Government Shutdown...political planning.

I've been following the current budget process in congress (boring crap I assure you) and I've come to a conclusion recently. The current budget problem started the moment the Democrats saw the writing on the wall in the last election cycle. When it became clear that they would retain the Senate but lose the House they decided to punt on the budget. Why? For the political benefit of a Government Shutdown. How does this benefit the Democrats? The clear answer is that the Democrats stand the most to gain by painting the new budget cutting Congress as socially uncompromising and that they are willing to "starve" people in order to cut the budget. Democrats are counting on people to be dependent on Government programs so that they can leverage that for votes in the next election season. They are suggesting the funding Planned Parenthood is more important than paying our troops all while saying that Republicans are willing to let our troops go unpaid just to cut funding to NPR. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. Certainly there should be cuts to every program. But the Democrats aren't willing to let the bastions of progressivism to get cut and so they will notch as many political points as they can by making the "unreasonable" Republican's out to be the "meanies" that don't want women to have breast exams. Does anyone really believe that any Republican doesn't want women to get screened for cancer? While I'm willing to concede that there are a lot of Republican's that would like to see liberal programs eliminated (PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood, etc) to suggest that they want to see women die from breast cancer is hyperbole bordering on insanity. In the end the Republican's will be forced to break down politically because they care too much...not just about their political futures, but about the people that are suffering from the inaction that the Democrats calculated from last year. They calculated that they would gain more support for their "causes" by showing the "misers" as being heartless and willing to let VA hospitals shut down to save a couple billion dollars. They would show that they, the Democrats, are more caring and want to spend more on the "needy" than the Republicans, who are heartless and want suffering for the "little guy" and more money for the "nasty corporations" that cause all the problems in the world (that also employ the little guy...but you won't hear that).
Right now I want the Republicans to give in to the Democrats and start the battle for the 2012 budget today. I want them to fight for deep, punishing, painful, cuts to EVERY program. Every program means, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaide, Military (Defense), social programs, foreign aide, everything. I'm also an advocate for dropping EVERY loophole available to corporations and then cut their tax rate so there's no incentive to cheat, if they know they'll have to pay 25%, period, no exceptions, rather than being subject to 30-60% taxes on their profits with the potential to dodge that if they contribute to this fund or hide this much income, or give away that much product etc., then perhaps the end result will be more revenue for our Government.
So in conclusion to an extraordinarily long post I'll say this...Republicans in Congress...Stand Down...and then  grab your boot straps and get to work on next years budget and focus on winning the Senate and Whitehouse back. Don't let political planning on the part of Democrats prevent you from accomplishing that which you were elected to accomplish.

To see how ridiculous this is getting here's a couple links.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/08/democrat-republicans-against-abortion-came-to-kill-women/
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/07/facebook-event-lets-dump-trash-at-boehners-pad/

Paul Ryan has a plan...now what?

Image via Wikipedia

Looks Presidential to me. You?

Do Paul Ryan has been an inspiration as a Freshman Senator from Wisconsin. He has been a leader and a voice of principle since the day he was sworn in. His most recent efforts for America have been astounding. The $6.2 Trillion budget cuts over the next 10 years are incredible. Everyone knew we had that much available to cut but so far not one person was willing to propose such cuts. The President has sat in his Oval Office and has proposed more spending and taxes and done mathematical gymnastics to show a $1.1 Trillion reduction over the same period. Ryan has proposed cuts that are as close to the bone as one would dare make in such a heated political atmosphere. He has no sacred cows and has cut from the military and reformed Medicare and Medicaid spending to make it more lean. He has avoided the elephant in the room, the aging dynamite that no one in their right mind would touch and that's Social Security. But in general he's gone through the books just like any other household and made the cuts needed to get America's balance sheet in the black. 

So all this effort (I know...he managed to put this together in a matter of months and we still haven't got anything meaningful done for last years budget) in getting our collective crap together and what does it all mean? Does it stand a chance once the bleeding hearts and the pork hungry get hold of it and start the debate? In a word, No.
Paul Ryan may be the man that saved America from the grip of economic ruin and his efforts are doomed from the moment he puts this in front of establishment politicians of every stripe. He speaks fluently the politics of personal responsibility and small government. The problem is that America hasn't got the collective will to stand behind him and force their political parties to come to terms on this budget. Too many people like being taken care of, too many people are happy being dependent. Paul Ryan and the committee he worked with to create this budget are heroes that will never see their day in the sun. To a person like me, that is the most tragic part of this whole story. Seeing light in our future just to come to the realization that it was not in fact a lantern on the horizon but rather a star in a distant galaxy and perpetually beyond grasp.
What do you think...does this budget stand a chance? If it does or doesn't do you think it should be passed?

Temperance and Vengeance

So lately there has been some really heated political rhetoric and even some violence from both sides of the political rainbow.  I want to express my feelings on the way that this has been covered and also on how it has been executed.  There is no question that the political climate is as divided as it has ever been in any living person's memory.  There are talks by some groups of a complete government coup and others are silently trying to marginalize populist movements in hopes that they can continue a coup of their own.  Here's the deal.  Neither of these groups is right.  It seems to me we have two choices when it comes to our political activism.  We can either choose temperance or vengeance.  Temperance will bring everyone closer.  It will give those, who don't have anything to do with the process because of the insanity of both sides, a chance to feel like the can get involved without feeling like they're part of the insanity.  The country was built on temperance.  I know, some of you will point out that it took a violent revolution to create this country.  The premise of this country is built on temperance.  The founders foresaw what could (would) happen if we allowed the political process to be defined by the margins.  They created a Constitution that is at once simple and complex enough to embody the basic tenets of free society.  The process that was used to develop this document was rife with political posturing and grandstanding and philosophical debate.  The end result was that all of the vastness of opinion were distilled and, dare I say it, tempered, into a document that has founded the greatest nation of civilization.  The type of give a little take a little temperance that created this country is the very thing that we are in need of now.  The problem is that one party has took while another party gave for nearly a century now.  Progressivism has given America some very important things namely woman's rights, Civil Rights, and Environmental Protections.  The problem with Progressivism is that it also created things that are not fundamental rights like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, and Education.  These things were seen as for the good of the country and, indeed, it can successfully be argued that some of these contributed to our success as a country (ie Education).  I have a different opinion of some of the entitlements and what they have done to our country.  I see entitlements as being explicitly against the Constitution or at the very least explicitly against the Founder's intent to create a country that enabled liberty and the pursuit of happiness but did not guarantee happiness or anything else for that matter.  We are free to govern ourselves and the government guarantees that freedom by preventing invasion and in all else they should have no power.  By starting entitlements the Progressive movement has created an environment whereby they can subtly change the culture of America.  The heat of the current debate hinges on this very notion.  Many of the most virulent right-wingers view the left as bringing about a socialist/communist/Marxist government that is heavy handed and oppressive just as Stalin, Lenin, Castro, Mao and others have been.  They may have a point.  The problem is that they are so lost in the heat of their passionate distaste that they fail to think and just strait to action, or what I am terming vengeance.  This is no different than those from the left that did similar acts in the 60's.  The difference should be that we temper our resolve to act according to our beliefs and not to our passions.  This is how America should work and how it can work if we choose temperance over vengeance.