Alright, this really isn’t my cup of tea, or joe, but I figured I’d offer some thoughts about today’s election. First, yes, I am hoping for a Scott Brown victory. No, I won’t believe it until the last vote is counted, and the last legal proceeding is dropped.
There’s a lot of liberal swearing and gnashing of teeth about how the Republicans have managed to make this happen. I think this is backwards. If the enthusiasm and messages from Mass are to be believed, I think it’s more like a vote to stop governement. I don’t think a plurality of the people now support Republicans. I think it’s also clear, regardless the outcome of the special election, that a plurality do not believe that the Democrats are fit to lead either.
Right now, Democrats are acting like losers- looking at how to blame anyone and anything other than themselves. I believe that they are guilty of overplaying their hand. Believing they had won arguments and convinced minds when they had done no such thing. To make matters worse for themselves, things they have done have demonstrated a breathtaking amount of political favoritism. People noticed and didn’t take kindly to it. Until they take notice, and stop trying to figure out ways to hoodwink or scare the population into following their solutions, they will continue to be met with disappointment.
Now, hopefully, it’s back to split government- thus, lessening the chance of government mucking things up any worse than they already have. It also means that both parties need to start trying to figure out how to demonstrate fitness to lead.
For my money, this will mean responsible ways to reduce the national debt and deficits. It will also require some means of fixing current entitlements- Social Security and Medicare front and center (sorry Dem’s, you’re current attempts are not honest ones. It’s painfully obvious you want to create another entitlement that people won’t want to give up on. That’s not fixing anything.) Further, government ties to business need to be severed. Sorry, but it needs to happen. Free markets aren’t free when gov’t regulations setup loopholes of power for business. I also think the notion that government is there to solve all the problems needs to be disspelled. The people of this country are capable of solving our own problems and finding our own way. But the threat of a government that’s willing to step in and pull the rug out from under our feet is going to stunt that initiative.
There’s going to be pain associated with our emerging from the current political doldrums. I, personally, don’t think government can do anything to improve the economy. The recovery will start when new products and services that improve people’s lives come online. Government can’t make that happen. I also think we’re at the point where tax cuts won’t do us any more good. Taxes should be left alone until a way forward can be plotted. Frankly, I think future surpluses (whenever they return) need to go right to reducing the debt for as long as it takes to get the national books in order.
That’s all I’ve got for the now. I know it’s kind of rambling and devoid of any specifics, but that’s all I can offer. I don’t know enough details to go any further in this post. In the meantime, hopefully we take a small step forward and elect Scott Brown so that we can take a collective breath and begin to figure a way forward.