Should bats be offended?

"My party has gone bat-shit crazy!"

At least SC Senator Lindsey Graham is being honest.   He went on to say that if Tea Party spark plug Ted Cruz was murdered on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, no one would be convicted. *and he should know!*

Thanks Tea Party.  Because of you, the Republican Party has ceased to be a respected body of conservative thought, and has instead become a body of radical obstructionists.  They are no more capable of governing than Joe McCarthy was back in the 1950's.  Even those reasonable Republicans left in Congress are afraid to speak up against these extremists....except apparently Lindsey Graham.

It's ironic to me to watch Tea Party stalwarts pledge such strong allegiance to the Constitution, then eschew compromise.  It's "my way or the highway" they proudly proclaim.  They have no compunction about shutting down the government, even willing (so they say) to suspend retirees and disabled veterans Social Security and disability checks in order to leverage their coercion.  How shameful!

Do they not realize that the Constitution is itself a compromise?   When the populous states wanted representation based on population, and the less populous states wanted equal representation, they compromised....our Founding Fathers agreed to two houses of congress.  The House of Representatives is weighted in favor of more populous states, and the Senate allows for two Senators per state.  

Such pragmatism has worked for us for 227 years, but the Tea Party seems to think they know better.  Call me skeptical.  HIGHLY skeptical!

Those of you who live in Super Tuesday states, don't forget to vote tomorrow.

S

We have the wrong people in charge!

I sometimes feel like I'm in political "no-mans land".  My conservative friends think I'm a liberal, and my liberal friends think I'm a conservative.  Sheesh, y'all gimme a break, OK?

Here's how it really is:  I'm a conservative, somewhere a bit to the right of dead-center.  I usually vote for Republicans, but sometimes for a Democrat who might share my disdain of Big Bankers and want to impose some reforms on them.  But increasingly, I simply pass up voting for either candidate in a particular race because I find "my guy" to be disgusting.  (Ted Cruz immediately comes to mind.)

Last night after our customary Friday evening dinner out K and I stopped at the bookstore.  There I saw this book by Chris Matthews that got me to thinking.  (I didn't buy it because, frankly, I've always found Chris Matthews to be pretty obnoxious.)  Still, the topic made me smile.  THIS is what we need today.  

Here were President Ronald Reagan, the consummate conservative, and Tip O'Neil, the crusty old liberal Speaker of the House, pictured on the cover in a cordial, collegial embrace.  Two pragmatists.  I've heard stories of how they would get together, cuss and discuss for hours or days, do some horse trading, and eventually arrive at a position that both could live with.  Neither got all they wanted, but neither crushed the other, either.  They both lived to fight another day.  And we were all better off for it.   America worked.

I have friends, both on-line and in the real world, who are just a bit to the left of dead center.  I have absolutely no doubt we could get together, discuss the country's mess, perhaps share an adult beverage or two, and arrive at a reasonable position we could all abide by.  But we never hear about people like us in the news.

It's always the ideologues from the extreme fringes of our two parties (tell me again why we can't have three parties?) who seem to be in control.  I swear they'd argue with a stop sign!  Before one side can even get the words out of their mouth, the other side is condemning it as likely to cause our country's immediate and complete collapse. 

I'm ready for a REVOLUTION!  No, I don't mean where we pick up guns and pitchforks and go killing anyone who even looks like they might disagree with us.  I only want to pick up guns and pitchforks and go after the extreme ideologues.  (Relax....I'm just kidding.  Maybe.  :)

Those who disagree with me in a civilized, open-minded way....pull up a chair.  Let's talk some football, who brews the best beer, and maybe a little health care.  We'll figure it out.

Give and take.  Compromise.  That's how our Founding Fathers did it.  You know, those old guys we always put up on a pedestal as if they were saints?  

S

Can we just lynch Congress and be done with this? Why not?

NOW we're talkin'!  

(I stole this photo off my friend Kathy Mizell's Facebook page.)

