To help these Democrats, consider voting Republican

If the headline led you to expect some insight into just how voting Republican this fall will help end the Republican grip on political power, sorry. I borrowed the headline from the latest William Murchison column on DallasBlog.com. Mr Murchison goes on and on in the column, misrepresenting Democratic positions and defending Wal-Mart's low wages, without a hint how voting Republican helps Democrats or helps Wal-Mart employees earn a living wage.

Mr Murchison paints the Democrats as bashers of Wal-Mart for being "awful people who insist on undercharging for automobile tires and patio chairs." Of course, Democrats have nothing against Wal-Mart's low prices. The effort is to get Wal-Mart to share some of the billions in profits with its workers by paying them a living wage.

Mr Murchison says the Democrats don't have a solution. Sure, they do. One part of the solution is to raise the minimum wage, which hasn't been changed since 1997, the longest such period in American history. Another part of the solution is to provide affordable health care to the working poor.

Republicans control Congress. If they wanted to raise the minimum wage, it would pass in an instant with wide Democratic support. The fact it didn't pass in this last Congress is because Republicans cared more about tax cuts for smallest slice at the top of the wealth pyramid (e.g., cutting the estate tax, which doesn't affect over 99% of Americans). But in Mr Murchison's parallel universe, it's Democrats who are responsible for the failure of Congress to pass an increase in the minimum wage.

Mr Murchison gets it right when he says the answer is a stronger economy. And for that, the voters need to get rid of the Republicans in Congress and the White House who have squandered our budget surpluses, overseen ever-growing trade deficits and offshoring of American jobs, rising health care costs, and stagnant wages for the working poor.

To help these Republicans, consider voting them out of office, so they can go back to their districts, see the disaster they have foisted on America with their incompetent governance, and maybe learn how to do better the next time they control government.