Posted on 05/12/2005 9:12:21 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Spending over 500 million dollars in a losing effort..
Priceless.
The Democrats are fond of saying that President Bush has divided our country.
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Two sides to this one -- Bush has proliferated the division (balkanization) of America between illegal Mexicans and real American citizens...but when it comes to the Dems saying the above, they always accuse their opponents of doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO. One of the first pages right out of the old lame Dem playbook.
(1) the war. It is the number 1 issue still. But having already won an election on it, Bush is not going to get additional credit for it, not really. He is now expected to simply win. Make it so, that is a requirement. All is going well, just don't stumble anywhere on this one.
(2) the picked issues of today that the pols are all fighting over. That means confirmations fights and social security. Frankly, these are deep inside baseball to most of the electorate.
(2a) The SS stuff is good policy that needs to be done. But don't expect political reward for it in the short term. It will be a draw on the politics, a win on policy but one that takes a long time to pay off.
(2b) As for judges, they also matter in the long run and are worth fighting hard over. But pols are much more exercised about their friends getting jobs than average Americans are. The base will cheer if you fight for judges, that is all it can bring in.
(3) the populist issues that the pols are paying enough attention to, that will really decide the upcoming elections. This is where we need to do a lot more. There are exactly two of these, and not liking one or the other of them won't help. It is the people's concerns, not the pols, that matter on these.
(3a) First are energy prices, oil and especially gas at the pump. They are absurdly high, enough so that they are effecting the stock market and the real economy. They are a serious tax, felt and resented. If the oil price is $35 next November, the Republicans are in good shape. If it is $60, they aren't.
(3b) Second is the host of issues around immigration and trade. The populist rage on the subject is building, and pointing toward unsound policies. Serious things have to be done, that combined sound policy with a real acknowledgement of public concern.
And I say this as a free trader in economics. The politics of the issue are simply explosive at this point, since the populist position has been consistently denied articulation by pols of both parties for eons. To start with, there is a widespread sense that our laws are a laughingstock on the matter, that what happens on the ground is not controlled even by elites, let alone by the people, but is simply out of control.
The election will not turn on the rage of the left, that is impotent. But the rage of ordinary people about gas prices and the apparent contempt held for their populist views on trade economy and illegal immigration is not impotent. I am not suggestion protection, it is a perennial political loser. But fair trade noises have to be made, and the more strategically obnoxious states we deal with should go to the woodshed, visibly.
And some sense of law abidingness about immigration law is needed desperately. Long run support for assimilationist immigration depends on public support, which in turn depends on orderliness, lawfulness, respect and yes graditude, that are all lacking today.
What all of these issues have in common is simple patriotism and dislike for elites sneering at it as lowbrow. That is the poison of the political day, and the left is drinking deep. To draw the line between Republicans and Dems brightly, Republicans have to avoid any similar whiff of hoity-toity.
One man's advice. Don't get cocky, pay attention to the people. They are the ones that fire political parties, not the lame media or lamer hard left activist crowd.
We need to remove more of them from the Congress and replace them with true God fearing American Constitutionalist!
Regarding 3(a); define "absurdly high"
great article
buuuuuuuuuuummmp!
Thanks for the ping there!
I agree with this writer in principle, but I'm not quite so optimistic. The RATS and the MSM are still able to steal elections and block judicial appointments.
Wow!! This is an excellent and devastating analysis of the state of the two political parties in America today.
Joan, take two gold stars and go to the head of the class.
The left is deeply committed to utterly nonsensical energy policies by their alliance with radical green activists and big government socialist ideas. If the administration is associated with high oil prices, it will pay a political price. If the left is, that price will be split. If the administration is credited with lowering oil prices through forceful energy policies, over screaming opposition from the left, then the left will get all the blame for them having been high, and the people will be delighted that the admininstration ignored those screams and lowered them.
Here is how you go about doing that. Declare a stable supply of oil at reasonable prices a critical strategic need of the US at this time, and a definite enemy target for terrorist and political disruption in time of actual war. Say that extreme measures are required as a matter of national security to remove this weapon from the enemy arsenal and defeat his strategy. Override all objections and legal niceties in the way of the remainder of this program. Legislate what you need to and can, but do not allow a single measure to fail to be implimented by any degree of political opposition. Run right over them, in implimentation, calling them names and questioning their patriotism the entire time.
Then the actual measures are - drill in Alaska. Expediate all new power plant construction. Allow new coal plants, new nuke plants. Grant "regulatory waivers" all over the place to make it so. Waive fines due.
Sell oil from the stockpile, saying the treasury is not helped by paying $50 for oil it expects to stockpile in any desired quantities at prices a third to half that within 2-3 years. Cut national gasoline taxes 25 cents a gallon (how they will howl! Let them howl. Put a mike with an amplifier next to their howling).
Negotiate long term fixed price contracts with Nigeria and Mexico to deliver on the order of 1 million barrels a day for $40 for ten years; justify it by the need to reduce wild price shock swings in their emerging economies. (If they don't want the deals, their lose). Let the Dems oppose you; call them insensitive to minorities and the less fortunate.
Let OPEC know, quietly, not to shame them but as a promise and threat, that any attempt to cut production will lead to the immediate seizure of all OPEC flagged vessels on the high seas, and their oil will not move again without paying a "transit tax" to the US Navy. And assets in the US will be seized. If they keep production as it is, no changes, they can operate as normally and keep all their profits.
Court a knock down drag out fight with the greens over their nonsense energy red tape, run right over them when they try to fight, lower prices dramatically as a result, blame them for having kept them so high for so long. Let the left enter the by-election in a towering rage strapped to the mast of radical environmentalism, baying for US defeat to Save the World, receive the appreciation of happy motorists paying $1.50 a gallon again, and murder the Dems at the polls.
Policy wonkiness will take care of itself in the aftermath. Don't sweat the details.
The left will counterattack the oil companies and try to marry us to them. Resist by going to the oil execs and telling them all the recent profit increases have to go into new refining capacity and new exploration efforts. The alternative is not a big share buyback, it is a windfall profits tax, so get on board or get run over.
Char :)
Define "Unsound policies." The populist perspective is to close the borders, fine and/or jail employers of illegals and send illegals home. Those are hardly "unsound policies."
Isn't this fun? Pointless, but entertaining.
Outstanding article!!!!!!!!!!!!
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