The Republican Medicare Myth

For Pretty Much the Whole Year since the world economy fell apart under the stewardship of former President George W. Bush, the Hot Air Force of Conservative American media combined with congressional and gubernatorial Republicans have taken what pleasure they can find in shooting slings and arrows at current President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress.

It's Like Shooting Donkeys in a Barrel, on the one hand.

But on the Other Hand, any self-respecting American elephant with a sincere interest in advancing the American Way of Life would find embarrassment in the economic and political state that those years of Republican Rule skidded America into. Such persons would have worked a bit harder to help put things back in order, and would have shown less relish in trying to foist their own failures onto their political opposition.

Listening to the Likes of the Republican Leadership such as House Minority Leader John Boehner and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor stand up and take partisan potshots at Democrats has been a transparent effort to make fun of Democrats for the mess that the Republicans made and left for the rest of the free world.

The Republicans Have Forgotten that the purpose of politics is not to score points, but to run the country. And sometimes that means putting ideology aside.

Since the Early Days of Medicare back in 1965, the Republicans have led the charges against this program essential for helping to keep senior citizens out of financial ruin in their twilight years.

“Socialized Medicine!” has been the Republican verdict all these years. “It's too expensive!” they have yelled. Even as this “socialist” program has grown to become one of the Nation's most-popular government programs ever.

In a Recent Posting on Our Companion Blog, Ideology Aside, Gozo Usa analyzes how the apparent failures of Medicare on a fiscally responsible basis result from Republican obstructionism, and not from any flaw inherent in the system. Writes Usa,

[S]ince 1965, for almost 45 years, the Republicans have worked to keep it so that the most-expensive health care that can be paid for, is paid for out of your pocket and mine.....The Republicans have made sure that Medicare is almost-impossible for America to afford.....[They] have worked for almost 45 years to kill Medicare. It’s time to put this destructive Republican ideology aside.

The Problem with Being Reactionary is that you can only do your best work when the other side sticks its neck out and tries new things. Such as Social Security and civil rights and voting rights and Medicare.....AKA “socialized medicine.”

It's Time to Put “Ideology Aside” and include America's low-risk, low-cost population in the high-risk, high-cost health-insurance pool.

In the Long Run, America Eventually Will Join the rest of the developed world, along with the not-so-developed world, and provide universal health care that the whole of the Nation can afford.

In the Mean Time, America Needs a “Public Option.” We don't need to reinvent the wheel of universal healthcare coverage, when so many different plans around the world show us what works and what doesn't. We can pick and choose, learning from the rest of the world's mistakes. We will come up with the world's best universal coverage, combining capitalism's best practices to make healthcare affordable, once and for all. But in the mean time, America needs that “public option.”

Please Read the Entire Post at Ideology Aside:

Democrats Want Health Care That’s Affordable; Republicans Want Medicare to Die

And Then Let Your Elected Officials Know, one way or the other, what you think.

Citizens to Own Shares of Rescued Wall Street Companies

“WASHINGTON — President Obama’s top economic advisers have determined that they can shore up the nation’s banking system without having to ask Congress for more money any time soon, according to administration officials.

“In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials now say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government’s existing loans to the nation’s 19 biggest banks into common stock.

“Converting those loans to common shares would turn the federal aid into available capital for a bank — and give the government a large ownership stake in return.

“While the option appears to be a quick and easy way to avoid a confrontation with Congressional leaders wary of putting more money into the banks, some critics would consider it a back door to nationalization, since the government could become the largest shareholder in several banks.”

—Edmund L. Andrews,
“U.S. May Convert Banks’ Bailouts to Equity Share,”
The New York Times, April 19, 2009

Republicans Are Predictably Outraged at this potential to “nationalize” American banks and turn America into “a socialist state.” But think about this:

If Republicans Would Pull Their Heads out of Their Ideology, and turn their thoughts toward constructive solutions—instead of always shouting out, “Just Say No!—just think what we could achieve.

Take This Proposal For Example:

The American Shareholder Plan

Now That President Obama’s Top Economic Advisors have begun turning taxpayer TARP loans into shares of common stock, it’s time to take another look at the ASP—the American Shareholder Plan.

(For Our Description of this taxpayer/shareholder proposal, see October 11, 2008:
“ASP: The American Shareholder Plan.”)

Conservative Americans Oppose Nationalization of publicly owned companies: Under the ASP corporate ownership gets taken out of the hands of government, and into the hands of private, American citizens.

Conservatives Oppose the “Moral Hazard” of rescuing profligate private companies such as A.I.G. and Citigroup. By giving ownership to individual taxpayers, the ASP makes sure that those on Wall Street who got us into the current mess pay the price—through loss of ownership. Thus, moral hazard comes at a real cost.

Liberal Americans Are Angry at the Investment Banks and Insurance Companies that have put the economy at risk, and countless Americans out of their homes and out of work. The ASP puts shareholder rewards in the pockets of the American taxpayer. Under the ASP, all citizens stand to benefit.

Americans Right and Left Share Concerns about Social Security. Republicans under the administration of President George W. Bush lobbied for private retirement accounts under the Social Security umbrella. The ASP can provide the basis for such private accounts—at no additional cost to the Federal Government and the American taxpayer.

For Once, Wall Street Need Not Benefit Alone from these historic excesses. Those who bear the real cost—the American taxpayers—receive the real benefit, in the form of stock-ownership that accrues toward each American’s retirement and education and health care.

If the American Shareholder Plan Raises Questions for You, please post a comment below or send an email to: channelingbarackobama@yahoo.com.

Otherwise, Please Write Your Senators and Representatives. If you’d really like to own a share of America, let your government officials know.

And If Your Congresspersons Happen to Be Republicans, please let them know about pulling their heads out of their ideology. It's time for the Republican Party to get back to work supporting America.

What Took Them So Long? (The April Fools!)

