It’s becoming hard to find anyone that isn’t disgusted with government. That certainly includes me but only up to a point.
I believe that Liberals and Conservatives have disappeared from the national discourse over my lifetime. They have been replaced by radicals within both political parties who now control government through the corruption of rent seekers and the frustration of the nation’s center who retreated into resignation and apathy.
The political class has reduced itself to a propaganda machine aimed at self preservation without any concern for the national good. Their success has been breath taking – we are all stupidly and unthinkingly taking sides in every little diversion government and activists invent.
But wait. The 111th Congress took the nation’s rejection of the Bush Administration to new heights of radicalism. The overreach of Democrats under Speaker Pelosi and President Obama on top of the arrogance and incompetence of the Bush Administration awakened the center. We went to town meetings for the first time ever and shouted. At first we were upset by the Affordable Care Act [aka Obamacare] but we quickly included run away deficits and debt and then dozens of other long held resentments.
The result was a rejection of incumbents in a significant number of national districts and in many places, a solid rejection of the local Republican establishment. Activists quickly gave the phenomenon a label in order to facilitate the ongoing propaganda war and business as usual – the “tea party”. This phenomenon was never a “movement” nor has it any leaders or programs. It was strictly anti-incumbent anger by the center of the nation that normally stays home.
The 2006, 2008 and 2010 elections give me great hope. Even more so, the House freshmen in the 112th Congress, who are acting like elected representatives of their districts, doing what they think is right, not always what they promised and certainly not in lockstep with their Republican Party leadership. This is what democratic government is supposed to look like folks.
We should all give credit to Democrats for raising our awareness of the need for medical insurance for everyone – it is an essential ingredient of American competitiveness. Thinking people know that the nation needs a solid safety net. Similarly, we should all give credit to Republicans for raising the nation’s awareness of debt and deficits and the contribution to that problem made by entitlements. Both Parties had become comfortable with leading the nation into the status of Greece.
If we can continue the trend of waking up the center and keeping them engaged, we will find our way back to growth and prosperity. PLEASE everyone: vote in the primaries this year and every year until we return government to competence.
Here are two columns that I think are very worth the time to read and consider.
Government: The Redistributionist Behemoth
By George F. Will
Washington Post
January 6, 2012
Where Are the Liberals?
By DAVID BROOKS
NYT, January 9, 2012
It is my continuing conviction that Americans are fundamentally liberals and that the nation was founded on the principals of individual liberty and absolutely not on either the principals of Christianity or those of communitarianism. Without doubt, it is individual liberty that has come under attack since WW2 and the attack is coming from both political parties.
As stated earlier, the Parties have been overrun by rent seekers and self perpetuation. The solution is national dedication to fiscal responsibility, paying for the services we demand and accountability in every aspect of government and commerce. And stop drinking the activist kool-aid – all of it. To my eye, this is exactly what we’re trying to do at the moment.
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