Those Who Don't Learn From History

Hello Bloggers - I thought I would try an experiment today. I was talking to a friend yesterday about the stimulus package and the Republican opposition, and something interesting happened during the debate. I found myself saying that I used to love to believe what the Republicans preach - smaller government and lower taxes - until I found out it doesn't work. So, what changed my mind?

I wanted to remember, so I began to recall my political past, and how I wasn't always what Republicans like to call a "liberal" Democrat. (I personally like the term "progressive," because it describes our thinking better.) I was a Democrat, just not the same kind. I was misguided.

Growing up in New Orleans, I campaigned and worked for Representative and later Senator John Breaux (D-LA) in the mid-eighties. He was a moderate "Blue Dog" Democrat, believing in many Republican issues at the time. Smaller government and lower taxes were high on the list. I supported many of the same positions, and even voted for George H. W. Bush after leaving the Senate.

I was young and foolish, and like so many Americans believed their stories about how smaller government and lower taxes would create a fantastic economy and society where success would trickle-down to everybody willing to reach for it. Reagan was a GREAT salesman, and charlatan. After the first Bush presidency, it all started to smell like old, rotten fish.

For those of us who were paying attention, the Lee Atwater movement under the first Bush began to show the ugly side of Republicans. If anybody wants to learn more about that political period, I recommend watching "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story." It's an excellent documentary about how Republican tactics evolved to create Karl Rove and George W. Bush. Be sure to have a friend nearby while watching - it's VERY SCARY!

Anyway, Republicans at that time started to look negative, racially divisive (their "Southern Strategy" was in full swing), and unconcerned about the economics that help ordinary people. They were looking great at getting people to vote against their best interests. It was weird. They started to divide and conquer the nation based on "wedge issues." It was also obvious nothing was "trickling down" to help Average Americans. If anything, they were shipping jobs overseas and destroying the middle-class.

Unfortunately, most Americans weren't paying attention. By and large most Americans hate politics, and would rather be spoon fed slogans than do their homework. They didn't want to know or understand Lee Atwater or Newt Gingrich during the first Bush recession; they only wanted a promise of better times.

That ignorance led to support priming the gears for the Republican revolution, but fortunately for Democrats they suffered a significant set-back when the "Man from Hope" - or Clinton - came along. He was the kind of salesman Americans love. Unfortunately, Americans eventually gave Newt Gingrich and his Republicans Capitol Hill.

Before they won the bulk of their power, Bill Clinton and the Democrats passed legislation to lower the debt and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Republicans called it "job killer" legislation, just like they did with the stimulus this week, and voted against it en masse. Democrats called it responsible government. They focused on reducing the Reagan-Bush era debt and creating jobs.

They Republicans followed-up with their "Contract with America," and despite being bold at the time, it was pretty much ignored and dismissed in the end. They were more concerned with acquiring more power, and they knew they could if they turned their attention to wedge issues, creating a cult-like following, and impeaching the President.

The real political irony of the nineties is how the Republicans took credit for the work of the Democrats. Incredibly, they convinced their flock, and many independents, that the greatest economic boom in American history was the work of Bush and the Republicans in Congress. Clinton's debt reduction initiatives and national stabilization programs were dismissed. Despite facts to the contrary, their ignorant, sheep-like constituents believed it.

Eventually, after creating a web of lies about their "success" and tactical wedge issues like gay marriage, the Republicans stole the 2000 election. Instead of Al Gore - who we voted for, we wound up with George Bush, Dick Cheney and more Republicans. It was a very sad day for the majority of Americans who actually voted to continue with the Democrats, and the well managed Clintonian economy.

The Republicans got to work on their "ill gotten gains" and focused immediately on castrating the government. In early 2001, George Bush and his team began installing incompetent, unqualified people into positions of power - EVERYWHERE in government. They were mostly loyalists it turns out; people they could count on to shrink what they saw as a bloated, inefficient and ineffective government. Unfortunately for them, it turned out to be the opposite. It turns out that less government led to less of everything!