Key Features of the Alternate Budget Proposal put forth today by the Republicans as an April Fool’s Day joke include:

Tax cuts
A simplified income-tax system
A freeze on domestic spending
The persistence of market-based health-care
A repeal of most of the spending in Barack Obama’s recently passed economic stimulus bill*

It Comes as No Surpise that we get the same old, tired stuff....

The Proposal Is a “Thinly Veiled Plan” to impose a Republican-tax-cut, more-of-the-same economy on those Americans who lack the benefit of million-dollar bonuses and severance packages.

It Begs the Overriding Question:

Why Did They Wait So Long?

The Republican Party Controlled the Entire National Government from January 2001 until January 2007. All three branches of government. The White House. Both houses of Congress. The Supreme Court majority.

If Ever a Political Party Wanted a Chance to test its theories, that was the time.

Instead, for More Than Six Years, the Republican Party chose to do something else.

And Whatever Else It Was That They Did, it didn’t work.

What Stood in Their Way (giving them the benefit of the doubt) was:

Terror!

During That Time, Nothing Else but “terror” mattered, and nothing could have stopped them from imposing their theories on the rest of us. Instead, they demurred. They delayed. They deferred. They......did something else.

No One Likes What They Did. Not American citizens and not the rest of the world. We and the rest of the world are ready for change.

But Now Here They Go Again. And what are the Republicans’ two messages?

First: Cut Taxes! Cut Domestic Spending that directly benefits American citizens.

And Second:

Terror!

The Republicans Are Terrified. They are terrified of deficit spending, as if they have a monopoly on this fear. They are terrified of government health care, such as the VA and the health care that Congress gets.

Here Is Some Insight for the Republicans and their fears:

We Are All Afraid Right Now.

We Are Afraid of Big Spending. We, too, fear trillion-dollar deficits, and debt that may fall on the backs of our children. We fear for our jobs and our mortgages, our hospital bills and our old age.

But We Will Not Be Enslaved by our fears.

America Remains
“the Home of the Brave”

What Separates Republicans from the Rest of Us is that the rest of us face our fears and go forward, as we always have before.

But the Republicans, with Six Full Years to Test Their Theories, chose cowardice. They chose to wallow in fear. They de-regulated like crazy, and they insulted the rest of the world and they waged war where they chose, and they spent our money like there was no tomorrow.

Today’s Americans Face Our Fears for Tomorrow:

Now it Is up to the American Taxpayer to pay for twenty-eight years of Republican-led indebtedness.

We Choose Courage Over the Empty Promises of Terrified Republicans. Yes, we are afraid—as much of losing our jobs and our houses as we are of trillion-dollar deficits. But we face the future with courage.

America Will Prevail, as we always have in the face of great adversity. Left with the debacle of the Republican Era, we turn our eyes forward, to the next horizon.

And So to the Republicans and Their “New,” Old Ideas, we say, “thanks, but no thanks.”

We See This Budget Proposal of Failed Ideology, and we say:

April Fools!

__________

*You can read the AP feature story, courtesy of Yahoo, which serves as our source, at:
“Republicans propose big tax cuts, spending curbs.” See also the article on Paul Ryan’s statement from The Wall Street Journal: “The GOP's Alternative Budget.”

The Constant Carping of the Conservatives (Part 2)

When Is a Budget Not a Budget?

Earlier This Week, the Republican House Minority Leader, John Boehner of Ohio, released an eighteen-page pamphlet which he presented as an alternative budget. The presentation was a sad spectacle. It was presented as an argument against President Barack Obama’s assertion that the Republicans had not presented an alternative budget. But the “budget” that Congressman Boehner flashed to the media was only 18 pages long—and lacked figures.

Then, Later, Wisconsin Republican Representative Paul Ryan Stepped Forward to report,

“There was some confusion as to what was released on Thursday; that was not our alternative budget.”

According to Congressman Ryan, Congressman Boehner’s pamphlet presented:

“a broader Republican economic agenda.”

But Here’s What Congressman Boehner Actually Said:

“Two nights ago, the President said, ‘We haven’t seen a budget yet out of Republicans. Well, it’s not true, because.....here it is, Mr. President.”

Constant Reader, See and Hear the Video for Yourself:
Republican Budget Proposal

So Which Republican Leader (If Any) Is Telling the Truth?

Listening to Both Republican Gentlemen, it’s hard to tell.

• Was there a Republican budget at the time that President Obama said that there wasn't one?
• Was Congressman Boehner's pamphlet without numbers actually a budget?
• Was Congressman Boehner's budget actually the Republican alternative budget?
• Is Congressman Ryan really the Republican Representative who is going to present the Republican alternate budget next week?
  

If One Did Not Know Better, one might think that these Republicans are just “playing politics” with the American people—at a time when many Americans have more-urgent things to do then to decipher what the Republicans mean right now, what they stand for besides the familiar “lower the taxes” and “cut Democratic spending.”

Republicans Don’t Usually Seem to Have Anything Better to Do these days than to play politics. Going back to Congressman Phil Gramm, who lobbied to destroy the Glass-Steagall Act and then called America, “a nation of whiners,” these folks clearly don’t get it.

With All Due Respect, the Republicans just don’t get it.

How Liberals and Conservatives Serve America Best

Here's Our Prescription for America's Best Political Future:

Let American Liberals—the Democrats—Drive the Dream Forward, as they always have. But there is still a role for Conservatives in American government.

America Can Use the “Constant Carping of the Conservatives” to remind us not to spend too much. Not to tax too much. Not to make a government too large. No government that interferes too much in the personal and economic lives of it citizens.

Conservative Opinion Notwithstanding, Our Representative Government Has a legitimate role overall: to do those things necessary, which we cannot do individually. Such as coordinating the overall health and welfare of the nation–from roads and defense to accountable financial institutions and health care.

When Should Government Save and When Should Government Spend?

When the People Cannot Afford to Save, then government should curtail its spending and do the saving on our behalf.

When the People Cannot Risk Spending on infrastructure and new jobs, then government should expand its infrastructure programs. As President Obama said in Tuesday night’s press conference–and as we wrote here previously–necessary infrastructure of the future, built today, borrows expenses from the future. Which expenses borrowed now will contribute in the future to re-balancing the budget. And to restoring a healthy economy.

