMT. They refused to pass it unless Democrats removed provisions that would have closed loopholes that allow the wealthy to use offshore tax shelters to escape paying taxes. Roskam wouldn’t budge to help his middle class constituents unless the Democrats gave in on tax shelters. In the end, the Democrats compromised, allowing the tax shelter battle to wait for another day. If your tax refund is late this coming year, you can chalk it up to Roskam’s obstruction.

The story with the energy bill was pretty much the same. Roskam and the Roadblock Republicans refused to pass legislation increasing our energy independence and addressing the issue of global warming unless it included a continued tax break for big oil companies. In the end, recognizing the importance of improved fuel-efficiency standards, Democrats compromised and Roskam and the Republicans won another battle for the interests of Big Oil.

The other activity that Roskam trumpets is his get-tough stance on immigration. Roskam and other Republicans are using illegal immigration as a wedge issue - trying to frighten and distract voters so that they can continue their agenda of redistributing wealth to the very rich and turning the powers of the Government over to large corporations. Sadly, many of Roskam’s constituents will suffer needless hardship in 2008 thanks to his efforts to mandate the use of the defective E-Verify system by all employers.

Roskam, unlike Lincoln, demonstrated his value of capital over labor by voting against legislation to give minimum wage workers their first raise in over 10 years at the same time he voted to protect exhorbitant executive salaries against shareholder oversight.

And, unlike Lincoln, Roskam sided with the forces of hatred and intolerance over the forces of freedom by voting against federal hate crimes legislation and against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Roskam fails to share Lincoln’s conviction that all persons should share equally in the blessings of liberty.

Roskam’s first year was also notable for his silence. Silence on the issue of torture. Silence on bringing an end to the horribly destructive war against Iraq. Silence on George Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s efforts to amass power in the Executive Branch and to escape any accountability to Congress and to the American people for the unprecedented corruption of their administration.

It is my intent to spend 2008 continuing to present the truth of Roskam’s agenda and actions in Congress in the hope that his second year in Congress will be his last. I hope that others, more skilled than myself, will join me.