I can recall that, when it was test day, my fifth grade teacher made a point of slowly walking up and down each row of students to make sure that no one was cheating. You know . . . things like hidden crib sheets or notes written in the palm of our hands.
The standards for being a potential Republican/Tea Party presidential candidate are obviously not near as high as they were for our fifth grade class.
Sarah Palin has created quite a lot of buzz by writing notes into her hand which she referred to during an interview at the National Tea Party Convention. Credit Palin for appealing to her Republican base by using a hillbilly palm pilot.
In defense of Palin, we know it can be hard preparing for a grueling question and answer session. It’s only reasonable to jot important notes that you can refer to, such as “energy, “tax cuts” and, most importantly, “lift American spirit.”
Yes, whereas I was trying to find some way to remember the Kansas-Nebraska Act or the Dred Scott decision, Leader of the Free World Wannabe is trying to remember to “lift American spirit” and “tax cuts.”
Tax cuts are the primary tenet of the Republican Party. In fact, it’s the only tenet. Jotting down “tax cuts” onto the palm of your hand is like Rudy Giuliani jotting down “9/11.” When it’s all that your party believes in and it’s their only solution to everything from global warming to steroids in baseball, why do you need a cheat sheet as a reminder?
And you really need something to remind you to “lift American spirit?” Really?
This is today’s Republican party. It has no principal and no moral compass.
Conservatives have convinced themselves that leadership is defined as opposing President Obama at every opportunity.
When President Obama proposed creating a bi-partisan commission to explore ways to reduce the federal deficit, it was opposed by Kansas Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, along with such “fiscal conservatives” as Sen. John McCain and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
What is the Republican solution? Apparently to keep talking about the deficit until the next election rather than attempt to do something about it.
Then again, you can’t reduce the deficit if it might mean less money for your home state.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) was able to put a hold on about 70 presidential appointments to government positions (since reduced to three) in an effort to force the federal government to approve a $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers in his state, along with another $45 million for an improvised explosive device testing lab.
In other words, balance the budget in some other district. Money spent in my district is not a means of providing for our national security.
Again, this is Republican leadership. Complain about the deficit, but keep the money flowing in my direction.
The same is true of that socialist plot known as the stimulus plan. Republicans denounce the spending plan, but Congressman after Congressman appears in ribbon cutting photos and other promotional events where this money is responsible for creating jobs and helping business and industry to expand.
After all, the stimulus plan is a brainchild of the Obama Administration, so it can’t possibly be good for anything but adding to the federal deficit. But, Republicans don’t mind taking credit for stimulus money that finds its way into their district.
There’s nothing wrong with political parties that disagree on matters of policy. That’s been a part of our democracy since its founding.
Everyone can agree that unemployment of 10 percent is devastating. Find a way to put people to work.
Everyone can agree that a federal deficit of more than $10 trillion is unsustainable. Find a way to reduce it.
Everyone can agree that an unregulated financial sector is a disaster waiting to happen. We’ve seen it with the Savings and Loan Crisis, Enron and now the collapse of the housing industry. Find a way to implement safeguards that protect taxpayers . . . not the Wall Street executives who took us to the edge of a Great Depression.
Finding these s olutions will require careful and thoughtful decision-making on the part of everyone in Washington, D.C. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have a monopoly on common sense.
Waiting for the other party to fail is not a solution; neither is a desire to take us back to the free-wheeling, unregulated policies that have created this mess.
What we need is leadership capable of looking past the next election cycle, that can sell something more than fear and is ready to acknowledge that this is a problem too big for one party to solve.
And the solution won’t fit into the palm of your hand. That didn’t work for us in fifth grade and it won’t work today.
Rod Haxton can be reached at editor@screcord.com