Limited Government is the Goal. Change it.

Republicans don’t try to hide it anymore.  The budget isn’t the issue.  We are not broke, we just don’t pay for what we have in order to justify cuts.  So why the cuts?  A good question too few people ask.  But the answer is clear and spoken:  An end to government as we know it.

This nation’s best decades parallel the years when the public sector thrived.  True, there was more equality and opportunity in the United States, but America isn’t about that any more.  Government doesn’t look after the people, it looks after the interests of those who have taken the most from our collective prosperity.

Ironically, most people favoring small government would not be where they are today without the big government we had in the past.  Reason and common sense — often the hope of liberalism — face a challenge, it is too subtle.

Liberals need to regroup and get aggressive.  We need more Clintons and Obamas about as much as we need more Reagans or Gingrichs.  Perhaps it is time to kick these takers in the balls and call them out for their mistakes.  That would be good — and refreshing — but a better strategy includes a strong, forward-thinking agenda.  The left has to do a better job engaging the people.

Blogs and rallies and event election campaigns are little more than background chatter.  It is akin to wringing your hands about the problem of bullying in schools and then quickly crossing the street when you see a kid being bullied down the street in front of you.

It might not be considered “polite” to talk politics, but when you think about it politics isn’t polite.  But the politics of limited government has become so familiar in public discourse that it hardly seems political anymore whether from the left or right.  In fact the left has embraced the idea to its demise, relegating liberals to a perpetually defensive strategy in American politics while electing milquetoast leaders which serve mostly as space holders in public office.

Liberalism in America is a identity waiting for a purpose.  It needs a goal — a liberal goal — not a light version of the opposition’s agenda.  Three decades of tepid liberalism has done more than allow the bad ideas regressive conservatives advance, it has also assisted that agenda.  That has to change.

In the end taking a strong stand might mean short-term losses and more damage to our country, but perhaps it is better to have it happen quickly and painfully rather than slowly soak into the fabric of American society.  Real liberals are dying off.  Young liberals know nothing but the Reagan legacy.  As it is now we are like the poor frog in a pot of water being brought to a boil.  As a society we are not noticing the heat rise and the end it will bring.  That, too, has to change.

Blogs won’t do it.  Politicians are not doing it.  People have to do it.  We need a smarter, more engaged populace.  And that’s kind of frightening.

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One More Post About Politics and Then I Am Sticking to Dreams

After this post — for my health and my sanity — I am steering clear, as much as possible, of politics.  Hereafter I am writing about dreams.

But let me make my non-dream thoughts perfectly clear.   The country is in ruin.   Republicans offer no solutions, only petulance and blame.  Republicans need to go.

I know we are all busy, but it doesn’t take a lot of time to sort this out.  Take an hour or two on a Sunday morning and watch the news shows.  Republicans live in a twisted, dark world that makes no sense.  None.  I don’t understand how anyone can watch these programs and see things differently.  Of course there are the ignorant and perhaps they can be forgiven, but I don’t know if we can have patience for that anymore.

On NPR this morning, for example, Boise Public Radio interviewed a mix of people about the upcoming election.  One participant owns a contracting business and she said she cannot hire new workers because of uncertainty and regulation.  She blames it on Obama.

If she plans to run her business based on the wisdom of GOP politicians, my guess is her small business isn’t going to amount to much.  If there is a contract to be gained, you’ll hire people.  But this business owner has been brainwashed by her party’s leadership to think stupidly.  It is sad, and unfortunately ignorance is a powerful obstacle to growth.

The real blame rests with the bad people running the GOP today.  I don’t think it is out of line to question their motives.  Destroying our government has been a long-standing goal for the extreme right.  As the extreme becomes more mainstream we increasingly find dishonesty in conservative rhetoric.

Look, you cannot be informed of the facts and make claims that our nation’s problems belong to Obama and his four-year term as president, a term that saw absolutely no cooperation from Republicans on any issue.

Moreover, I find it hard to believe that you can have any tenure in politics and not see the trends that started with guys like Reagan, Bush, and (yes) triangulating Clinton bearing the blame for where we are today.

Contrary to the facts, Republicans argue that we are over-regulated and over-taxed under Obama and thus we have our national decline.  It is a laughable argument, but one that dishonest conservative politicians preach as gospel and too many followers suck it up as fact.

Our decline began prior to 2008 when we in fact did start a mad rush to dismantle regulation, lower taxes, and get involved in loads of other problems like wars, defunding social services, and privatizing our government.  Government doesn’t serve the people anymore as it did a generation ago.  It serves the few, the corporate interests, and the politicians gaming the machine.

