How long, America, how long?

I remember when Richard Nixon campaigned on the twin GOP promises of "smaller government and lower taxes." Nixon was elected but did not deliver. Government got larger and taxes went up.

I remember when Ronald Reagan pledged smaller government and lower taxes if he was elected. By the time he finished his 8 years, government was much larger, taxes were higher and the national debt had been increased by three times.

I remember when Georgia Bush said "Read my lips" for the first time. Video tape was ubiquitous by that time and so politically he could not live by the lie of "No new taxes" and he lost his re-election bid. Taxes did, indeed, go up, and yes, government got bigger.

If you are going to lie to the American people, be sure not to let anyone videotape you at a political convention promising smaller government and lower taxes.

Bush 43 and Cheney promised the same thing. Taxes went down for the very rich during their two terms but that's all. Government got bigger, taxes went up, and the national debt was quadrupled.

For 50 years, the GOP has run on the same pledge (lie): "Elect us; we will lower your taxes and reduce the size of government." Members of the loyal GOP: THEY NEVER DO WHAT THEY PROMISE. Why? Because the government of the US is already large and must be so in order to meet America's responsibilities at home and abroad. And taxes must be paid in order to pay for those responsibilities. We cannot go back to the time of our forefathers when we had a country of 4 million citizens. Today we have 322 million and counting. We are large and getting larger. You and I better pray that someone is planning on a government that can meet the demands of a citizenry of that size. Who else are you going to turn to when there is a hurricane in your backyard, an oil spill on your beach, an unsafe car in your driveway, unsafe meat in your refrigerator, a pandemic sweeping the nation, terrorist beating down your door. You better hope the government is large enough to meet the challenge and has a full team of pros at the ready.

Stop expecting something for nothing. Accept the fact that these people will continue to manipulate you as long as you let them. But may I ask you: please stop letting them get away with manipulating you with simple Simon solutions to complex questions. Please stop.

In Virginia, the current GOP governor said we can save $500 million and apply it to our budget if we sell the state owned liquor stores. Now, he realizes that was a short term fix and he still needs to raise that money on an annual basis to balance Virginia's budget so he is proposing a fee (he can't say the word "tax") on liquor sold at wholesale and in restaurants. He is not a full year into his term and already he is proposing a new tax. Where is the outrage from his fellow Republicans? Oh, I see, you supported him not because he may actually try to do what he says, but because it puts the GOP in charge.

Our government can't survive this approach to preserving the Republic at the state or federal level.

How long, America, how long?

GOP Tagged by President Wilson

While searching for a quote today, I stumbled across the following by President Woodrow Wilson that perfectly describes the GOP difficulty in persuading voters they should be trusted to handle the complex problems of the 21st century:

"Conservatism is the policy of make no change and consult your grandmother when in doubt."
Well said by our 28th President in 1914. In the ensuing 96 years, GOP policy has never been explained more eloquently.

Lock, Stock and Barrel

You are a conservative, loyal member of the Republican Party. You are not in favor of the Federal government bailing out Wall Street or anyone else for that matter.

But your party’s leaders in Washington don’t care.

They have been bought lock, stock and barrel by corporate interests, especially Wall Street bankers and brokers.

One thing you can say for them: once they are bought, they stay bought. On Monday, April 26, 2010, they objected en masse to moving forward with debate on a US Senate bill to reform Wall Street and reign in the greedy barons of Manhattan whose actions threaten your job and the jobs of your friends.

How does it make you feel to know that you are loyal to a party that ignores your views, manipulates your loyalty and generally disregards your best interests. How does it feel to be in a political party like that?

Bush 43 did his best to dismantle government

Let’s go over this one more time: The Bush 43 Administration was opposed to government.

The Bush-Cheney regime displayed as much contempt for the government with which they were entrusted as the extremists of the current Tea Party movement.
Long time political observers of Washington saw it up close every day…and wondered if the country would survive. It did, but just barely.

I talked about it and wrote about it as often as possible. So did others – and all knew nothing would be done. Why? The Republican machine that preserves the Reagan mystique was in full throttle to protect the Bush Administration from the obvious: they were incompetent.

The saddest fact: Responsible Republicans ignored the misfeasance of the Bush 43 regime, holding fast to the idea that maintaining their ruling influence was more important than serving the people.

Bush 43 propagated EVERY agency of the federal government with individuals who adhered to the philosophy that “the government is best that governs least.” That may have worked in Thomas Jefferson's time when the total population was under 4 million, but it does not work today when the population is 324 million.

A big government is necessary to serve the people in 2010. Anyone who does not agree with that has no interest in seeing government succeed at any level...and thus their motives are suspect.