Their version of the US government FAILED to prevent a massive attack on 9/11, FAILED to protect Americans from predatory lenders, FAILED to enforce financial regulations that created a housing bubble, FAILED to regulate Wall Street losing trillions in American savings, FAILED to provide assistance that led to the death of thousands after Katrina, FAILED to prevent war profiteering and incredible waste, and FAILED in just about every area of running the US government and helping the American people. The Republicans would later call it bad luck.

They pretty much FAILED everywhere, leading to the LOWEST APPROVAL RATINGS of any administration in history. They said they didn't care, but what else could they say. They were failures. Overall, the Republican principles that guided George Bush and Dick Cheney led to the worse government in American history, which contributed to some of the greatest disasters in American history.

At this unique time in American politics, listening to the Republicans continue to insist their principles of smaller government and lower taxes work best for the American people, it's important for us to assess what is right and what is wrong about their sales pitch.

So, let's try something we all do from time to time. Let's create a list of pros and cons, to help us visualize it. Let's explore whether our Republican friends should continue to believe their REPUBLICAN policies and beliefs. Here are just a few of my examples for now. Feel free to add your own.

PRO: Smaller government is better government.
CON: Republicans have proven smaller government is not better government. Size isn't the issue. It's about effective government, and the best value for money. Democrats like Obama support that idea.

PRO: Lower taxes help grow the economy and create jobs.
CON: Republicans proved that lower taxes are not enough. Most economists believe growth is encouraged by multiple factors, including government assistance related to education, health care, regulation/oversight, and all kinds of government stabilizing forces. Surgically applied tax cuts are good, but Republican efforts to simply lower taxes across the board have led to lower wages and bubble economies. It's also untrue that lowering taxes on the rich creates jobs - at least AMERICAN JOBS. The rich create some jobs, but how and where is debatable. It's also true that many hoard their money; the middle-class always spends it.

PRO: Less or no regulation is better for a free market.
CON: Republicans proved that reducing or eliminating regulations can lead to bubble economies and chaos. Republican-led deregulation has led to disruptions in every major area supporting the economy, including infrastructure, transportation, state and local economic development initiatives, health care, industrial safety/mining, industrial pollution, protecting the environment [for human health], urban planning/growth, executive compensation, investor protections, and much more. Deregulation has proven to be very dangerous to both the economy and people.

PRO: Transfer payments/social safety nets are harmful to the market and society.
CON: Republicans support transfer payments and social safety nets when it applies to saving large corporations or their own investments, but call it "socialism" and harmful when it's designed to protect individual, less affluent Americans. It's obvious to most Americans now that Republicans support the "privatization of profit and the socialization of risk." Republicans tolerate the "redistribution of wealth" as long as it benefits wealthy Americans. In the end, transfer payments like Social Security, Unemployment Insurance and Medicare stabilize the economy and society.

PRO: A strong defense is critical to American power and overall success.
CON: Just like Dwight D. Eisenhower predicted, the American military-industrial complex has become a behemoth that threatens to strangle the nation. Republicans are obsessed with American power. They have grown to believe in American unilateralism and hegemony. The truth is America must work with partners in today's multi-polar world, and those partners must be forced to share the burden. The industrial-military complex needs to be put on a diet, and Republicans need to accept that America cannot continue to go it alone. America needs to invest in a renewable economy, not just bombs and guns.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed my little list. Feel free to add your own.

So, based on this little journey through time, I now see why I left the Republican sales pitch behind. Smaller government and lower taxes SOUND AWESOME, but are really nothing but a pipe dream when you begin to see them applied in the real world. Republicans need to realize that Milton Friedman was wrong. Republican efforts at supply-side economists are a failure. Free trade over fair trade is a failure. American jobs have become CRAP!

We took a chance on Republican principles, and Americans are overwhelmingly throwing in the towel. We're ready to go back to the principles that work. The Democrats didn't invent those principles; Democrats simply embrace what works. I hope the American people understand that and support what is right.

Saturday's Political History/Perspective #1 - Michael

The Incurious Case of George W. Bush

Good Morning Bloggers - They call us Bush Haters and Bush Bashers, among many other insulting things, but the truth is WE are the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS who refuse to dismiss what happened over the past eight years as simply "bad luck."

