The Choices of the Crisis At Hand

The Civil War was the coup d'dtat for the Whig party. Having dwindled after the demise of their major leaders and losing of major elections the final death knell seemed to sound within the devisiveness of the war.

When lowered to its common denominator, the current "civil war" is the battle between European style socialism and the American free enterprise system. There are many twists and turns involved due to the complexity of the issues and their intertwining in the political structure. Hanging in the balance is individual liberty and the accompanying expression of ingenuity and accomplishment that it spawns and the top down elitist systems that are socialism.

In my observation the crisis has accelerated exponentially with the two year tenure of the progressives in control of the presidency and both houses of congress. Blame the prior administration as they may they cannot negate the fact that both houses of congress have been in Democratic hands since the 2006 elections. All legislation emanates from congress and to my recollection President Bush only vetoed one bill in that time, So, though not prominently publicized, the "Dem's" have controlled virtually all of the legislation produced in the last four and a half years.

All honest parties recognize that the current proposed budget of roughly $3.6 trillion with an estimated $1.6 trillion dollar deficit is unsustainable. They know that a $14.3 trillion dollar deficit which with current spending projections can only rise creates a situation that is unsustainable. All concerned know that the current entitlement programs which, less defense, represents about half of the budget, faced with the existing demographics, is unsustainable as it is now structured.

The question for both parties approaching the 2012 election, is whether they play politics with the situation to achieve a hopeful victory, or do they present solutions which give hope of solutions that address the problems as well as are fiscally sustainable. We're seeing indications of that. Thanks to Rep Paul Ryan, the Republicans are attempting to present plans to address these problems, especially entitlements, in a serious manner. And thanks to the GOP leadership, they have held their ground in related votes, in the face of intimidation and scare mongering. The Democrats have not produced their mandated budget which is over seven hundred days in arrears, but have only answered with finger pointing, negativity and fantasy ads of old ladies being pushed over a cliff.

A plus for the nation is the apparent awaking of the rank and file voter. Poll after poll verifies the fear of this group of voters as spending and debt crisis becomes more apparent The task the GOP faces is articulating the substance of their position. This consists of defining the problems in terms understandable to them. Joe Six Pack understands, "if you make $50,000 a year and spend $75,000, something bad is going to happen?". You don't have to get into economic theory.
Next it would help to say that this is their initial attempt and if the Democrats will put their plan for this issue on the table, we can debate them openly and with the accreditation of the voters, attempt to do the best to select an approach that is best for the country. And thirdly, which is probably the most important to the voters, is to take your stand unabashedly, boldly, and with confidence. Donald Trump's main appeal was that he defined some of the problems and attacked them boldly. The same with Cris Christie. And they didn't back up. The awakened citizen is
saying to congress, "don't just stand there, do something".
Back to the Whigs. This financial crisis is the current equivalent to the Civil War. The party that loses the hearts and minds of the voters in the addressing of these major issues is doomed to oblivion. If the Democrats prevail and we have four more years of progressive legislation and executive edicts, our present concept of government and many of our individual liberties will be on the road to extinction. If my vision is correct, the inevitable results caused by the basic laws of economics will bring a crash which will by a popular demand for stability, usher in a radical authoritative regime.

If the Republicans stick with a conservative approach which the people understand and accept and win the election, including the Senate and Presidency, and if stand fast on the implementation to fix the problems, rather than posturing for political gain. And the size of government can be reduced drastically and the forces of the free enterprise system be unleashed, the United States of America can return to solvency and greatness.

Term Limits - Has It's Time Come

A serious problem in this country is becoming more apparent lately, if current polling implications are correct. In recent polls taken by Scott Rasmussen of 1000 likely voters, only 29% thought the country was headed in the right direction, 23% felt congress’ actions had the consent of the governed and 53% of those polled thought that elections were rigged in favor of the incumbent. This covered polls taken in one week! If this is indicative of the feelings of constituents, then what is the motivation for congress to do the things that they do?

With a quick Google I found that of the current congress, 10 members have served over 36 years. Of the current House 26 had twenty or more years there and in the Senate, 21 had twenty or more years. I can only guess but it would be my strong inclination to say that getting reelected was if not at the top of the list, very close. I love my representative and his voting is representative of the feelings of the residents of this district. However if one leaves private life and devotes over ten or fifteen years to the public sector, one would have to think about it as a career. All of us know that if you have a career it logically follows that you have ambition. If you have ambition the main focus of your endeavor , naturally, is to do what would further your career. In politics the first necessity of furthering your career is to stay in office – keep getting re-elected. What are the requisites of doing this? High among them are raising money and getting larger numbers of people to vote for you. How can you accomplish this? Do favors, help pass legislation, etc., that either favor a group of people or help line some people’s pockets. You have now reached the point that your constituents – “the ones that brung’ you”- are down the ladder in the hierarchy of concerns. A noticeable residual effect is that access to your representative gets harder and usually amounts to generic emails touting his accomplishments, or a quick nod at a fund raiser. This is not what our founding fathers envisioned.

I would raise the question, isn’t it time we revisited the need for term limits. What duration that would encompass would be debatable. For starters I would feel two terms in the Senate or six terms in the House - twelve years - would be a place to start. With the average age of our representatives this would seem to allow for public service and a private career. Many in the Senate, though I have no data to support it, would appear to have already advanced in some private endeavor before election to a point that returning to private life would still be feasible and many who entered politics later would actually be close to retirement age. They have a very generous retirement package now and if it even had to be sweetened some, it would pay off for the taxpayers. In addition, the change should mandate no employment in lobbying or otherwise trying to influence action by congress as a whole or by individual legislators. Other restrictions should be considered to make their break with the political structure as complete as possible.

This will not be originated in congress. Self interest is a normal human reaction. The special interests and lobbyists will not like it. They have a lot invested in time and money in gaining the ear of the powerful. It is also the destination of many in congress upon leaving. It would have to probably be done by constitutional amendment, or as happens some times, the threat of one.

Until serving in government again becomes a temporary public service with the main objective being to further the lives and well being of the ones represented as a whole, and with the probability of going back to the area you represent and living under the laws that you pass becomes a reality, the idea of our country having a truly effectual form of representative government will not come to pass.

These thoughts provide more questions than answers, but in the situation the country is in now and with a very noticeable awakening of interest by the average voter, it is certainly one whose time has come.