Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.
Plutarch
GOP "Pledge to America": Comme Ci, Comme Ça
I have not had an opportunity to read the document firsthand, relying on secondhand sources. (Any faithful reader knows that I prefer to use original sources when available.) The GOP didn't ask for my take, and of course I'm not one of hundreds of candidates running for Congress, but I can tell you how I would approach the mid-term election:
- This is NOT the GOP From 4 Years Ago. Fresh faces, new ideas, focused on cutting government costs and waste and limiting scope to core federal competencies.
- We Are Looking To Grow the Private Sector, not the Public Sector. We need to hold the line on government intervention, open new doors for American goods and services, increase the responsiveness of government services to businesses (e.g., drug approvals) and individuals, streamline and simplify taxes and regulations, and make businesses taxes globally competitive.
- We Are Going to Address the Government Bubble. We need to restore traditional spending and debt as a percent of GDP. we have to contain exploding entitlement costs and an unsustainable national debt.
- We Will Approach Policy in a Civil, Flexible, Inclusive Manner. We recognize with a Constitutional balance of powers we have to reach pragmatic solutions with the President and opposition.
- We Will Never Forget that the Concerns of the American People and Businesses Come First. We need to provide businesses with the stability, clarity, confidence, and incentives they need to grow their businesses and hire more workers. We will provide assurances that Americans who have invested in government trust funds during their careers will have sustainable benefits at retirement, and we will ensure that existing commitments will be met, but not at the expense of future generations.
- We Will Put an End to Divisive Class Warfare Politics. A rising tide lifts all boats.
- We Will Stop Government Meddling in the Economy. No more TARP's, no unfair competition by the subsidized GSE's (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), no more picking winners (e.g., green energy companies) and losers (oil and gas companies) in the economy, no more cutting special deals with unions in bankruptcy proceedings, no more unaccountable czars, etc.
- We Will Have More of a Complementary vs. Adversarial Relationship with States and Individuals. There needs to be an end to an adversarial relationship where a Louisiana governor had to wait on federal bureaucrats to protect his coast during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill crisis, states can no longer depend on the federal government to handle undocumented immigrant issues, and states find the federal government empire building over health care usurping their traditional regulatory authority. Businesses and individuals find themselves penalized for not offering or buying health insurance.
I could go on, but this is a good start. I do like the first priority of the Pledge to America being job creation. I like the setting of specific fiscal goals, like reducing federal spending to levels prior to the economic tsunami. However, many of the ideas are simply a retooled version of what the GOP has been running on for years, and I don't ever think it's a good idea to set false or unrealistic expectations about repealing health care, given the fact that the Dems will, at minimum, be able to block legislation in the Senate they don't agree with and the fact that Obama wields a veto pen. However, I do think that the GOP can starve the misguided health care and financial reforms of necessary funding.
Let me conclude this initial reflection by responding to Pelosi's feedback: "Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of Americans and threaten our economy." The "failed economic policies" reflect an abiding faith in the free enterprise system, not the proven failure of Democrats to micromanage a feeble economic recovery. It wasn't the Republicans whom grew the market share of GSE's from roughly 6% to nearly 50% and created financial instruments ultimately guaranteed by the American taxpayer. It wasn't the Republicans whom frittered away the past 18 months pursuing health care, financial reforms, and climate change legislation with nearly 15 million unemployed Americans. And since, once again, Pelosi trotted out Obama's argument that we can't afford to continue the marginally lower tax rates for the highest tax brackets over the past decade--for higher-earning individuals, not the middle-class of course. Why $700B (arithmetic effect) of continued tax savings is fiscally irresponsible for the biggest tax payers, but three times that amount for middle-class taxpayers is not, is of course dubious.
Castle Leaving the Door Open For a Write-In Effort: Thumbs UP!
Sean Hannity is beginning to annoy me with his schoolyard taunts of Lisa Murkowski, Charlie Crist, and Mike Castle as "sore losers" and attacking them for not endorsing the results of manipulated primaries. Two of the candidates, Joe Miller and Christine O'Donnell, have not held elective office. Marco Rubio spent 8 years in the Florida House, the last 2 as the Florida House Speaker; however, Crist will have spent 8 years as state attorney general and governor, with additional experience as a state senator and an education commissioner. There is no question that all three "sore losers" were the best qualified candidates in their races and would have won their elections as the Republican nominee.
I understand that there are no guarantees in elections and the better candidate sometimes loses. That was clear in the 2006 Lieberman-Lamont race for the Democratic nomination; Lamont was a one-issue candidate, namely against Lieberman's support of the war in Iraq. Lamont, like Miller and O'Donnell, won a very tight race. The fact is, Lamont had little support beyond his progressive supporters, and Lieberman clearly had broader appeal to moderates and independents.
Hannity desperately wants Castle to endorse O'Donnell, but endorsements don't really mean that much. O'Donnell and Hannity should be ecstatic that Castle hasn't pulled a Dede Scozzafava (the NY-23 special election several months ago which ) and endorsed Coons. I have mentioned in past posts (and stand by those views now): I think that the Republicans had a failure of properly vetting their candidates, and I don't see the logic of backing a candidate you don't believe in good conscience is qualified for the office; all an endorsement does, under those circumstances, is undermine your credibility and integrity. I also believe in a big tent concept, and the ideological races drive more centrist candidates and party members out of the party. Poor O'Donnell; she thinks it's so unfair. After all, she would have supported Castle (whom had been repeatedly winning elections statewide in Delaware for decades without her support).
Castle told the press that he hasn't closed the door on a write-in campaign, but he notes the inherent difficulty. The issue is giving Delaware voters a real choice... I hope he does it, and he'll have my unqualified support.
Political Humor
"Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin is on 'Dancing With The Stars.' And I'm telling you something, you can't get any bigger star than the daughter of a vice presidential loser. That's as good as it gets there." –David Letterman
[Making jokes about Sarah Palin's daughters again, Dave? Not smart... Next thing you know, Sarah will insist that you were really talking about Piper Palin's recent dance recital, she'll call for the termination of the security person whom let you into the audience and get a restraining order against you...]
An original:
- I've never watched the show, but Dancing With the Stars has featured some prominent social conservative figures like Tom DeLay and Bristol Palin, a high-profile spokesperson for a national teen abstinence campaign. You know what that means: "Christine O'Donnell, you've just lost the US Senate race in Delaware... Where are you going now?" "I've packed up my dance shoes and am headed for Dancing With the Stars..."
Musical Interlude: The American Songbook Series
Frank Sintra*, "I Get A Kick Out Of You" (another Cole Porter classic)
(* My collection has a Rosemary Clooney cover)
