What Do GOP Representatives In The House Really Value?

When a kidnapper demands ransom his values are very clear.  The kidnapper wants money as ransom.  The GOP House just sent its ransom note to the White House.  They are willing to lift the debt ceiling in order to allow the Treasury to keep from defaulting if the White House will agree to the following demands as ransom:

* Drop regulations on greenhouse gases
* Build Keystone XL oil pipeline
* Stop paying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
* Halt healthcare reform for one year
* Make it more difficult to sue for medical malpractice

We elected a president who took a different position in the last election on each of the demands made by the House.  The ransom note from the GOP House demands that we reverse the outcome of the presidential election or it will not allow the US Treasury to pay the government's bills or meet its financial obligations in the bond market.  In other words, the House Republicans don't really believe in democracy and they are financial terrorists.

We also learn what Republican's in the House really value, or at least who their paymasters are.  They love the fossil fuel industry; they love Wall Street despite their protestations about the bailout of the financial industry; the want to stop the roll out of healthcare reform because they fear that a positive response the reform will demonstrate to the electorate that they were wrong about the reform, and they are still trying to win support from those who believe that medical malpractice is responsible for the rising cost of healthcare (research shows that has about a 1% effect on the cost).

Now the House Republicans are not stupid.  The values that they espouse are shared by the voters in their districts that have been gerrymandered to increase their chances of being reelected. They can also be assured of a continuing stream of campaign contributions from the industrialists who they support.  The same industrialists have also used their friends in the media and in think tanks to "educate" the electorate on these issues.  Their ransom threat will not hurt them in the next election.  It will, however, make it more difficult to govern our nation and it will deepen the chasm within the GOP between those who have to win state or national elections and the radicals in the House.