Naiveté … Is that the Problem?

While enjoying a glass of wine with friends tonight, I endured some rather sorry talk about politics and the economy.  One man in particular raised much concern.  Admired by his friends, he is a “self-made” man and he isn’t afraid to tell you so.

One of his admirers asked what he thought of Minnesota’s looming shutdown.  His answer was pathetic.

“Government has done nothing for me,” he answered, “so I don’t care much about politics.”

He also explained how he came from a family of Democrats.  He said his family learned to expect handouts and grew lazy.  I don’t know his family so perhaps he is telling the truth.  Perhaps he comes from a family of freeloaders, but it is a mistake to generalize from one experience and freeloading isn’t limited to Democrats alone.  But that isn’t really what I care about.  It is demonizing government that troubles me because in this case it seems to arise from naivete.

This man bragged about escaping his Democratic roots and claims he did it all on his own.  But if his parents were such freeloaders, does he think he would have had the opportunities he obviously made the most of without the benefit of some effort preceding him?

What about his health, education, and security?  Would he have done so well — especially with freeloading parents — had better people neglected to support a strong social infrastructure?  Today he has a successful business.  If he had no government regulating and securing commerce, would he be able to enforce his contracts and protect his investments?  What about the benefits of the streets and parks he enjoys…or the clean water and air?

Ok…this list of benefits becomes tiresome to review and it goes on and on.  We all know the facts.  But there are many people who do not.  They don’t even give credit for the most obvious benefits that strong public investment gives us.  And this sort of naiveté is hurting our country.

We need a more sophisticated citizenship than this.  Sadly, however, the GOP thrives under this sort of ignorance.  If we had less ignorance, perhaps the Republican Party would not be the problem,  but it might be part of the solution.  Right now being naive is the only genuine quality you might be able to attribute to conservatives.  Until that changes, Republicans will not add much to public discourse and political solutions.

Alas, we are stuck in a world of haves and have nots. Increasingly the divide between intellectual haves and have nots are breaking our society.  Conservatives like to claim an allegiance with our nation’s founding fathers.  Perhaps they can learn to identify with our founders’ respect for civil responsibility.

Perhaps not.

Something has to change.  It is time to care about politics.

Obama’s Fading Rhetorical Power

President Obama is going flat.  I noticed today as he spoke about the economy that he fails  to deliver his message in two key ways.

First, the message he is sending is not clear and, second, it isn’t very simple. 

Today’s speech about the economy hit on some very broad ideas.  They are the interconnected problems of economics, jobs, and taxes.  Obama sort of scrambles these together and spices it up with some rhetorical tropes about billionaires and corporate taxes, but he fails to lay out a plan we should care about and more importantly WHY we should care.

It was not until halfway through his speech before he mentioned fairness in a context that matters.  Prior to this he talked about how billionaires, corporate jet owners and oil companies could afford higher taxes and should pay their “fair share” before we ask more of senior citizens and working families.  Ok, fair enough, so to speak, but he is creating sound bites for the irrational right.  He sounds like the redistribution of wealth demon that the right makes him out to be when he talks that way.  His entire argument seems to be based on a logic that the wealthy should pay more because they can pay more.  That doesn’t win the argument.

I would rather hear President Obama start with the undisputable question of fairness.  Why, for example, do people who have more income tend to pay a lower percentage of taxes on that income in real terms than most of us, even the most poor among us who do indeed pay taxes through payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and tax redistribution when they spend money on practically anything?

I believe if we made the facts clear that the people most capable of paying taxes get the best tax deals might be a good start at changing the politics of taxes in this country.  Instead Obama tries to co-opt the rhetoric of the right and that is not persuasive.

Second, why will taxes help the economy and in turn help job growth?  Obama does a better job here, but I would like to hear him take an aggressive position and hold it.  Obama is afraid to say that government investment will create jobs.  He hedges.  Don’t hedge.  Tell us what we need in government investment — infrastructure, for example — and tell us that meeting this need will put people to work.  Government projects create jobs.  Say it.  Defend it. 

