Quote of the Day
The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.
William Arthur Ward
Reality Check for the Tea Party Express
I understand what triggers the deep resentment of many in the Tea Party--the sense of frustration as progressives, which have the support of maybe up to a quarter of American voters, have essentially rammed through nearly $3T in additions to the federal debt in the first 2 years of the Obama Presidency and continue to add counterproductively to the tax-and-regulate agenda, regardless of polls opposing the agenda. (The Democrats have typically responded by pointing out American sentiment was initially against the Iraq surge in early 2007. This is an apples to oranges comparison in many ways. First, the American people initially supported the decision to liberate Iraq. They lost faith in Bush's handling of the occupation and were worried about Bush escalating involvement, not unlike LBJ's handling of the Vietnam conflict. No doubt if we did a poll after taking heavy casualties in certain battles during WWII, public sentiment would be adverse. Second, one cannot argue that the Democratic Party Health Care Bill was as effectively planned as surge operations; for example, Obama favored a public option and opposed health insurance mandates. Third, American involvement in Iraq touched most Americans only in a tangential manner, but there are a number of things in the health bill which affects us directly or indirectly in multiple ways: for example, it changes how we pay for medical services, it may impact the cost of insurance by mandated benefits now subject to federal regulation, it may affect the quality of health care for senior citizens dependent on Medicare, and it will significantly, adversely affect the federal debt.)
What we have to worry about is that Tea Party supporters paint legislators with too broad an anti-incumbent stroke in their disgust with the federal government. First of all, the GOP incumbents brought different ideas to the table, and the Democrats routinely voted them down with party-line votes. It's a matter of physics. Second, the issue isn't as much with the rank-and-file as with the leadership, particularly Pelosi and Obama. It's probably easier to persuade a Democratic Congressman from a purple or red district to vote for a change in House leadership.
Let's remember that men and women aren't angels, that people who aren't in office are not necessarily better legislators--each incumbent at one point was a political rookie. And certainly, if all you do in vote in angry people whom are against things, without viable solutions of their own , WITHOUT THE POLITICAL SKILLS TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE OTHER SIDE, you simply add to analysis paralysis, business-as-usual in Washington. The Tea Party activists need to look beyond rabble-rousing politicians. No matter what happens this fall, at minimum you will have a Democratic President wielding a veto and a Democratic Senate able to muster a filibuster at will. Does that mean that we are powerless? No. Among other things, we can starve Obama's cancerous federal bureaucratic growth by starving its blood supply: federal funds. We can form a coalition with moderate and centrist Democrats to defang the progressive agenda with crippling amendments.
At the same time, I'm very concerned about the counterproductive steps being taken by some Tea Party participants to support ideologues against McCain (R-AZ) and Governor Crist (R-FL). There have been some counterproductive steps taken to close the primaries (e.g., to independents and moderates). Earth to the Tea Party faithful: McCain and Crist are Republicans whom appeal to independent and moderate voters. Allowing Democrat candidates to move towards the center in a misleading way (like Obama did in the 2008 general election) might even expose a sure GOP win into a possible, even probable loss. If the Tea Party was really interested in influencing elections, it should move towards opening up primaries, not closing them, taking power away from the ideologues whom keep incumbents like Pelosi in power. The Tea Party needs to keep this thought in mind: a more centrist government is less likely to enact extreme, partisan measures. And no not underestimate what a pragmatic Republican can do in terms of fiscal conservatism; Giuliani, not a favorite of media conservatives, significantly changed the status quo in New York City.
I would be very dismayed if ideological Republicans pulled off in the 2008 GOP Presidential candidate's Senate campaign the equivalent of what anti-Iraq Democrats did in 2006 to former Gore running mate Joe Lieberman in Connecticut. McCain has never taken an earmark and has criticized even Defense Department projects with cost overruns. On the other hand, we have a telegenic ideologue in Florida, former House speaker Marco Rubio, whose own handling of campaign contributions raises issues of whether he can be trusted with the public's money; in the meanwhile, we have a fiscally conservative Governor Crist, whom is principally being slammed because of an unfortunate endorsement of last year's stimulus package (mostly for providing Florida with certain funds during challenging times).
Some Notes from the
Southern Republican Leadership Conference
- Libertarian Ron Paul scolded Republicans and Tea Party activists for calling Obama a socialist: "He's a corporatist." It's an interesting take, given how Obama has been meddling with and cutting deals with AIG, the GSE's, the auto industry, the health care sector, banks, etc. But I actually prefer this other definition: corporatism - control of a state or organization by large interest groups; "individualism is in danger of being swamped by a kind of corporatism". Can anyone deny that, for instance, Obama has favored his crony union interests over bondholders, for instance, during the auto industry bankruptcies? Not to mention the interests of green industry companies, teacher and government employee unions, engineering/construction firms in the public infrastructure sector, etc.
- Mitt Romney, who did not attend the conference, narrowly topped CPAC straw poll winner Ron Paul with 24% of the conference straw poll vote; Palin and Gingrich trailed with about 18% each. (Ron Paul has strength primarily with college-age activists.) Romney's strength in particular reflects his private sector success as a venture capitalist, which matches up well against Obama's weak grasp of free market principles and business experience. I still think Mitt Romney is going to have to address the individual mandate and cost issues in the Massachusetts health reform, not to mention the heavy benefit mandates, unsatisfactory wait times and difficulties in finding physicians, etc.
- RNC Chair Michael Steele gave a necessary mea culpa for ongoing distractions, like the recent Hollywood sex-theme establishment kerfuffle. The party can't afford these type scandals as we conservatives approach the mid-term elections.
- I love my home state of Texas. (I live in Maryland, but I am a native Texan and graduated from a Texas high school and colleges.) I just loved hearing excerpts of Governor Rick Perry talk. (There is already some buzz about Perry as a prospective Veep pick in 2012.) Among other things, he criticized President Bush and the GOP Congress for growing big government during their tenure, and he had the following delightful sound bite: "They're being told today that big daddy government has all the answers. That is what we hear from Washington, D.C. that is absolutely out of control. They're saying, don't worry your pretty little heads." I have the following to say in response: "FIRE BIG DADDY! AND FIRE THE NANNY, TOO!" We are all grown up, and we need to be treated with dignity, as the personally responsible people we are.
Bob Gorrell points out that some Republicans are absolutely clueless (e.g., former Senator Trent Lott and Governor McDonnell) when it comes to dealing with sensitive issues involving dark chapters in American history, when people of color were deprived of the very liberties and dignity guaranteed by our Constitution for others. There was a man of uncommon leadership and principle whom fought to reunite a nation and to fulfill its ideals for all people: Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln must never forget the injustices suffered in the past, and still perpetrated in the present by others, to people of color. We must always scrutinize what we do and say, in fact and in appearance, to ensure we honor the best of our heritage and civility to all people and mourn those whom, through no fault of their own, could not participate in the fullness of the American dream.
Musical Interlude: "Feeling" Songs
Boston, "More than a Feeling"
Morris Albert, "Feelings"
Irene Cara, "Flashdance (What a Feeling!)"
Blue Swede, "Hooked on a Feeling"
