(Also published at What Would Jack Do?)

Time was when Republicans simply believed differently. They were Conservative, we were Liberal, and that (usually healthy) tension tended to keep thing in something resembling balance. After all, politics is (and should be), at least in the words of the late Tip O'Neill, "the art of the possible." Compromise was what kept the system running. No one got exactly or all of what they wanted, but when things worked, most got enough of what they wanted to at least feel as if they'd achieved something positive.

Well, that was then (and no, that idealized reality never truly existed exactly like that). This is now, when Republicans have become the party of slash-and-burn, take-no-prisoners-show-no-mercy-kill-'em-all-let-God-sort-'em-out. The GOP now lives in a place where not getting 100% of what they want means no one gets ANYTHING. The latest example of this is President Obama's jobs bill, which Republicans have decided that they're going to oppose (I know; quelle surprise.). So, instead of something positive being done to attempt to address this country's unemployment crisis, approximately nothing will happen, thanks to Republican intransigence that's as cynical as it is predictable. I say approximately nothing because it turns out that Republicans are surprisingly amenable to a plan put forward by President Obama which would essentially allow the unemployed to work for free. Free labor? What Republican worthy of the name wouldn't love that? Small businesses love the idea of getting free labor, but there's little data available to speak to the program's (Georgia Works) effectiveness in putting the unemployed back to work. Still, the idea of free labor has Paul Ryan all atwitter, because to his way of thinking, it represents "unemployment reform." Right; just like Dodd-Frank represented "banking reform."

To make matter worse, Republicans are about to take their unspoken assault on the middle class and elevate into a full-blown war on the middle class. President Obama today will propose a new base tax rate for the wealthy to ensure that they're paying at least the same percentage as the middle class. The words will barely be out of the President's mouth before the hue and cry from the GOP will be heard from media outlet to shining media outlet. And Paul Ryan wants to let the middle-class payroll tax cut lapse. Evidently it's not doing anything for the corporate greedheads who fill his campaign war chest, and so it's of no value. It's OK to allow a middle class tax cut to lapse, but Hell hath no fury like a Republican faced with the lapse of the Bush tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy.

It would be nice to be able to at least pretend that Republicans care about doing what's best for America. Unfortunately, their actions demonstrate that they care for nothing except doing whatever it takes to defeat Barack Obama in 2012. When all you care about are the political implications of a proposed action, you get the GOP, who care about the economy and the unemployed only insofar as both can be used to their political advantage.

Oh, and did I mention that the GOP's Presidential candidates are reviving the idea of privatizing Social Security?

We can only hope that there are reserved parking spaces in Hell for the members of the GOP caucus.