The year was 1972

A campaign was being waged for the US Senate. Candidates in both parties made the claim that "Washington is out of touch with the people, government is too big, spending is out of control and we need a balance the budget amendment to the Constitution to restore sanity." All candidates ran hard against Washington. That was my first up close look at an election for the US Senate.

Since then I have watched every Senate race and hundreds of races for the US House. In nearly every campaign over these past 39 years, candidates run against Washington. “Send me there and I’ll straighten things out. I’ll make sure Washington listens to you.” Although nobody – until now – claimed they could reduce the price of gasoline by 50%; nobody claimed his opponent didn’t “love” America; nobody questioned the eligibility or the legitimacy of their opponent’s candidacy. It's a sign of how far the process has been allowed to deteriorate.

So, how did we get here – wallowing in this sorry state for public affairs?

It started with candidates preaching their anti-Washington venom relentlessly every two years. Contributing to the problem was – and is – a lazy electorate that doesn’t take the time to understand what is going on around them. But for the electorate to gain that ability to discern truth from fiction, political right from wrong, best interest of the nation versus best for special interests will require them to ask better questions when they go through the education system at all levels. They will no doubt encounter teachers and professors with their own biased leanings who will teach things like, “Richard Nixon was a crook, and they all become crooks if they stay too long.” Or they may teach, “Jack Kennedy stole the election in 1960 in Illinois,” or “George Bush stole the 2000 election in Florida with the help of the Supreme Court.” And both will add something like, “But of course, that is the nature of politics today. Dirty business. Don’t get too close. Expect the worse.” No wonder even intelligent persons begin as avowed cynics at the start of their understanding.

But if you don’t make an attempt to understand the process that makes a democratic republic work, and be willing to participate in it, we will not be able to keep it.

Jon Huntsman was on ABC’s This Week program and he spoke the truth to Republican leaders and Republican rank and file voters. Because he spoke the truth forcefully to his party, right wing extremists who seem to be in control of the Republican nomination will soon dismiss him from the stage.

Of all the candidates on the Red side of the aisle right now, John Huntsman gets it. He understands the urgency of the issues our nation faces. (I say “right now,” because there is still a chance George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani will get in, not to mention Sarah Palin.) Huntsman understands what this country needs and he can articulate an intelligent argument for his positions. Debates between Huntsman and Obama would be helpful to the nation and would guarantee that whoever wins in November 2012 would have a good chance of beginning his term with the political atmosphere in Washington more in tune with progress rather than stalemate or worse, marching backward to, say, 1930.

Huntsman, unfortunately for the country, will not be on the Republican ticket. Fortunately for the country, Obama will win re-election to another term.

What about the future? How can we change the process by which we select our leaders?

Start by telling candidates to stop bashing Washington or you won’t give them your support. Washington is not the enemy; Washington is us in the form of representatives we send there. So, tell candidates that line only works with stupid people and you’re not stupid. Start asking your teachers and professors to explain how America has existed this long if all politicians are crooked like Richard Nixon or amoral like Bill Clinton. Start by seeking out good people to run for office and get behind them with your time and energy AND your money so that large donors do not have as much influence as they once did. And slowly you will begin to strengthen our electoral process. You can do it – and you must.

39 years is long enough to listen to candidates use the same old canards to manipulate us, isn't it?

Fab on Bachmann

I head this morning from my good friend Joe Fab and he has this to say about Michele Bachmann's appearance on Meet the Press today:

Watching Ms. Bachmann on Meet the Press today and paying attention to the direction of the government overall with respect to the economy, I can't believe how few people are screaming from the rooftops that we are totally off course. This piece in today's Post draws the contrast clearly between where we're going and what our direction ought to be:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-is-the-stock-market-telling-us/2011/08/10/gIQACdVoBJ_story.html

The fact that the proper action may seem counter-intuitive to many of us shouldn't prevent thinking people from making healthy choices. But that's exactly what's happening. Our national economy does NOT work like our family budgets, in spite of how widely that mistaken logic is being trumpeted. It's a critical piece of a global system -- a system whose moving parts are much more complex and require more expertise to manage than paying the mortgage and the Visa bill.

The sad truth is that a great number of Americans are ignorant -- worse, they even embrace and defiantly take pride in ignorance. People like Ms Bachmann are building their identities on that ignorance. Can they themselves actually be that ignorant themselves, or is this the most extreme example of opportunism and manipulation of the public to occur in my lifetime?

This morning, in response to some deft questioning by David Gregory, Michele Bachmann held as an absolute that the insight and experience of elected officials, economic experts, and others with established credentials on fiscal matters have NO STANDING in the face of what the average person may believe about how the economy works. Then she proceeded to reinforce dangerously-stupid but now widely-accepted statements about what's happening with the economy and what should be done to fix it.

Although I expect that Aqua Velva Man -- sorry, Mitt Romney -- or (even more likely) Rick Perry will still get the Republican nomination, the reality is that Ms Bachmann and a number of others to whom many voters listen are validating ignorance and a tragic direction for our country. Although Ms Bachmann is the one who's scaring the apple juice out of me this morning, Mr Romney and Mr Perry play the stupidity card as well. Indeed, the Palinization of the United States has taught ALL the Republican candidates that riding the ignorance wave is key to their planning.

All this makes the challenges for President Obama, the Democrats in Congress, and every American with a functioning brain greater with every passing moment. Ben Franklin said "The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.” Yup.


Well said, Joe, well said.
Ben

A New Modus Operandi

Make no mistake, the Repubs have tasted blood...and they like it.

Their new MO will be to take each of the 13 appropriations bills as they come up for debate, disassemble them, and uncover the most onerous provision(s) from their point of view and hold the entire bill hostage until the Dems agree to their position. The most recent example is the FAA appropriations bill. The R's want federal subsidies to mostly rural airports (mostly in Democratic districts, by the way) eliminated. The Dems are not going along. Thousands of ordinary Americans are being hurt, blue collar types who work paycheck to paycheck, are being hurt. The R's don't care. They desire is only to make a point: "We want to be viewed as the party of fiscal discipline and we will eliminate spending wherever we find it, whenever we find it especially in Democratic held districts." As Dana Carvey said, "Isn't that special." As for the impact on the federal budget, such cuts hardly make a ripple. But they don't care. Their goal is to hurt Obama's chances of getting re-elected and if the economy is hurt in the process, well, that only increases their chances for electing a new actor. It is despicable behavior and another example of why Ben Franklin told the lady, "You have a republic IF YOU CAN KEEP IT."