The Letter H

Today’s diatribe is brought to you by the letter H. Specifically as it pertains to the Republican party, there are a few words that come to mind. Hypocritical, hawks, and hubris all start with the letter H. So let’s begin with the most obvious claim, the one that most Americans, if polls are to be believed (and let’s face it, I’m not a fan of polling per se, but we do tend to put more credence in them when they back our assertions) show that people tend to see through the thin veneer that the minority party is putting up these days.

There is outrage among the GOP clan over all of this spending, and the impact it is having on our already sizeable deficit. Not that I completely disagree with them on this point, I am on the record as being against the stimulus bill as it was constructed, and I am somewhat of a fiscal conservative when it comes to government spending and deficits. The opposition party traditionally has a role to play as a responsible check on the power of the majority, and for a brief time I held out hope that the Republicans would serve in just that role. I am no longer avowed of that hope or opinion though, having seen what I have over the last few weeks.

How convenient, as the Church Lady from the old SNL skits would have said, that after taking our budget from surpluses to deficits, after using accounting tricks to lessen the appearance of how bloated the budget really was, tricks that would make the former executives at Enron (not to mention most of corporate America) proud, that now these so-called fiscal conservatives have once again gotten religion on the matter of government spending. Where were John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, not to mention the fat, pill popping idiot Rush Limbaugh during the last 8 years when Bush was putting a dagger into the notion of fiscal restraint? (I must give credit for the Limbaugh description to Matt Taibi of Rolling Stone, but it was so apt that I had to use it here)

They didn’t say word one when their guy was in the White House, offering a handout to the huddled masses on Wall Street and in corporate board rooms. They didn’t object to exploding the debt for 8 years, 6 of which they firmly controlled the reins of power in the Congress, but now they are all in an uproar over the new president and his spending plans. They are all once again deficit hawks, since the whole war hawk thing hasn’t exactly gone as planned, not that there aren’t still plenty of those lurking around the halls just waiting for the chance to go after Iran or some other perceived enemy in the name of defending our freedom and all the other Republican bumper sticker ideology that they love to defend.

Two items in particular that Obama is proposing that merit consideration are health care reform, and energy policy. Without getting into the details, I will simply say that these are examples of spending money now to fix long term problems that will greatly benefit our economy in the long run. The caveat of course is that the money must be spent prudently, and the devil as always will be in the details. But if done right, these are two areas which can have a lasting legacy on our society and our economy.

In the case of health care, it should be quite obvious by now what a drain it has become on businesses both large and small, not to mention the individuals that are affected by lack of quality and affordable coverage, which pretty much means everyone in the country who isn’t either rich enough to pay out of pocket, poor enough to be on Medicaid, or old enough to be on Medicare.

In the case of energy policy, not only will a new movement towards clean energy in the form of solar and wind in place of fossil fuels have a positive impact on our environment and on our national security by making us less dependent on foreign supplies and the bad actors that control those sources, but it will create countless real jobs doing the type of things that this country used to do before everybody became a paper shuffler and derivatives trader. The only job more meaningless and insignificant than that of a paper shuffler, is the paper shuffler manager, who sits around in his or her office all day long inventing new ways of more effectively shuffling paper, without of course actually doing any of the actual shuffling themselves. But I digress, the point is that tackling health care and energy are examples of where we need to spend money now to produce a benefit for the long term.

This new way of viewing our problems that Obama represents may or may not work, and time will be the ultimate arbiter of this bold course of action that he is proposing. But time has already told us that the old way is an utter failure. Again, I will spare the gory details, but since Ronald Reagan took office nearly three decades ago and proceeded to enact his trickle-down, supply side economic theory of giving every conceivable break to the aristocracy that already had all the advantages to begin with, in the belief that these benefits would somehow trickle down to the rest of us in the working classes, our nation has become more inefficient and unequal.

The effects are being felt now, as the middle class has finally run out of ideas for keeping up with the rising cost of living and the consumer ethic that tells us we always need more in order to be happy and to create the illusion of success. To my way of thinking, if a basic ideology hasn’t worked for 30 years, it’s time to try a new approach, which is exactly what our new president represents. I must say that its also refreshing to see a president who is actually doing what he said he would do on the campaign trail.

But the GOP is apparently going to try to block him at every turn in hopes that the failure of our president and our economy will lead them back into power, a power which they so brazenly abused and squandered for most of this decade. This opposition, being presented as a matter of principle by a group of people sorely lacking in such matters, is a mere political ploy. This is a natural part of the political game that is played and implicitly supported by the populace who continues to accept the limitations of a dualist system, but my thinking is that if Obama and the Democrats fail, it may just be time to throw all the bums out, blow the thing up completely and start from scratch. Start fresh with 535 new members of Congress, only this time how about if we fill the halls of power with regular people instead of the ruling elite that has let us down for so long.

I don’t think that Obama will fail, but neither do I think the task at hand will be without great difficulty, given the hubris that is so prevalent among Republicans. Hubris is exaggerated pride or self-confidence, and these guys are pretty full of it these days. For a party that nearly ran the country into the ground during their reign, and who were soundly rejected by the voters just a few months ago, they’ve got some nerve coming off as strongly as they have been. If they decide to come up with some actual ideas that are constructive, and offer criticism of the policies of the majority in that regard, I’ll listen. Until then (and I’m not holding my breath in anticipation) there’s as much chance of me heeding the words of a Republican politician as there is of me tuning into the Rush Limbaugh or Bill O’Reilly show, which is to say none.

Only time will tell of course how these policies are actually enacted and carried out, the Democrats in Congress still pose a concern as they are no prize either, but with the support of the American people and firm resolve to do what is in the best interests of the majority of us, the greatest good for the greatest number, I believe our new president can and will succeed. And until proven otherwise I will stick with that belief. Today’s program is brought to you by the letter H, which of course also stands for hope, and that is what I and many of my fellow country mates have in our new president and in the possibility of getting our country back on the right track.