Say it and defend it is probably the most useful advice we can give our president.  If he were writing a research paper or participating in an oratory contest I’m afraid he would get average grades at best.  Give us your idea — your thesis — tell us what it is you’re all about, defend and support it, and tell us again. 

Instead Obama keeps trying to frame his argument by reframing the positions of his critics.  It is hard to be powerful when always on the defensive.  Get off your heels and on your toes.  Push and then push some more.

Economic facts support stronger government investment.  The sooner we see a prolonged economic recovery the sooner the economy will grow.  Economic growth will make it easier to pay the investments we must make today.  Remember the surpluses of the 1990s?  Until we got all whacko on voodoo economics, we saw what a sound mix of economic policy and progressive politics can do for our country.  That should be the POSITIVE supporting story of President Obama’s speech, not divisive attacks on stereotypes like Big Oil and billionaires.  Fairness will find them — and help them — if we enact more sane economic policies.

We need a more aggressive leader with a simple and positive message; our president needs to be direct and consistent; and most importantly he needs his own message.  Right now he looks more like a negotiator trying to find a space at the table.

Minnesota’s Shutdown and My Car

[DRAFT]  Here in Minnesota we are closing in on a state government shutdown and my car is in the garage for what will likely be expensive repairs.  The GOP is fond of drawing analogies between families and government or business and government.  I seem to be standing in one of those analogies right now.

Minnesota’s impending shutdown is frustrating.  It is like watching a piano falling from a tall building in slow motion.  Everyone knows it is going to smash on the sidewalk below and take out a few unsuspecting pedestrians with it, but that’s ok…let it fall.  Options to avert disaster exist, but we do nothing.

Yesterday my car broke down.  If I were Minnesota’s wise GOP, it would still be in a parking lot in Buffalo, Minnesota.  But my car is something I cannot neglect.  Without it my business stops and my quality of life drops.

Fixing this car is an unexpected cost and costly delay, but it must be done.  Furthermore I must do it right.  I cannot tell the garage to simply cut my starter and make the car work without it.  I also cannot order them to get the job done in half the time with half the people.  I need my car and more importantly, I need it to work.

Maybe I could tell my garage to cut waste.  I’m sure there is a lot of excessive spending at that garage.  I saw a coffee maker in the back room, for example, and for the life of me I don’t know how coffee helps make my car run.  They probably take breaks, too!  Lazy workers, overpaid managers.  Horrible.

Nevertheless, it is what it is.

I am investing in my car.  It is an unexpected and unpleasant cost, but not having a working car will cost me more in the future.  I have clients to meet, sales to make.  If I don’t have my car my ability to build my business suffers.  I won’t be very happy if I cannot get out of town or buy my brunello either.  A car is an important part of my economic success and supports my quality of life…very much in the way that a strong government supports economic growth and quality of life.

Minnesota has been running on seven cylinders — or less — since before the Pawlenty/Sutton GOP years, but things got dramatically worse under their political backwardness.  Much worse.  Look at where we are today compared with decades ago.  Better or worse?  And still the GOP demands that we gut our government to pre-1930s standards.  That is kind of like abandoning the Ferrari for a Model T.  Both are “cars”, but one will get you from point A to point B faster and in better style than the other.

Can we afford it?  Yes.  Do we have a choice?  No.

A growing economy supports all interests, a dying economy disproportionately harms the neediest first, all of us eventually.  I could save $500 and not fix my car, but it would cost me many times that in lost opportunity.  It is no different for our government.  Failing to invest destroys our future opportunities.

I need to run and pay for my car.  Well, not literally run…I’ll walk.  Awfully nice day for a walk, but storm clouds loom and I don’t see a lot of silver lining in those clouds.

(Will edit and link later.  Zemanta still not working.  Out of time.)

Tim Pawlenty Still the Poster Child

Even as Michele Bachmann shows how deeply the GOP has fallen, Tim Pawlenty remains the party’s poster child.  Petulant, erratic, and lost, he also has a knack for hypocrisy, perhaps the key GOP personality trait.

Pawlenty, predictably enough, attacked Barak Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.  He complained that the president should listen to his generals because they are the military experts who know the facts in Afghanistan.  Politics, Tim says, should not steer military strategy.