And the Value of a Balanced Budget and a Healthy Economy are a combination that all Americans can agree on.

What's Taking Him So Long?

[They say a little facetiousness never hurt anybody.....]

How Many Weeks Does It Take to Fix a Country? For Barack Obama, it's been more than two months!

Enough Is Enough!

President Obama: Your Time Is Up. Your fifteen minutes are over....

If You Can’t Get the Job Done Before the Quarterly Financial Reports Come Out, maybe we should get someone else.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Soup-Can Artist Andy Warhol famously said that, “In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” Heck! Two months is a lot longer than fifteen minutes. "Fifteen minutes of fame." Fifteen minutes to fix the country. What's the difference?

The Fifteen Minutes of President Barack Obama Are Over. In his place, let’s get Dick Cheney to take the helm. Or Rush Limbaugh. Or David Brooks or George F. Will or Kathleen Parker or Rich Lowry. Let's get somebody who really knows how to get the job done.

Come On, All You Pundits! Time’s a Wasting! Step up to the plate. Take your turns at the American piñta. Show President Obama and the rest of America how to knock the stuffing out of the current recession.

Move On Over, Obama! You’ve had your chance. More than 60 days! What are you waiting for?

The People Who Supported Getting Us Into This Mess now know the easy way out. It’s time to let the real mess-makers have another turn.

NEWS FLASH! American President Says Nation Needs to Focus

DATELINE: Washington, DC–If he had been speaking earlier today at a previously disclosed location known as “the White House,” the nation’s newest president might have issued a statement similar to this:


What America Needs Right Now Is Jobs, and the security that a regular paycheck provides. Give Americans jobs, with some sense of job security, and we can all get back to work. We can put this recession thing behind us. As we focus on this together, we move forward together—now.

But Today, I Want to Address Three Issues related to partisan concerns, as the branches of American government work together to stimulate the economy, to create jobs, and to get the American economy back to work.

In This Process of Economic Stimulation:

□ First, We Want to Avoid Creating Inflation via excessive spending.

□ Second, We Want to Give the American People Tax Cuts whenever it is prudent to do so, while avoiding tax cuts that continue to redistribute wealth—whether from the poor to the wealthy or the other way around.

□ Third, We Want to Give States and Local Communities the Revenue Benefits that their Senators and Representatives know best for them, while avoiding the reckless growth of the earmarks and pork-barrel spending that make government look like a reckless waster of our hard-earned pay.

Here Is the Way My Administration Sees these various issues:

The Time of Inflation Is Not Now

Inflation Cannot Be Our Dominant Concern Right Now. Historically, shortages of goods in relation to an overabundant money supply leads directly to inflation. Fortunately, our problems right now are not supply and production, but demand and the flow of capital. Thus we can afford to spend money to create more jobs. More jobs in turn will put more money into the economy, creating a trickle-down effect to keep other businesses going.

What Concerns Us the Most Is the Lack of Job Security, the threat to American paychecks, and the ability to keep our homes. The time to fear inflation is not now.

The Time for Tax Cuts Is Not Now

At a Time When the Price of Everything from Houses and Automobiles to groceries and gasoline is going lower, Americans do not especially need more tax cuts. When millions of Americans are not getting a paycheck, tax cuts won’t help them, anyway.

At a Time When the Nation’s Leading Corporations are laying off employees by the thousands and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, the nation’s businesses have no need for tax cuts, either. Right now, tax cuts are not the most-relevant cure for the economy. It’s the people without jobs who need help the most. Not those with jobs who continue to struggle along as they have over the recent past.

Tax Cuts for Near-Bankrupt Corporations and the Unemployed are not what we need right now. For the time being, we should forget about it.

The Time for Earmarks Is Not Now

At the Same Time, Now Is Not the Time for Earmarks, even though they represent only about 1% of the current spending, and the spending both by Democrats and Republicans is pretty much even. It is Congress’s job to know what their folks back home need. And for the current stimulus bill and budget, it seems safe to say that what Congress has done has been its job, on both sides of the aisle.* But the American people are clear in their concern over the concept of earmarks. And regardless, now is generally not a good time for such projects.

Now Is the Time to Squeeze Out the Earmarks, no matter how much individual Republicans and Democrats need to carry something to their folks back home. Later, Congress may get back to business as usual. But for the time being, we should forget about it.

America Needs to Focus

Over the Past 49 Days, My Administration has been getting to know the other branches of the government. We walked into the middle of the economic crisis and we also walked into the end of the Federal budget process. The stimulus plan and the Federal budget needed to move forward, with the assistance of our leaders in Congress, whose job it is to approve these measures. And this is what your government has been doing.

But Now Is the Time to focus our very best efforts.

Going Forward Over the Near-Term, we need to be as single-minded as we possibly can be—to stem the loss of jobs, to turn the job situation around—so that Americans get back to taking advantage of the abundance of supplies in America—including those new homes and those new automobiles.

Now Is the Time for America to Focus:

Now America Gets Get Down to Work

_______
*Of course, all Americans are welcome to contact their individual Senators and Representatives with comments on earmarks in general, as well as on any particular item that they find objectionable.

Doesn't Anyone Else Remember Republican Budget Blow-outs?

Throughout the Last Century of America’s History, it has been the Republicans who create massive debt and Depression, and it is the Democrats who bail America out.

Republicans Still Debate the Effects of FDR’s “New Deal,” despite the job growth that was created once Franklin Roosevelt took office. The unemployment rate in the four years from 1933 to 1937 shrunk by about 40%—forty-percent job creation by the New Deal!

But the Republicans Still Want to Wait and See about this stimulus package, because it might not get us out of the Bush Depression in the first 100 days of the Obama administration. After all, it's not Republican mortgages being foreclosed. It's not Republicans who are being laid off.

Republicans Still Revere Ronald Reagan as a Conservative, ignoring the huge excesses in spending during his years.

