Random Musings

So I have been going back and forth on a couple different ideas for posts recently. Not really making much headway on any of them at the moment. A lot of complaining with little to no solutions.

But for the sake of brevity these are some good articles on topics of the day:

• The Cost of Doing Nothing (health care)
• Two great articles on how dysfunctional our bicameral system is today. Here and here.
• Every piece of news is always good news for conservatives/republicans.
• Excellent Quote from the CBO
• A good set of predictions about the next 4 years
  

I have said it many times before, but what I find most troubling about any public debate is that lack of any real discussion on the merits of the program or policy. It is always discussed under strictly ideological terms. The process is what matters. The question is always "What can pass?", and never "Is this any good?" or "Does this accomplish what we need it to.".

Compromise is always the order of the day. Bipartisan is the cry. Even though you are dealing with a minority party that has offered very little in the way of solutions, and has not given even one vote if those solutions are included. That is not compromise. That is capitulation.

Also moderation, centrism and bipartisanship have become fetishized. Even moderation, needs to be done in moderation. Sometimes there is no viable middle ground. If you build only half a bridge, all you have is a useless structure. It can not even perform the job it was ostensibly built for.

Sometimes you need bold and radical decisions and actions. But the other truth is you will never have unanimous support. Someone will always object to what you are doing. Whether there is merit or not to the criticism ( see death panels, and tea parties).

That is the world we live in now. If democrats in congress and Washington are wondering why they are seeing their support slip and the enthusiasm gap widen. They have only look at their own craven actions. From the President on down, they have yet to lead.

Now I am not expecting sweeping transformation to have happened over night. But accomplish something. The stimulus was too small. Why? Because a few centrist Senators, needed to exact their pound of flesh. So they could be seen as deficit conscious, and budget hawks. Where those cuts necessary? Did they make any sense at all? Who knows. Nobody asked, why these cuts needed to be made. And more importantly, nobody has gone back and asked them, "Since you requested to have those funds to help states meet budget shortfalls removed from the stimulus package x number of state employees have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Why again was it so necessary to cut that funding?

Basically failing to address the largest financial disaster since the Great Depression is better then possibly over compensating for it and saving a few more jobs of this countries citizens.

All I can say is I am glad that I do not live in Nebraska, Maine, or Arkansas. Ben Nelson (D-NE) in particular should be singled out for absolutely mind-numbing idiocy on these issues.

At some point someone needs to explain to me why "liberal" is such a bad thing. I mean other then the standard "I hate dirty fuckin' hippies", of course.


So much for brevity or coherence.....
-Cheers