What is it with these wacko nut job Tea Party-ers?  They can't even get along with half of their own Republican Party.  Since the Tea Party gained traction several years ago there have been numerous sitting congressmen from both parties say they would not run for re-election as they were no longer proud to serve in Congress.  They say going to work every day and confronting these Tea Party-ers is unbearable.  

I understand standing firm on moral matters, but nothing Congress does falls in the category of "morality".  That would be the ultimate oxymoron!  They're just a bunch of sleazeballs trying to get all they can while they can for themselves and their fat cat friends.

The American people are NOT extremists.  We believe in compromise.  In fact we founded an entire country on compromise.  It's worked for well over 200 years, but now all of a sudden these Tea Party-ers have a better idea?  They're smarter than our Founding Fathers?  Ha!  I'm surprised they can even walk upright!

Extremism didn't work for the Democrats back in the 80's, and it won't work for the Republicans today.  But until they can be eradicated they are screwing the American people like I've never seen before.

The "austerity" the Tea Party-ers advocate has been ongoing in Europe for several years now and is NOT working.  In fact it's making things worse.  While the goal (reigning in government) is probably necessary, the timing is atrocious.  You start cutting back when the economy is healthy and can afford to absorb the hit.  You don't kick people in the teeth when they're already down for the count.

OK, I feel better now.  Not really, but my fingers are cramping.

Now, go out there and have a great weekend.  Unless you're a Congressman.  Then get your ass to work.  Vacation request DENIED!

;)

S

The next Big Stink

This has been a really bitter election year, a really bitter and divisive 4 years for that matter.  Here's something to consider:  I'll bet you the upcoming election results will NOT end the bitterness, but will intensify it.  Here's why....the electoral college might well crown one man the duly-elected "winner" while the popular vote will say the other candidate really won.

So what exactly is this electoral college? It was our Founding Father's way of putting a layer between the common man, the actual voter, and the election process.  They didn't actually trust the common man.  They were afraid a tyrant would somehow get control of a party and be able to manipulate enough uneducated naive voters to win the popular vote, and this was their way of being able to override such vote rigging.  (They were a very suspicious / paranoid bunch!)

FYI, in the election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes had a quarter-million fewer popular votes, but won the electoral college vote 185-184.  In the election of 1888 Benjamin Harrison had 80K fewer popular votes, but won the electoral college vote by a lopsided 233-168.  And more recently George W. Bush won the election of 2000 with 500K fewer popular votes, but with 5 more electoral votes, 271-266.

I'm seeing signs something similar might happen next month.  They say Obama and Romney are neck-and-neck in popular votes, but the number of solid Obama states has many more electoral votes than Romney's solidly red states. Regardless of which candidate you / I prefer this election year, I just think that's wrong.

So why don't we just do away with the electoral college and vote directly for president?  Because it would take a Constitutional Amendment, which would require a super majority of state legislatures and congress, and BOTH parties have benefited at one time or another from the screwy electoral college process.  Both see they have more to lose than to gain.  In short, nothing is going to change.

Sharp as our Founding Fathers were, I'm thinking they bungled this one, at least as seen through modern eyes.

S

Politicians gone wild

I've nearly finished reading Do Not Ask What Good We Do:  Inside the U.S. House of Representatives by Robert Draper.  For a political junkie such as myself it is a fascinating look at how the lower house of Congress actually works.  


I found it to be very fairly balanced, praising several in both parties for earnestly trying to serve our country, but also revealing many in both parties for what they are:  crooked power hungry scum bags looking out only for their own political careers.  I mean to the point of being willing to throw the entire country under the bus if they have to to get themselves re-elected.  Our current crop of freshmen representatives are a particularly uninformed group. 


The bottom line is this:  IMO, If EITHER party ever gains control of the House of Representatives AND the Senate AND the Presidency, WE'RE SCREWED!  I'm convinced that a gridlocked Congress, bad as that might be, would serve us better than getting flattened by the runaway Special Interest Express of one-party rule.  You can't imagine how dangerous these people are!


Our wise Founding Fathers gave us the concept of "checks and balances" for a reason.  Whether between branches of government or houses of Congress, it's a good concept.


S