The Ideology of the House Leadership

Recently I read an article that liberal Congressman Peter Stark (D-CA) is the first confessed atheist Member of Congress and, in passing, the article mentioned that he was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). I've heard of the group and it is made up of the typical liberal characters that we see so often in the news. I became curious to learn more and have done a little research and I find that the organization to be very interesting to anyone who is worried about their pocket books or even America's institutions:

* The organization was founded in 1990 by socialist Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Incidentally, he calls himself a socialist, I'm not throwing names here, he finds the name a compliment.

* It is the single largest caucus in the US House of Representatives.

* All current members are Democrat (since Sanders, who is an Independent, now serves in the US Senate). There are 69 members and it is about 1/3rd of the Democratic Caucus).

* Of the twenty standing committees in the House, about 11 are chaired by members of the Caucus, including Charlie Rangel (D-NY) who chairs the powerful tax law writing Ways and Means Committee.

What do their members stand for? Wikipedia, quoting from the cite, indicated that "the CPC advocates 'universal access to affordable, high quality health care,' fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into labor unions and engage in strike actions and collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the legalization of gay marriage, strict campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from the war in Iraq, a crackdown on free trade and what they see as corporate welfare, an increase in income tax on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in welfare spending by the federal government."

Tax cuts for the poor? They don't pay taxes and, in fact, receive an earned income credit. "Universal access to affordable...health care" is an euphemism for socialized medicine. A living wage would be something like former CPC member and current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has back in her San Francisco district of California -- roughly a $9 an hour minimum wage. An increase in welfare spending? Say hello again to the multi-generational poverty that plagued our economy for years (as the saying goes, "the more you subsidize something, the more you get of it").

I believe we can't afford the government we have, let alone one dominated by an organization such as the Congressional Progressive Caucus.