It Took a Democratic Administration, under President Bill Clinton, to retire the biggest debt that America had ever had and to provide America with a budget surplus. The same budget surplus squandered under George W. Bush.

“Bi-Partisan” Means Both Sides Have to Chip In

Bi-Partisan Is What We, the American People, Want Now. But the members of the Republican Party remain blinded by the foolishness of their failed ideology. Giving Republicans the most-generous consideration (that they are blinded by ideology, rather than that they just might not care how much the “real Americans” of real individual responsibility, suffer), it's a pretty sad fixation on failed ideals.

What's the Difference Between
Consuming and Investing, Anyhow?

The Biggest Flaw in Republican Reasoning right now—besides their blindness to history and the historical effects of job-growth on the welfare of the American people—is that they can’t tell the difference between “spending” and “investing.” By far, most of what the stimulus package offers is investment in things that will last.

Capital Investment Means Borrowing the Infrastructure Projects of Tomorrow, for the working people today. For decades to come, we will have the infrastructure—without additional cost. And meanwhile, those of us who truly live by “individual responsibility” pay our mortgages and put food on the table.

If You Can’t Understand That, then you really shouldn’t be running the nation’s economy. If your idea of an “investment” is a luxury Lexus or BMW, you haven’t a clue why the American economy suffers so greatly under the Republicans Party.

Can America Really Afford Republicans Right Now?

All Those Republicans Stonewalling the American People: you can be sure that they're not missing their Congressional paychecks. Not what you would call a bonus exactly. But then, the Republicans in Congress have their nationalized health care, too.

Are We Really Paying the Republicans Now in Congress to fiddle while America suffers from past Republican excesses?

“Home of Brave” Overcomes “Politics of Fear”

While So Many Jubilant Americans Have Been Busy celebrating the final end of the era of second-class citizenship for some Americans and the renewal of an American comity of hope, many Conservatives have been quick to jump on the “My God! I Can’t Believe He’s Doing That!” Express.

In the Case of the Pundits, this knee-jerk negativity likely comes from the need to talk about something. But for the rest of America, it’s the proverbial “sad commentary on the times.”

Those of Us Who See in Barack Obama what we want to see (those of us who are “Channeling Barack Obama™,” as it were) may be completely wrong, completely blinded, totally hoodwinked about the kind of person he is and the kind of president that he will be. However, so far no evidence has come out that indicates any weaknesses or ideological biases on the part of President-elect Obama. Other than a bias toward America, and the people for whom she stands.


On One Hand, How Many Cynics Among Us have already begun to tear down this newly elected leader?

On the Other Hand, How Many Former Cynics here see a quality of person higher than we have ever seen before?

The Failed Campaign of John McCain must have disappointed many outside the actual McCain campaign tent itself. But Senator McCain’s public words and actions lacked any genuine enthusiasm for the future of the people that he wished to serve.

One Needed to Have Faith in an Authentic John McCain, hiding behind the campaign mask, in order to make a positive Republican vote.

In the Alternative, Fear Must Have Governed You in order to vote for the hapless, previously known quantity, rather than for the compellingly steady new guy who seems, even after his first appointments and press conference, almost too-good to be true.

Is Barack Obama the Real Thing? Or would we have been better off with the man who kept telling us of his good qualities and leadership promises, and made a couple of pretty bad decisions during the campaign, while Barack Obama showed us so much more?

Time Will Tell.

But as for the Prospects of Living in an America Governed by Fear, we have had more than a quarter of a century of that. And look where it has gotten us:

Much of the World Fears Our Feckless Military Power, seeing America no longer as a beacon of liberty in a darkening, intolerant world

Our Economy Borders on Collapse, threatening to take the rest of the world with it.

Some Vocal McCain-Palin Supporters Fearing to Vote for the Democratic candidate because he might be of Middle Eastern descent or he might actually associate with terrorists.

And a Generation of America’s Children Keeping No Faith—having grown up under the Bush administration's yoke of “terror” in this new century—no faith in the ability of politics or government to do anything constructive for the American constituency.


The Politics of the Right have been the “politics of the fearful.” On Tuesday, November 11, 2008, the majority of Americans voted to conquer their fear and to try something new, something hopeful that looks pretty good so far.

America Is “The Home of the Brave” Once Again. We have shaken off the debilitating Conservative yoke of terror.

Who but the American Liberal Would Have Believed?

Republican Pot Calls Democratic Kettle "Black"

Speaking on his MSNBC Talk Show, Morning Joe, former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough today used the Bush White House as an example of how Republicans use government mechanisms—such as “pork barrel spending” and “you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours”—to over-extend the national pocketbook. These are the same mechanisms that Democrats historically use to get the work of government done, and judging from Mr. Scarborough's explanation, there is not much difference.

Telling How it Happened that the Bush White House and a Republican Congress lost sight of fiscal Conservative ideals, Mr. Scarborough explained that President George W. Bush needed a hands-off policy for his War in Iraq, and effected a reciprocal hands-off policy in relation to whatever else the Republican Congress chose to do on behalf of the American people.

President Bush Got Away with the War in Iraq. And Congress got away with economic murder.

This De Facto Treaty Between the Executive and the Legislative Branches of the Federal government meant that President Bush did not veto Congress’s legislation. In return, Congress gave the President free rein with the Iraq War.

In Other Words, per Mr. Scarborough, the government mechanisms of “pork-barrel spending” and “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” played the same role for “post-9/11” Republicans that these mechanisms played in the Democratic era of the “Great Society,” under Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The Ideologies of “Tax and Spend” and “Defer and Spend” may sound different to the ear, but the effect on the national economy is virtually the same.

History Now Judges LBJ's “Great Society”

The Grand Result of the “Great Society” culminated in this week’s election of Barack Obama as president-elect of the United States.

The Cost of LBJ’s Many Programs, simultaneous with the costs of the war in Vietnam, was high. It included a political switch toward the Republican Party, with the South abandoning the Democratic party completely until this year, and it gave ascendancy to the Conservative theories of Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush.