He seems to be suggesting that we should defer to the experts, does he not?   Well, that’s a unique view from a guy who lets his opinions trump the facts in matters of economics, environment, energy, health care, tax policy…you name it.  Tim is known for saying people are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.  Great advice, wise old sage wannabe, but advice most ignored by Pawlenty and his party.

So I am waiting for a fact-based argument that supports a GOP policy position…any policy.  Perhaps a position on Afghanistan is an opportunity for a GOP position to be supported by facts.  (Hint, hint.)  I don’t care what it is.  Someone prove there is even a glimmer of intellect and reason over there on the right and we’ll post it here on A Little Tour.

And keep an eye on Pawlenty before he has no choice but a move to Fox.  To paraphrase Nixon, a Republican from the GOPs better years, we won’t have Timmy to kick around much longer.

I Am Coming Back…

Bad Hair. Bad Ideas.

I took a somewhat unsuccessful hiatus from politics for the last two weeks.

Believing that the GOP is too stubborn and stupid to do anything benefiting the State of Minnesota, I thought I could safely pull back and not really miss anything of importance.  Of course I would miss the petulant Koch and Zellers duo whine and Michel posture, but that childish behavior isn’t even fun to belittle anymore.  So I was correct.  I didn’t miss much of any importance…but do I have a notebook full of ideas, mostly about ducks and butterflies and wind sweeping through the trees.

I also discovered that I am a lazy blogger.  I miss Zemanta, that WordPress doo-hickeythat would suggest hyperlinks for me.  Most of my links to articles and my photos I get myself, but I don’t like to Google Koch and  Zellers — Who would?  It is like discovering something unpleasant stuck to the bottom of your shoe — just so I can link to their profile page.  Someone help me restore Zemanta!

Until then, I’m off to the golf course.  I don’t play golf very well, but I try, which is more than I can say for the GOP so far this century.

More GOP Tripe

The Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee is busy doing what Republicans do best, skewing political positions by misrepresenting the facts.

Today on the StarTribune website they have been running a link pinning the blame for an impending shutdown of Minnesota state government on Governor Mark Dayton.  They suggest that not only can Mark Dayton personally endure a shutdown but that he strategically wants the shutdown.

Perhaps Republicans should worry less about people they think can endure a shutdown and worry more about those who cannot.  Moreover everyone will be worse off if we suffer a government shutdown.  There is no good reason for a responsible person to want a shut down.  The GOP simply does not get it.

Of course a large group of poorly informed or unsophisticated Minnesotans will believe the GOP’s false argument, and too many of them are elected representatives in our government.  That is the diseased core of so much that is turning back the clock on Minnesota’s progress.

Arguing that Mark Dayton wants a government shutdown is a not-so-well-thought-out opinion.  It is Mark Dayton, after all, who has made sincere and real efforts to compromise and negotiate.  The GOP, on the other hand, pouts and digs in, making their agenda a priority over the interests of the state.

Let’s not forget that more Minnesotans back Governor Dayton’s positions compared with the agenda of the GOP.  If Republicans did not want a shutdown, they could respond to the political and fiscal reality we face and work with our governor.  Instead they block progress and blame Governor Dayton.  Typical GOP strategy.

First of all, if you want to blame a governor, the governor who bears the blame is currently running for president.

Tim Pawlenty and his misguided belief that we can get more if we do less left Minnesota starved for resources.  The result of ransacking our public services and underfunding our budget is clear.  In an economic crisis we have no investments to fall back on, no room for adequate cuts.

Pawlenty and the GOP left Minnesota unprepared for fiscal disaster.  To turn around now and blame the current administration for this problem is irresponsible.  It is far worse to do nothing to help fix the problem you created, and this is exactly what the Republicans are doing today.

To think like a Republican you must suspend all understanding of cause-and-effect, you must live in a naive world where what you did yesterday has no bearing on conditions today and likewise where today has no ramifications for tomorrow.  Better people grew out of this kind of immaturity as school children when many of us were taught integrity and responsibility.  That is a lesson today’s GOP never learned.