So what happened during the Bush era? From 2001 to January 2009, regulators were told the free market will make the correct and best decisions. Don’t worry about fulfilling your regulatory duties. They didn’t. For eight years, one federal agency after another was stripped of the funds to support its lawful activities, and populated with individuals who knew they would be rewarded if they did not interfere in the free market or spend money the law charged them to spend in support of citizen needs.

We paid the price for 8 years but veteran observers also knew we would pay the price for many years after Bush 43 left town. We are. It will be many years before we are able to say we have recovered as a nation.

President Obama has made a good start on health care reform, Wall Street reform, immigration reform, energy innovation and climate change. He is not being applauded broadly for his aggressive agenda…but he should be.

We are living in the 21st century. It is time we as a people decide to do something about the problems from the 20th century that we brought with us and have refused to address for a decade.

Can you think of a single American alive today who could do a better job of addressing long neglected issues than this President? Just one??

They Eat Their Young

Did you see where David Frum, former Bush speech writer was forced out of his job with the American Enterprise Institute for saying some slightly critical things about the GOP loss on health care reform? Frum says it appears some of the donors had something to do with it. Make that the GOP Pure Police. You have to be pure to be a Republican these days. If you vary from the party line, if you dare think for yourself, if you dare talk about bipartisanship, you are in deep trouble.What will happen, you say? Well, if you are a lobbyist, you lose your job; if you are a member of Congress, you get a primary opponent next time. "We will weed you out" seems to be the governing dicta of the Pure Police. "We pull all weeds."

I'm concerned. I think we should all be concerned to see that the intelligent people have been forced out of the GOP by extreme elements (tea partiers) of the GOP.

Did you see Sarah Palin introducing John McCain to a partisan crowd in Arizona today? I have never seen John McCain so uncomfortable. He kept looking at his notes (When is she going to finish), and off to the side (Where is some aide who will come to my rescue), she embraced the tea party movement entirely and said if you are supporting John McCain, you are part of the tea party movement (Help, is there no one who will get her off the stage for me). After a while you began to feel sorry for him. But that leather jacket with the zippers on it in strategic places was fetching, wasn't it. Wouldn't she make a good President?

Friday Potpourri

That 10.8 percent unemployment rate from……..Ronald Reagan.

You’re going to hear a lot of Obama critics today saying, “Where are the jobs, Mr. Obama?” They know the unemployment rate is a “lagging indicator,” as the economists say. But they have forgotten how our system works (if they ever knew). So, here is the unemployment rate for one of the recessions presided over by their saint and savior, Ronald Reagan.

For the 12 months of July 1982 to June 1983, the unemployment rate was 9.8 percent or above. For 10 of those 12 months, the unemployment rate was above 10 percent, reaching a high of 10.8 percent in November and December of 1982. Give it a rest, my dear Republican friends.

Memo to GOP

Yesterday, John Boehner, minority leader of the House of Representatives stood before a rally of raging opponents of the health care reform proposed and he railed on about the difficulty of governing when we forget the sacred principles of the U.S. Constitution. He said “I’m going to read to you the first paragraph of that great document,” and then he proceeded to read the first paragraph of the ….Declaration of Independence.

PS to GOP: why not ask your members to read the Constitution before they actually run for office?

GOP angst over Obama’s ability to address more than one issue at a time.

One Republican friend asked me this week why President Obama doesn’t stay in the Oval Office and work on one major issue at a time instead of spending tax money flying all over the nation in Air Force One talking to constituents?

I explained this President has 322 million citizens looking to him to keep the lights on for them, clear the air for them, provide adequate and affordable health care for them, assist with the education of their children, and oh yes, protect them from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I don't begrudge him a ride on a big plane to Wisconsin to talk with his constituents about education and other important issues.

The reason this President continues his high approval rating with most Americans is because they perceive in him a President, finally, who actually CAN keep more than one ball in the air at the same time.

Reagan or Obama?

Was the nation's unemployment rate higher under Reagan or Obama?

If you picked Obama, you lose....by a long shot.

This past week almost all of the news anchors reported the latest unemployment stats this way: “Unemployment numbers rose to 9.8 percent in September, the highest since 1983.”

For several days now, the line has been repeated, and each time I want to shout, “Why don’t you say, ‘Unemployment is at 9.8 percent, the highest since 1983 WHEN RONALD REAGAN, GOP SAINT AND SAVIOR was President; yes, REAGAN, THE PRESIDENT WHO ALSO TRIPLED THE NATIONAL DEBT DURING HIS TIME IN OFFICE, the guy whose policies Republican leaders in Congress today praise ad nauseam.’ Why don’t you add that to your report?”

The recession of the early 1980s was severe but nothing like the recession of the late 2000’s brought on in large part by profligate spending and lack of regulatory oversight by federal agencies during the Bush/Cheney administration.