I guess it somehow makes them feel better if they call us "haters," because it casts us as unreasonable malcontents who never gave Bush a chance. The truth is harder for them to swallow. It's easier for them to say "he kept us safe" while they ask us to ignore everything else. Republicans, or at least Bush supporters, seem to enjoy pixellating the Bush presidency, thus avoiding the whole picture.

Bush's farewell address, much like his last press conference, was nothing more than a farce. His supporters agree with his assertions of success, but when you pick them apart, and look at the facts, they are just as absurd as his presidency.

Last night he pointed to three areas where he feels the most pride: education, drug benefits and veterans health. The truth is many observers feel that all three areas are considered worse off today because of his actions.

No Child Left Behind is condemned by educators who feel it is a disaster, and will fail in Congress next time. The drug benefits passed by Bush and Congressional Republicans are considered a windfall for big pharmaceutical, adding billions in cost to America's heath care system, and are doomed to be scrapped in favor or true reform under Obama and the Democrats.

His final claim of success is nothing but a lie. Bush has some of the lowest approval ratings of any president according to the majority of Veteran's rights groups. Visit Project Vote Smart if you want to see for yourself. He has been considered a roadblock to improving the lives of veterans. That claim is a boldfaced lie, and is unsupportable like all the others.

Bush claimed "moral clarity" last night as one of the hallmarks of his presidency. Perhaps he believes it, but most people don't see it that way. History is strewn with the bodies and debris that resulted from leaders who claimed moral clarity.

Despots throughout time, including Hitler, believed they had moral clarity or a moral obligation to make the tough decisions. It's the nature of the decisions that disturb most observers. Stalin, Franco, Mussolini, and Pol Pot all claimed moral clarity. Their followers, even some alive today, believe they were right, and acted in the best interest of their nation.

Stalin is still revered by conservative Russians as their country's greatest leader. They think of him as their own George Washington. Moral clarity is a smoke-screen. Only fools believe in it, and Bush is a fool to claim it.

Equally disturbing was his claim about his willingness to make the "tough decisions." Again, it's absurd. It's impossible to become president without the ability to make tough decisions. The ability itself mean nothing. It's about making the RIGHT DECISIONS! We didn't hire him to simply make decisions; we hired him to make the right decisions. Again, he is being absurd.

That brings us to his claim of "safe-guarding the economy." It is another HUGE and DISTURBING LIE.

Bush FAILED THE ECONOMY by allowing the financial markets to run wild, crash and burn. I'll admit the fool finally reacted when confronted with a disaster scenario by Paulson, but the truth is they were warned months before and did nothing. I don't care what his supporters say, he was in charge over the past eight years, and his actions caused a catastrophic failure. His administration failed to enforce regulations that could have prevented the crisis. It's simply another lie. BUSH FAILED THE ECONOMY.

Finally, last but not least, I would like to refute the most annoying claim Bush and his supporters use over and over. The one about how HE KEPT US SAFE over the past seven years. It is a joke. Without real evidence of actual thwarted attacks, and that his decisions made us safer, I believe the terrorists are simply long-term planners. It's just too vague and unsupportable.

I could just as easily argue that he made us less safe because he tortured people, setting us up for an attack in the future. There is real evidence that we are threatened more now by jihadists because of the way they handled people at Abu Graib and Guantanamo.

Extremists take years to plan their attacks, especially since it takes a long time to plan and execute large-scale terror attacks. It is reasonable to assume that an attack could occur at anytime. I do not buy their assertion he kept us safe. It is my equally valid assertion HE HAS MADE US LESS SAFE!

I also want to point out that Bush deserves scorn for allowing 9/11 to happen on his watch. Real evidence, no matter what his supporters say, suggests that he, his Secretary of State, and his national security team, dismissed Clinton Administration warnings, and intelligence reports, about a pending attack by civilian aircraft. THEY DID NOTHING! It's plain and simple, George Bush was the president who allowed 9/11 to happen by not doing a better job as president.