 

 

Why We Should Leave Weiner Alone…

Very briefly, a couple issues come up when arguing that Representative Anthony Weiner should resign because he contacted women on the internet and sent lewd photos to them.

First, Democrats seem to be making the same kind of arguments that they were critical of when Republicans called for Bill Clinton’s resignation following the Monica Lewinski affair.  How does this square?  I am not sure it does.  Perhaps Democrats are more personally offended because Weiner is one of their own, but I don’t know that personal offense is the kind of objective standard you need when enforcing standards.

More importantly, however, the Democrats are showing again how accomplished they are at creating chaos and losing control of a message.  Wouldn’t the better approach to this situation have been a more unified and simple response, something along the lines of owning up to a personal mistake and then moving on?  Instead Democrats have joined their natural enemies on the right and continue to stir up the pot.

Rather than this story losing momentum in the 24/7 news cycle where Americans have a tragically short attention span, Democrats have ensured that the story has life by piling on over the course of days additional calls for resignation.  I’m sure today yet another “prominent” Democrat will add his or her name to the list of people saying Weiner should resign, giving the press another reason to once again make news of this story.

Moreover, Democrats are giving conservatives an open door through which they can run.  Democrats are also providing a distraction from more serious issues, such as what we are going to do about the government debt limit, our wars overseas, and numerous domestic policy issues affecting everything from the courts to the environment.

It seems to me that the Anthony Weiner scandal has been nothing but a public relations disaster for Democrats and is symptomatic of Democrat inability to control discourse generally.

Questions for the Next GOP Debate

Tonight’s GOP debate in New Hampshire proved only one thing, one thing we all pretty much understand without killing an hour or two watching a debate:  The GOP candidates for president will fall all over each other to spew the same empty and misleading rhetoric and soundbites that will steer this country further off course.

We won’t get meaningful answers to questions that matter so why not open the scope of questioning a little?

I propose a list of better, more interesting questions for the next debate.  I’ll get started here and you can add more in the comments section.  Here we go:

 

Do you believe everyone deserves equal protection under the law and is entitled to equal rights?

Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?

How old is the Earth?

Did God design and create Shih Tzus?  Poodles?  Great Danes?

Spell embarrassment.

Are you a paranoid and ignorant bigot?

Why does progress scare you?

What magazines and newspapers do you read?

Define irony.

How is milk homogenized?

Why are you here?

If you appoint partisan judges, are you attempting to legislate through the courts?

Who is your favorite living dictator?  Favorite dead dictator?

Is Global Warming good for caribou?

What is your opinion about the Femina Miss India contest?

Comment:  “I’m ok, you’re ok.”

Do you think for yourself?  Give one example.

Why are some people poor and some people rich?

What are fossil fuels and how were they made?

How have Republicans made a contribution to helping President Obama save and rebuild our economy?

Are your parents comfortable with the swimsuit round?

Name a positive policy contribution Republicans have made in recent decades.  Give tangible results showing success.

Is Ronald Reagan John Galt?

Define singularity.

How has the GOP benefited the middle class over the last 20 to 30 years?  Give tangible evidence to support your answer.

What is the difference between fact and opinion?

Are you insane?

 

Tell me I’m wrong on this one…

A short post before I take my late-afternoon (now early evening) nap.

It is windy as heck here in Minneapolis.  So what will be mentioned on every freaking damn local newscast tonight?  Hair!  I guarantee it.  Look…there isn’t a more insecure crowd out there than the local news stiffs trying to look pretty AND smart all at the same time.  And nothing…and I mean NOTHING…gets them more riled up than hair problems.  I won’t mention names, but…there’s a channel between 3 and 5 in our town that tops them all.  And that’s the best station in town!

I’m handsomely near-bald (shave a lot of it) so what do I care?  Pish posh.  My windows are wide open and I’ll let the wild winds — dust and all — blow through my hair as I dream of little lambs playing on grassy windswept knolls.

While I nap, you read.  Scroll down and read one of my better posts.  Tell your friends when you find one.  (Send a note to me, too.)  Righty now…Nap time.

(P.S.  If you’re a Republican, the channel between 3 and 5 is 4.  Don’t say I’m not out here trying to help.)