The Republican Party has been waiting for this upcoming election since President Barack Obama defeated John McCain in a historic landslide. With a possible takeover of the House of Representatives looming, the Republicans are obstructing all Democratic legislation, without regard for the Americans it hurts.

In an election year, all common sense and the contribution to the common good go out the door. All that matters ultimately for the political parties is an electoral victory, no matter the rhetoric that has to be spewed, or who has to suffer in order to achieve that goal.

The Republicans have been obstructing legislation ever since the Democrats swept both congressional chambers and the White House. Just last year Republicans set a record of filibusters in the Senate with 61 and this year have already used the filibuster 53 times, with months left still to spare.

They claim to be protecting the people from “reckless spending” and from “adding to our children’s future debt.” Some of this is the truth, true to their description as so-called “fiscal conservatives;” they like to balance a budget, which means no spending of governmental money. Remember, though, this only applies to people who need assistance and help from the government. If you happen to be rich or a big corporation, they suddenly have room in the government’s budget to help you out.

Democrats used an odd method in the House to try to pay for all of the medical needs of the people who worked at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, a method which required a two-thirds majority instead of a simple majority vote. Democrats could not get the two-thirds they needed to pass this legislation to help the workers who contracted chronic medical problems from the dust and ash on that sad day.

The Republicans said they couldn’t vote for this bill because it “added” taxes on the American people to fund this bill. This was a lie. The bill levied taxes on corporations trying to seek tax havens in other countries. Congressman Anthony Wiener (D-NY) took the floor to debate and was so upset that he yelled when debating at the opposition, obviously feeling the pain of those who tried to help others on 9/11 and couldn’t afford health care for the chronic conditions they incurred that day.

The Republicans don’t think our country can afford to spend $1 trillion to fix our crumbling infrastructure, spend money to give every American citizen universal health care coverage or free college tuition.

The party of “no” is really the party of “yes.” They say yes to the rich and wealthy. They can’t help Americans with the necessities of life, but have room in the budget to try to extend President Bush’s tax cuts favoring the richest one percent of citizens and wealthy corporations, even though two-thirds of all U.S. corporations paid no income tax between 1998 and 2005. It must be hard being a corporation with all of that corporate welfare.

They are fighting tooth and nail against implementing the estate tax, once again citing that it will be “destructive,” even though billionaire Warren Buffet says that the rich owe it to the American public to pay this tax.

As always, the Republicans have money to fund wars. Just like the illegal and deceptive war in Iraq, they are continuing to fund the war in Afghanistan. They continue to fund this war as the White House and Congress know that the U.S. military is indirectly funding tens of millions of dollars to warlords and corrupt public officials to protect supply convoys in Afghanistan, who then use that money to turn and fight against the United States.

According to The Guardian, the funds that the United States contribute to Pakistan have been given secretly via the Inter-Services Intelligence to the insurgents in Afghanistan since 2004. What country could fund a war where they also fund their enemies knowingly? This is crazy.

The Republicans are using obstruction simply as a tool to motivate their political base and to stand up for their corporate campaign contributors, not caring about trying to help the American people with their needs. The Republican Party needs to look in the mirror and see Dr. Jekyll has turned into Mr. Hyde.