Listen to a Republican speak on Sunday morning.  Flip the channels.  Do it at random.  It is all the same.  Their rhetoric is despicable, I dare say anti-American.  Who do they serve?  They certainly doesn’t serve the meek followers like the Boise contractor who doesn’t understand how economic demand affects hiring decisions.  How does the pursuit of proven failure help the dying middle class which is seeing its fortunes float to an increasingly isolated few?

Is what we are doing today good for future generations?  That is the question that should be asked.  Better generations before us took pride in building a strong and well-functioning society.  We seem to be going in an entirely different direction today, one where you each looks after himself and we all suffer for it.  Is that America’s exceptionalism?

Republicans know better.  Not even the conservative mind can be so hopelessly empty and unsophisticated.  But they wouldn’t be on the national stage selling their lies if they didn’t have an audience of believers.  That is the problem.

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Preaching to the Choir at the Church of Politics

Breakdown of political party representation in the United States House of Representatives.

Politics is especially divisive and messy today.  Everyone knows that.  And just to get it out there at the beginning, I am not going to pretend this is a bi-partisan issue.  What fails American politics today is an unbalance of discursive power.

Generally speaking the left accedes to the right a contrite sense of shared responsibility for our political failings.  Blame is not a bi-partisan issue and the right knows it.  They are not honest about it, of course, but they don’t care and they are happy to confuse the issue.  The right swings blame like a giant hammer, knocking off opponents with rhetorical ease.

Case in point…compare offers of compromise from the conservative right with those of the left.  First off, you have a hard time finding examples of compromise from the right, and when it does happen those politicians put their careers in jeopardy.  In fact search “compromise” and “Republican” and you likely find a story about the so-called Tea Party condemning a political leader.

And when was the last time — any time, in fact — that you read about a Republican taking any responsibility for our current economic decline.  It is all Barak Obama’s fault.  (Find counter examples and post them in the comments section here.  I need to see some sign of hope.)

Romney For President

Not everyone on the conservative right is an idiot, however.  Smart people there know that our economic malaise is not President Obama’s fault.  First of all he hasn’t been able to get much in the way of policy to do much, good or bad.   Ultimately that is neither here nor there when it comes to politics.    Congress makes policy proposal law.  President Obama does not.  It is so much easier to blame someone else, is it not?  Facts and procedures merely get in the way of power.

This problem will only get worse through the next four months, and almost certainly beyond.  To understand this we only need to see what has become of political “leadership.”

Politicians are not so much leaders as much as they are preachers, and they preach to their increasingly dogmatic followers.  All that will happen between now and November is a lot of blah, blah, blah.  Sadly — I will insist — the failure of leadership falls most firmly on the side of conservatives because they have the ability to engage the power of Congress.  But they won’t do it.

Since 2008, failure is the goal of successful GOP politics.  As long as Barak Obama is in power, success is not an option.

Take the economy as an example.  At a government level, there isn’t much we can do to turn things around.  The primary government players include Congress, the President, and the Federal Reserve.  Of these three, the only one that possesses any meaningful power to act is Congress.  Even during the best of times the President is a minor player, drumming up a party platform and selling it.  The president has very little direct effect on the economy, always has and, unless we change the Constitution, always will.  Congress enacts laws, the President enforces them.

The Federal Reserve hasn’t much it can do either, but it has become sport to blame the Reserve as a de facto wing of the Obama presidency.  In truth, policy options there are tapped out.  All the Federal Reserve can do now is monitor and report.  No one really pays attention anyway, especially politicians.

From a government policy option, Congress has the most power.  If there is an answer in the short term, it will come from Congress, not Obama.  Sadly, we would be in much better shape this were not true.  If President Barak Obama did in fact wield the power conservatives claim he has in hurting the economy, we would be in much better shape today.

But wait a minute, don’t you hear your Republican leaders preaching a sermon about saving American jobs, the economy, and the middle class?  Are they not worried about your children and grandchildren?  They have hijacked that rhetorical trope and, in the face of the facts, get away with it.

Help for a stronger economy is up to a Republican Congress and therefore we can expect nothing.  The party of wrack and ruin needs a depressed economy to maintain its hold on power.

Moreover Republicans use class warfare to divide America.  This enables them to rollback sound economic policy that once supported America’s prominence and power — Ronald Reagan’s Shining City on a Hill — but that shining city is inconsistent with an increasingly paranoid and ignorant conservative ideology that has a long list of social issues to push.