The Future Will Judge the “War on Terror”

The Result of “This Republican Era” will be judged by history, too. As LBJ’s Great Society has now finally been judged. Let us hope that the final verdict of the Bush extravagances will be as high.

How Both Sides Want It Both Ways

But the Important Thing to See, as far as American politics are concerned, is that we really are one nation, with comparable policies and ways of doing things:

We All Hate it When the Other Guy uses the Federal government to supplant States’ Rights, and we all hate it when States’ Rights trump progress best-available to the Federal government.

We Love Term Limits When the Other Party Is in Power, but when our party is in power, we see how essential are the advantages gained from continuity.

We Hate It When One Party Governs by “tax-and-spend,” and we hate it just as much when the other party governs by “defer-and-spend.”

“Pork-Barrel Spending” is only “pork” when it benefits genetic studies of fruit-flies to help cure autism, but not when it benefits the families of children with special needs. It’s “pork” when it goes to what you want, but it’s essential government spending when it’s for me and mine.

In Sum, the Democrats under Lyndon B. Johnson and the Republicans under George W. Bush are pretty much even, as far as overextending the Federal government for benefit of a perceived greater good is concerned, during the time of an unpopular war.

How Government Gets Done

“You Scratch My Back, and I’ll Scratch Yours.” According even to conscientious Conservative Joe Scarborough, it’s the way that government works.

And Not Even a Staunch Conservative
Like Joe Scarborough
Describes for Us a Better Way.

The Shock of Recognition (A Late Post-Mortem)

We Were Taken by Surprise Election Night, watching everybody at Grant Park and at Spelman College, hearing the cheering go up when the Obama win was announced.

We Had Thought All this Time about the Need for America to Defeat Bush.

What We Hadn't Thought About was the significance of an African-American winning the election.

When Jesse Jackson First Appeared in the Crowd On-Screen, he looked stern, angry, and it was easy to imagine him thinking about the unfairness of Obama achieving what he himself had never come close to. But then we realized, as we saw Mr. Jackson pressing down hard on his lips with an index finger, that he was just wrestling with the emotion that was provoking his tears. And then our tears finally began to come as well.

We Have Tried Countless Times over the decades to write about the dysfunctional effect of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This act suddenly took a people—always considered sub-human by their neighbors—and said to them,

“Okay. Now you're human. You're one of us. Get over it.”

How Would Any Person Deal with Such a Thing? If we were such people, we would have wanted to go around and ask every white person we saw,

“What happened? What changed? How could a law change the way you think about us?”

But the Question Could Not Be Asked, and it must have been subconsciously on the minds of African-Americans always. At least for people old-enough to have experienced that 1964 change.

More Questions:

“How about you?”

“Were you one of the ones who thought I wasn't fit company yesterday.”

“But now I can drink out of the same water fountain? Please: can you explain?”

White America Should Try to Imagine That Sense of Not Knowing. Of not comprehending.

If an Anglo-American Treated an African-American the same as he or she would an Anglo-American, that mode left out the acknowledgment of this pre-1964 legacy. So the African-American couldn't really ask,

“How about you? Were you one of them?”

And the Anglo-American Couldn't Volunteer,

“I just want you to know that I don't think you're any lesser of a person or different species of person than I am.”

And Thus the Fact That So Many African-Americans continue to live lives similar to pre-1964 practices, with broken homes and absent fathers, etc.: in light of the post-Civil Rights Act social dysfunction, these legacies of the debacle of slave culture make sense.


Thus, on So Many Televised Faces, Black and White, we saw tears and we saw shocked disbelief. It hit home to countless Americans of all backgrounds, this surprising thing:

When the Ultimate Barrier Fell, at the end, on the evening of November 4, 2008, there was so little to it. It seemed so simple.

The Citizens of the United States of America, Black, Brown, White, Yellow, Red, said by vote that all Americans have the equality of opportunity....

What We Saw on All Those Televised Faces was the sense, not just that African-Americans had achieved equality of opportunity, but that this achievement is finally made public.

The Expected Jubilation at the Defeat of Reactionary Republicanism was overcome by the unexpected awe and wonder at this other, larger thing that we, the united American people, finally achieved.


Well, America Does Finally Have an African-American as President. And it has been unquestionably a non-condescending appointment. And also—last, but definitely not least—the long nightmare of the Bush years, and the longer nightmare of the reactionary Conservative debacle, should soon come to an end, too.

What a Long and Glorious Trip It Has Been!


[For Your Better Understanding of Jesse Jackson's Emotions on the Night of the Obama Election, we recommend that you read a brief biography such as the one found here:

http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9351181

[Last Post to be Posted Last]

[We Have Been Overcome with Surprise at the emotion generated by Barack Obama's winning of the election.

[It Is Not at All the Jubilation at the end of the Conservative error {sic} of the past twenty-eight years, that accidental “evil” of undermining the confidence of the American people at our ability to overcome all obstacles and to rise ever-higher. But instead, it is the sense of awe that all people of color in the United States have, within the one day, become recognized as fully equal in the eyes of America.

[This Self-Realization Was Personal, we believe, for most African-Americans, that she or he could recognize her or his independent equality, and that was the big surprise. No more can any American blame race, creed, etc for limitations on personal achievement. Anglo-Americans have believed this to be the case since 1964, but the oddness of passing the Civil Rights Act kept African-Americans from having any way to believe this. Now, immediately, we are united, Black and White, in believing this great American reality.

[Regardless of the Reasons, we have not been able to write the post that we wished to write about all this. We intended one final post before shutting down this election-effort blog. If and when we manage that final post, we will put it up.

[Until Such Time, This Will Have to Suffice. The America that we knew and loved as a child, back in the 1950s—back before we knew about bigotry and racism —now seems poised to return. John McCain said that nothing could stand in the way of his love for America, but for me, the great self-inflicted evils that we have suffered at the hand of narrow-minded ideologues has tested my patriotism. It is no great thing to take pride in one's good fortune at a wealthy birth. Such good fortune as we are born into in the United States of America carries a responsibility. The fearful, safety-first, Conservative forces of the post-World War II era have been about as un-American as we can permit America to become. Now let us hope that a new day dawns. That the spoiled rich kids go back to their self-indulgent business, and leave the true business of American ideals to the rest of us.]