In all fairness to Ronald Reagan, his recession was due primarily to external forces -- the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution which took place in 1979. The new Iranian regime lowered export volume of its oil, thus forcing the price of oil up and precipitating an economic crisis for most of the developed nations. The US adopted a tight monetary policy to control inflation and this led to a recession...and unemployment spiked. (It seems tame when compared to 2007-2008 near collapse of the entire economy.)

Reagan’s unemployment numbers hit 9.8 percent in July 1982 and kept rising. The percentage did not drop below 10 percent for a full year – 12 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS!

The late 2000s recession was started by the collapse of the housing market.Many real estate companies were put in jeopardy, some even collapsed. Many banks did collapse causing a measure of public panic. Available credit spiraled downward, making it almost impossible for anybody to get a loan. Consumer confidence fell like a rock. And that was just the beginning. Many have called the current recession the worst since World War II.

So, to my Republican friends: Obama policies have been in effect for less than six months. Come back to see me IF unemployment remains above 9.8 percent for MORE than a full year.

To my Democratic friends: You have no one to blame but yourselves if you let the R’s get away with claiming Obama’s policies don’t work, won’t work, and that they somehow prove R’s should be back in power.

When they complain about Obama, just say three words to them: "12 consecutive months." Those among the GOP who know better are not likely to ask you to explain what you mean.

"Politics as Usual"

Friends have asked, "So, what do you make of Sarah Palin's resignation?"

Well, I want to take her at her word so I will use what I call the "Larry Craig test of political truthiness." You remember when Larry Craig first walked to the microphones to defend himself on the charge that he had solicited sex in an airport men's room, he said very clearly in the middle of his defense, "I am not gay. I never have been gay. I have never engaged in gay activity." Now, right there, you knew he was gay.

Trust me, I have studied political non-speech for 38 years and I am sharing with you the benefit of that carefully cultivated insight.

What does this have to do with Sarah Palin? In her rambling resignation speech, she said she did not believe in politics as usual. Not three times, but five times she referenced this closely held conviction:

1. "...I promised no more politics as usual."
2. "...Trust me with this decision and know that it is no more politics as usual."
3. "...It's no more politics as usual..."
4. "...No more conventional politics as usual."
5. "...I'm not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual."

Make no mistake about it: Sarah Palin's decision was strictly politics as usual. Her ambition rules her every move. It is too bad that somewhere along the way she didn't let her brain learn some of the substance that her ambition could use today.

She will soon be free to raise the money she needs, to pick up the favors she needs, to assemble the organization she needs to make a run for President in 2012. And the voters will exercise their good judgment at the polls in 2012....and that is the best part of "politics as usual."

"Not your run-of-the-mill recession"

The President performed last night as well as any American citizen had a right to expect. He was informed, articulate and candid with the American people…something we have not heard from recent Presidents. He was just what the country needed: someone in command of the issues and the office. In short, he did a GREAT job last night.

I thought the questions were disappointingly lame...and reflected a lack of understanding of the nation's economic condition....AND what is needed to get us out of it. And then there was that reporter from the Washington Post who, in the midst of the nation's worst economic crisis since the Depression, asked about the President's reaction to New York Yankees’ A-Rod steroid case. Good grief.

Obama’s performance was impressive and may prove to be the tipping point for achieving his first major legislative victory.

Most interesting to me today is steadfast Republican recalcitrance on the stimulus bill.

They are betting the President will fail, they expect the country to fail, and that they alone will be around to pick up the pieces in 2010 and again in 2012. Think about it. The GOP clings tightly to the belief that tax cuts and smaller government are the only answer. That’s their story and they’re sticking to it. Is there no room for anyone with rational thought on their side of the aisle?

To put it another way: The Rs are betting on a total collapse of the economy. By opposing en mass, they are saying they don’t believe the stimulus bill will work. In other words, the “NO” party has no confidence in America.

Let's Move On

I'm done with Sarah Palin. You'll find no more comment here about this unfortunate woman. The GOP spent $150,000 on a new wardrobe for her and she didn't care enough about their political fortunes to find out what the US Constitution says about the duties of the Vice President. She told CNN yesterday that she would be "in charge" of the US Senate and couldn't wait to "get in there with the Senators to change policy." Uh, excuse me, Sarah, but that's not what a Vice President does...and that's made pretty clear by the US Constitution as every elementary grade student learns.

Someone should tell her to read the Constitution some day, perhaps on the plane as she and the "first dude" fly back permanently to their little moose lodge in Wasilla. She will soon have plenty of time to learn more about the three branches of our republican form of government. It shouldn't take more than a day or two for her to find the section of the Constitution that actually describes the limited duties of the "VeePee" -- as she likes to say.