The United States has done a lot of things wrong, according current conservative dogma.  It began taking care of its citizens, protecting its environment, and investing in the future of a shared common good.  Increasingly the rights of the minority were protected against the wishes of intolerant majorities.  But these things cannot stand.  I don’t know, maybe success and shared prosperity ruined us, leading us astray of Christian values.  That isn’t exactly the conservative narrative, but what else in our country’s shining past would cause our ruin?

Conservatives tried to divide us on permissive social issues and largely failed.  Now they divide us on economic issues and succeed.  In a country so enthralled with the myth of independence, this works.

So what can we do?

I don’t hold out much hope in converting the right to joining the left.  It won’t happen.  But I believe a majority of Americans do in fact understand where their long-term best interests are served.  It isn’t in the disastrous policies of conservative politics — politics that too many liberals supported as well in recent years — but in a future that values shared investment and cooperation.

America’s future depends on a progressive majority turning out to vote.  It is that simple.  Apathy is a bigger threat than ignorance at this point.  It is too late to expect some sort of intellectual enlightenment among the dogmatic right.  The disengaged middle doesn’t strike me as a crowd that will study the facts of policy history (they are uncertain for a reason).  Instead it is time to rally.

If you don’t like the way our country looks today, don’t vote for the people who put us here.  Save the country.  Don’t vote Republican.

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Voodoo Economics

Bush delivers a eulogy to Ronald Reagan, June 11, 2004 in the Washington National Cathedral (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People forget that George H. W. Bush coined the phrase Voodoo Economics and for once a Republican talked some sense.  And people also forget that our national debt nearly tripled under Reagan, the voodoo economist, and raised our debt to almost $3 trillion.

That’s bad enough, I suppose, but it gets worse.

People think this “trickle down” strategy actually helped our economy.  Clinton managed to maintain a balance and actually left a “surplus” (not debt free, but more than we needed for expenses less debt payment) before Bush Junior took our debt and nearly tripled it.  By the time George Bush left office it was above $10 trillion.

So how does this tickle down stuff work?

Well, the wealthiest of the wealthy — the so-called job creators — have gained significantly, garnering more than 90% of economic growth since the recession of the kick off.  No pain there.  If you believe supply-siders, the fact that the “job creators” have money, should mean we have jobs.  But we don’t have jobs.  We have more debt, less wealth, and no jobs.

So, by all means, let’s do more of this.  Right?

That’s exactly what conservatives want you to do.  Vote voodoo.  (Which is an odd stance for god-fearing Christian.  But, then again, there isn’t much that is Christian about conservative policy…kick that table in the market square.)   Less is more, we are told, but most of those that are telling us this are worse off themselves and want more of a bad thing.  Does this make sense?

Look at history.  Look at facts.  The American economy, weakened as it is, can absorb the blows of debt if and only if it schedules repayment.  The neglected secret here is we can reschedule payment.  The United States of America is still — despite Republicans best efforts — loyal and responsible to its debts.  We remain the word’s currency.  Investors trust us.  Even in our economic malaise, American debt is cheap and safe.  We can invest in a future that both improves future returns and invigorates current liquidity.  These are good things.

Sadly, conservatives are not about good things.

They weep at the altar of Reagan, who is little more than a naive puppet to the Chicago School and a mediocre sensationalist novelist named Ayn Rand.  Bitter tea at best.  Idiots for certain.

It is high time we cast off the witch doctors and do something good for our nation.  We might even do well to have a guy like George Bush the Elder calling some shots again.  But with a party ignorant of facts and history, that is not likely.

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Random Musings on “The Shining” and Politics

Avoid Paths Bordered in Red

It occurred to me last night while watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) that what we have here is something of a morality play and a harbinger of political trends wrapped into one.  It was a lesson with a warning.  Stephen King was on to something, he could sense it, he had a “shining”, and put into words.  Kubrick sensed it, too, and translated it into a film.  Here’s what  it is…

In a nutshell The Shining tells the story of Jack Torrance coping with failure and a lack of direction.  He’s frustrated and that manifests itself in violence, alcoholism, and insecurity.

Jack aspires then to be a writer, which is the perfect goal for a man in Jack’s situation, and he is given an opportunity to be the winter caretaker of a remote hotel where he will have plenty of time to pursue his literary career.  Jack’s wife Wendy and his son Danny appear a bit apprehensive, but go along and make the most of it.

In my assessment we can draw parallels between the characters in this story and the looming political climate emerging around 1980 and discover Stephen King’s premonition.  While I believe this is very much like a morality play, I’ll resist the temptation to define Good and Evil.  You be the judge.

Turn Right, Damn It!