[Thanks, as always, for your support.]

We Win Again

About Twenty-eight Years Ago, a prominent leader said that we, the people, were the problem, not the solution.

That Was an Evil Thing to Say about the American People. It took us by surprise, caught us off guard. It took over the dominant leadership of the nation. And for much of the past twenty-eight years, we have lived by this evil idea. We have accepted it as an indictment on our character, our hopes, our ambitions, and our ideals.

Twenty-eight Years. It Has Taken Us All That Time to live those words down.

But Yesterday, the Citizens of the United States of America Voted to Repudiate that warped idea and to take back America, our great nation and the world's greatest hope.

We Have Asked Ourselves in this Presidential Election, can America return to the ideals of liberty, justice, and opportunity for all? Can America become once again a beacon of hope for the world?

Yesterday, America Voted its Answer:

Yes, We Can.

Congratulations to Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Their Campaign, as well as to the American people on the event of our good fortune. It is an honor and a privilege as an American, to have lived to this great time. All of the old slogans, from "We shall overcome" to "I have a dream," are given new life. They have become "Change we can believe in."

Can America Rise to the Many Challenges We Face?

Yes, We Can.

Questioning Basic Assumptions

How Is it That Conservatives Seem Blind to Facts that are so obvious to the rest of us? Here are some examples:


Item One: Trickle-Down Economics
If the Consumer Drives the Engine of the Economy, how could a “trickle-down” theory possibly make sense? The wealthy already have more money than they can spend. But this concept has driven Conservative economic theory from Ronald Reagan all the way through to last month’s collapse.


Item Two: The Innate Wisdom of Self-Interest
Writing recently in The New York Times, conservative columnist David Brooks made the following statement:

“Economic models and entire social science disciplines are premised on the assumption that people are mostly engaged in rationally calculating and maximizing their self-interest.”

—David Brook, “The Behavioral Revolution.” The New York Times, 10/27/2008
[Italics Channeling Barack Obama]

Any Non-Conservative Student of Behavior Knows that simplistic reasoning such as this, when applied to a complex organism such as “people,” will err. “Economic models” based on such simplistic reasoning will fail.

And Failed, This One Has.


Item Three: The Self-Regulating Effects of Self-Interest
In Recent Congressional Testimony former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said:

“This crisis, however, has turned out to be much broader than anything I could have imagined. [T]hose of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief. ”

—Dr. Alan Greenspan, “Testimony Before the Committee of Government Oversight and Reform,” 10/23/2008

Any Non-Conservative Student of Human Behavior Knows, predicated on the flaw in Item Two, that “self-interest” has many competing claims put against it. The example of the Marine who throws himself on a grenade to save his comrade exemplifies that in a most basic form.

Chairman Greenspan’s Illusions About the Relationship between greed and self-interest seem too-naive even to consider: If such a relationship existed, then America’s initial need for regulation and oversight would not have arisen. It did not take the current crisis to make this clear.


Item Four: Vetting Sarah Palin
Over the Course of a Month, Kathleen Parker wrote several related essays, beginning with this one published on September 03, 2008:

Would anyone ever ask whether a male candidate was qualified for office because his daughter was pregnant?....[W]hat’s perfectly clear is that feminism today is not about advancing women, but only a certain kind of woman....There may yet be reasons to find Palin an unacceptable vice presidential choice, but making pro-life decisions shouldn’t be among them.

—Kathleen Parker, “Who needs feminists?” Washington Post Writer’s Group, 09/03/2008

But Then on 09/26/2008, Ms. Parker Wrote:

[I]t is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

The Most-Interesting Thing About the Belated Discovery of what for many had been immediately apparent is that Ms. Parker’s announcement of her discovery did not include an apology to those who could tell, from the nomination acceptance speech itself, that Governor Palin had these deficiencies:

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick.....and a more complicated picture has emerged.

—Kathleen Parker, “Sarah Palin should bow out.” Washington Post Writer’s Group, 09/26/2008
[Italics Channeling Barack Obama]

It Does Not Seem to Occur to Ms. Parker that the earlier critics might merely have seen more clearly than Ms. Parker managed to see. The changing circumstances may just have been the veil lifted from some Conservative eyes.


What Is Notable About the Conservative Failures and Epiphanies here is that the errors of reason which preceded each “Aha!” moment seem so clear to those of us not blinded by the folly of Conservative thinking for the past twenty-eight years. But how would one go about explaining the limitations of Conservative vision to self-confident Conservatives themselves? To those who generally (as in the example of Ms. Parker’s essays) seem content to decide first, and think later?

We Began With the Question, “How is it that Conservatives Seem Blind to Facts that are so obvious to the rest of us?” No ready answer arrives to clear the confusion. However, if the Obama-Biden ticket should prevail on Tuesday, thoughtful Conservatives of the Republican Party should have at least the next four years in which to figure out what has kept them so blind to many of the economic and political realities of life.

NEWS FLASH! Arizona to Store Nation's Nuclear Waste

[A Hypothetical Media Encounter Somewhere in Pennsylvania]


HERSHEY—In Breaking News From the Campaign Trail, Republican Arizona Senator and presidential candidate John McCain today announced that the state of Arizona has volunteered to store America's nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel rods in a newly proposed storage facility.

The Arizona Nuclear Waste Disposal and Landfill Facility [ANWDLF] will be open for business at "an unspecified date. But certainly in the near future,” said Senator McCain. “Probably sometime after the election.”

“That’s Assuming We Don’t Lose, of Course,” Senator McCain said, as his face broke into its characteristic, now-familiar grin.

“I’m Not George Bush,” the long-time Republican Senator observed. “Barack Obama should have run for president four years ago. Progressive income taxes are a form of socialism. Even Joe the Plumber knows that.”

