The grandfatherly face of responsible Conservatism (Ronald Reagan) is gone.
In his place the ever dogma influenced Republican party has inserted the hatchet-faced visage of neo conservatism, Eric Cantor, a man who doesn’t understand as Ronald Reagan did, that things could get worse… have been and will be if the debt limit isn’t raised.
That’s where we are going. All the people who knew that things could be worse are dying off and guys like Eric Cantor who haven’t seen any real hardship in their lives are posturing to Dogma. Young guys and girls like Eric Cantor have never seen any hardships to match the effects of defaulting on the national debt. Anyone who supports that position is uniformed, dogma driven, and naïve.
No tax increases is the mantra of Tea Party influenced politicians. It is a destructive dogma. Our infrastructure crumbles and yet we yell no taxes.
I am the son of moderate to conservative Goldwater Republicans. I worked and believed in a reasonable Republican agenda of smaller government and a responsible population. I am a pragmatist, I will pay for what works and I am performance based and data driven. But, data doesn’t suit anyone’s dogma. “The tax legislation enacted under President George W. Bush from 2001 through 2006 cost $2.48 trillion over the 2001-2010 period. This includes the revenue loss of $2.11 trillion that results directly from the Bush tax cuts as well as the $379 billion in additional interest payments on the national debt that we must make since the tax cuts were deficit-financed.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/study-bush-tax-cuts-cost-more-twice-m
We need to repeal the Bush tax cuts and return to the Clinton era rates…they worked just fine as I see it.
I supported the original Bush bailout because I believed it was the only way to avert a financial calamity that would have precipitated a depression… conservatives who have a limited understanding of our financial underpinnings said let it happen it doesn’t matter. Now the same types are playing with shutting down the Gov’t. Those who have always been and are comfortable now don’t understand the potential real consequences. One of the problems with dogma is that it forces perfect to be the enemy of the good.
Americans are so used to listening to what someone says on TV and believing it if they hear it enough times. I call it our videofied mentality. Thus the Republicans stay on message so perfectly. The media handlers of the Reagan era really understood the use of the media and taught it to the Republican Party. They knew the image and appeal of their candidate was more the result of Death Valley Days, GE Theater, and “Win One for the Gipper†than is was about his policies.
Now extremists, both religious and social, have taken over my former party and let people like Glen Beck and Michelle Bachman speak for the party. It’s a downhill slide. Gives a good fiscally responsible Republican a bad name. You notice I didn’t say fiscally conservative. I believe fiscally responsible is a much more necessary characteristic. I believe, as does Warren Buffet, that to whom much is given much is expected. We have become a culture of “I got mine to Hell with you.â€
We will all pay for it in the end.