Jack Torrance represents conservatism in the United States at the time.  Frustrated, impotent, and burdened by an uncertain identity and direction.  Conservatives, as they are wont to do, see the world going to hell in a hand basket, but hadn’t really been able to change its course.  Like Jack, conservatism is looking for its future and frustrated that there is no place for it.

Wendy Torrance represents the status quo.  She’s not an imposing figure.  She’s vulnerable, perhaps handicapped by naivety and fear, but she is strong enough to survive.  She keeps the household running, protects Danny, and even does Jack’s work.  She represents liberalism in America.

Danny Torrance is Jack and Wendy’s child.  He gets dragged around – sometimes literally – between his incompatible parents.  His father hurts him and his mother nurtures him.  Dad is irrational discipline, mom is patient caregiver.  He’s largely unheard even though he has the clearest vision.  Danny has little power to change things, but he is the future and he has the most at stake in this play.  Danny represents the people of the United States.

Dick Hallorann is one other character who needs to be mentioned.  Dick is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel.  Dick represents history and wisdom.  He has seen this play acted out in the past.  He could be the answer to the family’s safety, but no one pays attention to the facts of history.  Dick Hallorann is an important character in this story; a potential anwer and a sane foil to Jack Torrance.

This isn’t going to turn out well…

Finally, there is the Overlook Hotel itself.  Stephen King was brilliant here!  The story starts here, really.  Jack and his family go to The Overlook to start their new life.  Remember Ronald Reagan’s City Upon the Hill speech?  In the film, the hotel literally shines, all lit up from inside and out.  Also note the obvious:  The story is called The Shining.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  I think Stephen King has a crystal ball.  The Overlook represents the United States and the story anticipates Reagan’s conservative revolution.

Like Reagan and the conservative movement he enabled, Good and Evil stand out as clearly as black and white.  They are both ever-present and real.  Problems are to be dealt with directly, or – as in the parlance of the story – they are to be “corrected.”

Government – in this case Wendy – isn’t the solution, it is the problem.  And the people?  Well, follow Danny in this story.  He suffers the outcomes of delusions and poor decisions.  He is, in short, a perfect embodiment of the American people struggling to get ahead.

When the family arrives at The Overlook Hotel Jack is in control.  The conservative revolution has occurred.

Look at some additional parallels between Jack and conservatism.

ü  When Jack is working and Wendy tries to talk with him, Jack shuts her down, abuses and intimidates her; he has no time for her.

ü  Jack hears voices from the past (Nancy Reagan anyone?) and acts on those voices.  Likewise, conservatives selectively look to the past for solutions.  Solutions to correct problems.  Is it a little sign from our filmmaker and writer that Jack and his spiritual mentor talk in racists terms in one part of the film or that Dick Hallorann, the voice of history, is played by black actor Scatman Crothers?  The past is a mix of Good and Evil, like everything else, which is black and white to Jack.

ü  Jack spends days working on his novel, but really is slipping deeper into insanity.  He isn’t writing anything at all, only repeating the same “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” thousands and thousands of times day after day.  Sort of reminds you of conservative rhetoric, doesn’t it?  The same tired clichés and talking points, words without substance, repeated over and over and over.  Serious legislation?  Hell no!

ü  I could talk about violence, but that’s a touchy point.  Conservatives have tossed us into a few pointless wars, turn up the violent rhetoric, and pursue other reckless policies, but I think here King and Kubrick are more subtle.  Trashing The Overlook is a metaphor for trashing government.  In other words, we will “correct” the problem even if it means destroying what we have.

That brings us to other little parallels.  The phones don’t work at The Overlook.  Our country’s infrastructure is failing.  Nice little touch there.

There is an economic lesson here too.  The road to The Overlook is not plowed because back in the long-ago days when the hotel was built there wasn’t much interest in winter sports and the cost of clearing the road was too expensive.  Like a true American conservative, the management of  The Overlook doesn’t seem to recognize that times have changed.  Winter sports is a huge industry now and modern technology might make clearing the road to the overlook economically feasible.  Think winter sports equating to new technology and a cleared road as modern infrastructure.

The American people rather than elect people who will support responsible winter management of The Overlook hires Jack Torrance instead.  And what do they get?  Chased around a maze by a mad man who wants to kill them!

Next time you vote, this kid would appreciate someone other than Jack Torrance.

And what’s the point?  All that violence and damage and backwardness seems to accomplish nothing.  Dick Hallorann shows up – remember he represents history from which the lessons we need exist – and Jack Torrance kills him.  Wisdom is a threat.  All that matters to Jack is power, answering the voices and spirits from the past, and he’ll destroy rather than build to accomplish it.  Does that sound like a liberal agenda or a conservative one?