“Nuclear Waste Is Completely Safe,” continued the Senator. “We’ll store those rod from now until Doomsday. Not even Joe the Plumber would be afraid of nuclear waste. Why, I’ve been driving around with the United States Navy in nuclear-powered submarines for years.”

The ANWDLF is Slated for Construction near the Phoenix, Arizona, home that Senator McCain shares with his second wife, Cindy McCain.

“More Power to the Arizona Nuclear Waste Disposal and Landfill Facility,” McCain-supporter Ed the Electrician observed to a usually reliable source. “Now that the issue of nuclear-waste storage has been resolved through the generosity of John McCain and the state of Arizona, the one real obstacle to nuclear energy is removed. Nuclear power is safe and cheap, and it does not make you glow in the dark, as some have mistakenly reported.”

Following the Hershey, Pennsylvania, Rally, Senator McCain and running mate Sarah Palin are scheduled to appear this afternoon at a rally in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Later this evening, the Senator continues on to a separate campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Additional Information About the Safety of Nuclear Power is available from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, through the following link:

http://www.fema.gov/hazard/nuclear/nu_before.shtm

NEWS FLASH! Republican Ticket Promises Tax Rates “Less Than Zero”

[A Spurious Report Found in a WPA Picnic Shelter Somewhere in Slovakia, Idaho]

BOWLING GREEN—Alaska Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, speaking this morning at a rally in Bowling Green, Ohio, promised that, if elected, she and vice-presidential running-mate Joe the Plumber would bring “real change” to Washington in the form of income tax rates that would go below the zero-percent tax rate previously considered unbreakable.

“We Have Suffered Under the Yoke of a Democratic-Imposed Tax Burden For Too Long,” said the newly elevated presidential candidate. “It is a well-known fact among everybody but the ‘Tax-and-Spend’ Democratic members of the Democratic Party—including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid—that the more you lower taxes, the greater the tax revenues. This is a known fact going all the way back to the days of President Ronald Reagan, who lowered tax rates, and the tax revenues continued to just flow right on in.”

“I Totally Agree Wholeheartedly,” said Joe the Plumber, whose candidacy for the vice-presidency was announced just hours ago, after Governor Palin accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination following the surprise withdrawal of the previous candidate, respected war hero and former prisoner of war, Arizona Senator John McCain.

“It’s Socialism to Keep Taxing People to Pay for Things That No One Wants,” continued Mr. the Plumber. “Spread the wealth by making someone else pay for your military, your Medicare, your Social Security? I don’t know anyone who needs those things in America, where if you just work hard and keep your nose down, you can scrape together a few dollars and buy someone’s small business and be making maybe a quarter of a million dollars, or even more, and then the government just tries to take it away from you, and give it to people who don’t even pay taxes.”

“The United States of America Wasn’t Built on the Backs of People Like You and Me,” added Governor Palin. “If we raise taxes during an economic crisis, that’s just what Barak Obama and Joe Biden and the Democrats want you to think.”

“It’s Crazy!” Ms. Palin Continued. “You Don’t Raise Taxes! You Lower Taxes! We’re here to create wealth! What do you think the U.S. Treasury is for, if you don’t already know? Someone’s been listening to the wrong people too long. We need more Joe the Plumber and Ed the Electrician. We don’t need someone like Barack the Tax Raiser and Biden the Money Spender!”

“If Elected,” said Vice-Presidential Candidate Joe the Plumber, “I will lower the tax rates to less than zero. If a top tax rate of 70% was good enough for the Democrats back before Reagan was President, then I don’t see what we can’t have 70% below zero for taxes. I don’t know about you, but I’ve waited all my life for government to treat me the way it’s always made me treat government.”

Former Candidate John McCain Was Not in Attendance at the day’s key Republican vote-getting event. AP wire reports indicate that Senator McCain was last seen boarding a commercial air flight to Panama City, Panama.

“I’m Coming Home, Lord, Lord,” the Senator was reported to have said. “Lord, Lord, I’m coming home.”

NEWS FLASH! Chief McCain Advisor Revealed; Labels McCain Hero "Socialist"

[A Hypothetical Report Found on a Campaign Bus Somewhere in Iowa]


DES MOINES—“John McCain and Sarah Palin Now Use Joe the Plumber as their chief economic advisor,” revealed one usually reliable source close to the Republican presidential campaign, speaking on condition of anonymity. Mr. the Plumber fills the spot previously occupied by Phil Gramm. Mr. the Plumber's resumé as economist was not immediately available for review by this reporter.

The McCain Campaign's Former Chief Economic Advisor resigned from the campaign earlier this year following political fallout from a comment that, “We have sort of become a nation of whiners.” The comment was made many weeks before the onset of the current economic crisis which compelled Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to approach the United States Congress with his $700 billion Wall Street “rescue plan.”

“The Obama-Biden Idea About Taxing Wealthier Americans to help out middle-class Americans is not ‘patriotic’ in critical times like these,” chief economic advisor the Plumber reportedly told the McCain-Palin campaign.

“Joe the Plumber Calls This ‘Socialism,’” Alaska Governor Sarah Palin subsequently reported, quoting the newly prominent economist.

(The Original “Joe the Plumber,” Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, reportedly makes about $44,000 a year. Mr. Wurzelbacher has an income-tax lien on file with the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas in Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Wurzelbacher reportedly believes that lower-income people should pay the same taxes as the wealthy. Whether this position includes opposition to the progressive Federal Income Tax is unclear to this reporter.)

The Federal Income Tax Was Promoted by former Republican President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1901-1909) as a progressive instrument, part of his efforts to create a “Square Deal” between big business and its workers.

Among Candidates in the Current Presidential Campaign, both the McCain family and the Obama family would pay higher taxes under the Obama plan, and lower taxes under the McCain plan. Neither the Biden nor Palin families would benefit from either plan, according to sources familiar with the two tax-plan proposals.