The past eight years was not simply bad luck. It was much worse. It will be remembered as the American epitome of ineptitude and incompetence. Practically everything his administration has touched has become a disaster.

From his tortuous pursuit of his war on terror, to the millions who died in Iraq in pursuit of one dictator, to the drug lords who now run Afghanistan, to the multiple wars in the Middle East under his watch, to the people who died due to his delay in helping the victims of Katrina and the loss of a great American city, to the collapse of American justice and moral leadership, to the incredible debt, to his disastrous mismanagement of the economy, the list goes on and on, and it proves that George Bush will be remembered as possibly the WORST PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

They call us Bush Haters. I'll counter by calling them Bush Sycophants, Toadies, Serfs, and Fools. They fail to see him for the true failures he represents. They look at one issue, or one small success, and refuse to see the whole picture. Their ostrich-like deniability offends the majority of us who have suffered through this idiot.

They elected an over-confident, incompetent, moral simpleton to be President of the United States. They need to learn from their mistake, and shun the Sarah Palins in favor of more well-rounded leaders. Their vote needs to be based on more than one issue. They need to be more careful next time.

Friday's Political Rant #1 - Michael

Americans Always Get a Fresh Start

Good Morning Bloggers - Well, it looks like George W. Bush is leaving office having eliminated nearly 4 million jobs and leaving us in a nightmare of a recession, and don't forget about the $5 trillion in new debt - out of an $11 trillion total - he and his Republican friends will leave us as a parting gift. Bush is a failure on a colossal scale. Few can fathom the depths of his blunders, since the numbers and the problems are mind-numbing, staggering and sad.

The official unemployment rate is now at 7.2% and when you throw in the under-employed and those who simply fell out the system, economists say it's more like 14%. Of course the far right is already saying that it's the Democrat's or Obama's fault, but the rest of us know better. They were in charge - despite their ignorant belief we were after the 2006 election, filibusters be damned - and they destroyed our system. Now we need to tune them out and pick up the pieces.

So, despite the bad news, I chose to rave this morning. Why? Because I choose to remain optimistic. One way to remain optimistic and start the healing process is to reflect on success in the past. In 1992, when Bill Clinton was elected President, the American economy was barely creating jobs, wages were stagnant, and the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent. Sound familiar? That was under another Republican, and a Bush. I guess the Republicans loved those days so much they elected his son to do it all over again.

Obama's new economic plan is similar to Clinton’s at that time, however, whereas Clinton focused heavily on fiscal responsibility and debt reduction, Obama is forced to to renew parts of Roosevelt's New Deal. His bold economic strategy is focused on: government spending designed to spur growth, investing in education, and health care reform.

Once the bleeding has stopped, he also wants to focus on investing in green energy and other new industries. It's sill unclear what he'll do about Clinton's love of trade deals, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. I only hope he cares more about FAIR TRADE at the expense of free trade.

Still, if you consider what Clinton achieved, the strategy helped create over 22.4 million jobs and contributed to the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. WOW! Despite the idiotic opposition that always tries to take credit for the good while passing the buck on the bad, Democrats should be confident that we have what it takes to fix what George Bush and the Republicans broke.

So, let's try to be optimistic. Obama is not just a new beginning, he's a brilliant man, well suited to fixing the mess we're in now. He's working on creative solutions, perhaps taking the best of Clinton while adding his own bit of ingenuity.

That's what is so cool about the American system. Over the past eight years we Americans, or at least Democrats, have been envious of other countries with Parliamentary systems. We all know Bush would have suffered a vote of no confidence years ago. Our system is flawed, but the abusive presidents like Bush are few, while the number of very good, creative presidents, who accomplished great things, are clearly the majority.

So, we should be happy despite the nightmare. Yes, we sustained a great deal of damage, the unemployment rate continues to skyrocket, but the ship of state is still afloat, and we have a captain who understands what must be done to repair her. It's not going to be easy, but then again, tough times aren't meant to be easy. They're meant to challenge, test people of good character, weed out the bad, and create new solutions. America always gets a fresh start. Soon we shall have it.