In the end you have to ask again:  What is the point?  Jack Torrance ends up united with his spiritual world, living in the past as a smiling ghost at a 1921 Independence Day Ball.  So why the axe and the drama?

Stanley Kubrick is said to have liked ghost stories because he thought they gave people an optimistic fantasy about life after death.  I like Kubrick’s spin on things, but you have to wonder why the ghosts at The Overlook seem to think you need to employ horror in order to cross over to better days.  Likewise, I think you have to ask why conservatives employ destruction — rhetorical and otherwise — to achieve a goal.  Smashing what is new to restore what is old again.

I’ll close today’s brief musing on a theme by simply asking you to watch The Shining again and keep my character assessments in mind.  Then tell me:  Am I right or am I wrong?  Isn’t this a story that portends the rise of conservatism in the United States and metaphorically represents the politics we live in today?

I do believe that Stephen King had a shining and Kubrick saw it.

Was all that drama really necessary, Jack?

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Tim Pawlenty is a Knob…And We Can Learn From Him.

Minnesota's Problem Today. America's Problem Tomorrow?

We can learn something from everyone.  We can learn something positive from everyone, too, even people without much originality or substance.  And I think this is a good lesson. 

Take the governor of Minnesota, for example.  Tim Pawlenty.  If you need proof that even the stiffest stuffed shirt can gain popularity, you need to look no further.  To make the point even more impressive, let’s be clear about how good of model Tim really is.

Tim is a knob.  What’s a knob?  In my neighborhood — which was uncomfortably close to Timmy’s — a knob was a dismissive label for guys who simply drove you nuts.  It was a nerd’s way of defining a line between cool and interesting (e.g., nerds) and annoying and inane (e.g., knobs).  Playground stuff, I know, but it has its place here.  We are talking about Tim Pawlenty, after all.

Whether deliberately or simply because he doesn’t know any better, Tim Pawlenty has steamrolled right over his knobbishness.  He lives without any sense of shame or irony whatsoever.  And this is working for him.

Tim is a relatively young politician, for example, who wants to be young and hip, but he has played Elder Statesman right out the chute.  He has no problem doling out grandfatherly advice in folksy chats.   Like many Republicans, he’s struggling to be Ronald Reagan.

And just a cursory review of his speeches shows how much he sprinkles his message with family anecdotes especially those that bring in mention of his wife.  On his weekly radio show — now co-hosted by his wife — we hear his sickly sweet pet name “Honey” for her a few dozen times more than we need to hear it or want to hear it.  His “Honey” sounds flat, stale, stiff — like Tim — so it might be genuine, but a stage director would either change the line or find a new actor.  I wish we’d do both.

As a rule, when politicians start blending their private and public lives it becomes a bit much regardless of political affiliation.  Politicians who talk less about their family earn more points with me.  Pawlenty sees it differently.  He is trying to demonstrate that he’s a good family man, loves his wife, and he is inviting us in.  That’s a little too contrived and a little too intimate for my tastes.  But I’m not a Republican.

Tim Pawlenty is a successful flop.  He is more Barry Williams than David Cassidy, more Bay City Rollers than Rolling Stones…but he doesn’t seem to know it.  And that’s how he does it. 

Tim Pawlenty has been elected Minnesota’s governor twice and he is popular on the talk show circuit.  He does seem to have some popularity although he does not rank high on national polls for future presidential candidates.  (It seems that the rest of the nation is smarter than Minnesota, something you could not say before guys like Tim grew up and ruined the good state they inherited.) 

Tim Pawlenty is a nearly perfect practitioner of the “Fake It Until You Make It” principle of success.  The idea can be applied to sales and politics, which have a lot in common after all.  Build your confidence by pretending you have it.  Eventually you feel confident.  But politicians can do the same thing to build a reputation.  Keep talking like a folksy wise man and people might think you have something important to say.  Keep calling your wife “Honey” and drag her into your little stories and people might feel like they know you and your family.  Keep telling people you have good ideas and they might start to think it is true.

YOU CAN DO IT TOO!  In fact today I am going out the door with the “Pawlenty is Knob” example in mind.  I don’t care how uncomfortable it feels, I am going to fake it until I make it today.  If I feel like backing down, I’ll lay it on extra thick, like a megachurch preacher’s wife appealing again for just one more contribution to her Save the Children campaign.  I might even slap a back or two, tell an off-color joke and wink a lot.  No Willy Loman today!  All Gordon Gekko.  (I’ll let you know how it turns out.)

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y … NIGHT!

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