“Is it Merely Coincidence That the Modest Obama tax increase would also be paid by Senator John McCain’s family?” asked our occasionally reliable source. “Country First is harder to believe when Joe the Plumber becomes the chief economic advisor, and the result is a reduction in the candidate’s taxes.

“But Who Do the McCain-Palin Campaign want to give the big tax breaks to? People like Senator John and Cindy McCain.”

Senator McCain and Governor Palin Have Implied that Teddy Roosevelt was “Socialist” in relation to support of his progressive income tax, which Barack Obama also supports.

On Socialism, Teddy Roosevelt Himself Wrote, in his 1913 An Autobiography, “many of the men who call themselves Socialists today are in reality merely radical social reformers, with whom...good citizens can and ought to work in hearty general agreement, and whom in many practical matters of government good citizens well afford to follow.” [Italics, ChannelingBarack Obama™]

“The Issue of Economics Is Not Something I’ve Understood as well as I should,” Senator McCain recently admitted. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.” The Senator was apparently referring to The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, by Alan Greenspan, published 2007 by the Penguin Press.

Conservative Movement Admits Defeat

Now That the Conservative Movement Has Shown Defeat in the economic argument between free markets and regulation, it’s time for their economists to work on something new. Despite America’s high respect for former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the weakness of economic ideals based on the free-market theories of Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged should have been apparent long-ago.

The Failure of These Policies Shows Clearly in the current economic crisis:

Free-Market Policies Only Benefit CEOs and Upper-Level Management, as blue-collar industrial jobs go overseas to cheaper foreign-labor markets. Corporate profits go up and up and up, as good-paying American jobs go down, down, down. Meanwhile, the financial institutions and markets play fast and loose with the facts of prudent economic reality.

The Lack of Good-Paying Jobs means that more and more Americans can’t afford their mortgages. And more and more the American consumer—who fuels the economy to a substantial extent—can’t get any more credit to go out again and buy, buy, buy. "Trickle-down" theory is putting the brakes on the reality of "trickle-up" bankruptcy and defeat.

From These Failed “Free-Market” Economic Theories, America now races headlong toward a frightening recession.

This Is No-Longer Some Half-Baked Liberal Argument. It has now become a Conservative-acknowledged fact.

America’s Only Legitimate Choice, following on Chairman Greenspan’s admission of the failure of these policies, is to follow the reasoned direction that a Barack Obama presidency offers us.

During the Next Few Years, the Free-Market Economists of the Right will spend time developing a new economic model. Informed by the recent failure, the new model may conceivably be more-realistic than the last one.

And If History Is Any Example, once this new Colnservative model is developed, the weight will once again fall on the shoulders of the American middle-class, to test out the new-and-improved Republican economic model.

And Once Again, the American Worker, the blue-collar and white-collar middle-class, will get to pay the costs of learning the next expensive errors of the theory-blinded Conservative elite.



Early Voting Has Started Almost Everywhere. The only legitimate choice in this time of crisis is Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

But No Matter Who You Decide to Vote For, it's time to go out and vote.


Thank you for your support.

Taxpayer “Spread the Wealth” Questions of the Day

Question No. 1: How much is $700,000,000,000 per American citizen?

[Please check one box]
□ A: 5¢

□ B: 13¢

□ C: $2,333.33


Question No. 2: Where does the Republican Party think the money comes from to pay for the Wall Street rescue?

[Please check one box]
□ A: It grows on trees

□ B: If we cut taxes down to zero, we won’t have to pay for anything

□ C: The next Democratic presidential administration

□ D: Any or none of the above


Question No. 3: How does the McCain-Palin ticket propose to pay for government—including the next Wall Street rescue—if they have the honor of being elected?

[Write your answer in the box. Please be specific:]
□


Question No. 4: Which is better for the American citizen?

[Please check one box]
□ A: SHARE THE WEALTH, Democratic-style: People making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year pay a bit more in taxes.

□ B: SHARE THE WEALTH, Republican-style: Everybody in America contributes to a $700,000,000,000 bailout of Wall Street.


Labels Such as “Spread the Wealth” and “Socialism” Are an Easy Excuse for not having any real answers. “Let the other guy do it” may be an easy way to win an election. But it's a lousy way to run a great nation.

______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Answers:

1: C (Based on an estimated 300,000,000 American citizens. $9,333.32 per family of four. )
2: D (It's never mentioned)
3: Wrong
4: A or B (Voters' Choice)

The Republican Shell Game

[We really try to stay moderate and neutral here, but in the current political and economic situation,
we just can't figure out how to do that. Thus today's post:]

“Nobody ever went broke underestimating
the intelligence of the American people.”

—H.L. Mencken

If the Republicans Really Plan to Help You Get Rich....

.......Why Are They Always Taking You in the Wrong Direction?

It’s Time to Take Another Look at your 401(k) and your bank statement and your credit-card bill.

It’s Time to Take Another Look at your health insurance plan and its exclusions and “disallows,” and whether your lifetime maximum is keeping up with the ballooning cost of healthcare.

It’s Time to Take Another Look at the “For Sale” signs in your neighborhood, and the rising price of your mortgage, while the government is bailing out AIG and the rest of Wall Street.

How Do the Republicans Work Their Magic? Republican never talk about where the money will come from. And they never let a lack of money stop them from spending and spending. After all—it's not their money.

Republicans Make Fun of the Other Guys and joke about "spreading the wealth." They don't want Joe the Plumber's money taken to improve America. They want to "spread the wealth" on Wall Street.

The Facts Speak for Themselves, when you stop to look at it. Herbert Hoover's Great Depression and Richard Nixon's Watergate and Ronald Reagan's budget deficits and George W. Bush's [Insert Disaster Here]. Which shell is your money hiding under?

The Costs Go Up and Up, the Treasury Balance Goes Down and Down, the national debt doubles in the past few years—

The Spend-and-Spend Republicans Make Things Up—like voter fraud out of faulty registration forms that get denied—like "spread the wealth"—like "palling around with terrorists"—to distract you from their angry, losing candidate—

And You Believe that You Would Somehow Be Better Off Voting One More Time for the Republicans?