Friday's Political Rave #1 - Michael

Madoff and the American Market Meltdown

Good Morning Bloggers - I love prognostication, predicting all kinds of world events, mostly in business and politics/world affairs.

So, I would like to share a little theory I have that isn't being discussed much yet. Unless Obama can prevent it, we are facing years of American decline. Not because of domestic problems alone, but due to A LOSS OF RESPECT AND TRUST IN THE WORLD. Now, to speculate.

Our American financial system has been the envy of the world for over a century. We took the best parts of the British system and over time developed many advancements that helped build it into the wealthiest on Earth. I won't go into all the historical details that made it great, but suffice to say that it developed into the most trusted system.

Ignoring many citations, allow me to say that things are not looking good. The nightmare of the Bush Administration and its lack of oversight is the main reason why so many people around the world are now losing faith in the American financial system. Despite huge investments worldwide, the incompetence of the Bush years has resulted in instability and market turmoil.

I would argue there have been many final straws - that broke that proverbial camel's back, but the most recent and offensive was the announcement of potential billion-dollar writedowns worldwide caused by exposure to the Madoff hedge fund mess. Foreign losses alone could run as high as $11 billion (€8 billion).

Europe's largest financial companies and institutions revealed their exposure in the billions, and the European governments who own large percentages of those companies are due to lose billions in taxpayer money. That is not good news people. Those were our FOREIGN CUSTOMERS.

Think about it people! What Americans aren't hearing on their cable and local news is HOW ANGRY AND BETRAYED FOREIGN INVESTORS ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW. It's a main topic of daily conversation in the foreign media. It's only Americans who aren't talking about it. To be clear, they're angry at many countries, especially Iceland, but they're VERY ANGRY with US. Actually, to be blunt, they're FURIOUS!

This is serious people. The American financial system is LOSING MORE THAN JUST MONEY, IT'S LOSING THE TRUST OF CUSTOMERS WORLDWIDE. So, ask yourself, what is usually the result of a loss of trust. Well, in most businesses it means the customers will stop doing business with you. That has some pretty serious ramifications for Americans.

Once things begin to get back to normal, and foreigners stop buying American financial instruments based on a worldwide panic, they will begin to withdraw from American financial institutions. They will look to countries that will enforce regulations and promise stability. They're not like Republicans, they value financial stability above all else.

The result will inevitably be a falling dollar, higher interest rates, less investment, and a VERY SLOW ECONOMY due to our overwhelming debt (thanks to you Republicans) that will be very difficult to manage.

The real IRONY here is that Republicans still think they're trusted by people when it comes to money. I hear it everyday with my Republican friends. They still believe they know what's best when it comes to the economy. It's amazing. It never ceases to amaze me just how good Republicans are at lying to themselves and others. They have a true gift.

Well, like most things when it comes to Republicans, it's a lie. Average Americans and people worldwide have started to see that American market deregulation and Republican-led economic theories have created market chaos. WE have LOST CREDIBILITY and they don't even see it. Then again, they never do.

People everywhere (except rich Republicans) have lost both respect and trust in the American system. Unless Obama can assuage our customers, then we are looking at many years of being the world's bad boy. Foreign investment will be harder to find.

In a way the nation will be like it was in the early 1800s, saddled with debt and unable to borrow money. The only difference this time is we don't have tons of natural resources to sell and cheap labor to offer an industrial revolution. That is, of course, unless we're willing to make some pretty drastic changes to our system.

So, there you have it. We can only hope that Barack Obama and his brilliant team will do something to restore that respect and trust. It amazes me, but I really believe that my countrymen, especially Republicans, fail to see the whole picture. It's important people. We need to learn, to care, and to be aware of what's happening in the world. We need to care about how they see us more than ever. We can no longer afford to turn inwards.

Republicans are especially ignorant. They need to stop believing the propaganda. I don't care what FOX "News" says, we do not have the best of everything. Learn the FACTS people. We need to learn to see the forest through the trees. We need to be less xenophobic and more global. Unless we can do it, I predict severe hardship for America in the future. I welcome your perspective.

Tuesday's Political Rant #1 - Michael