Surveying the Wreckage

    Like many of my friends I am still shocked and depressed that the American voters would not be much concerned about our rapidly escalating $16 trillion of federal debt or the President's ineptitude and deliberate deception about Benghazi. But we've got to move on; taking an inventory might be a good, if painful, starting point.  

    Nationally, we're stuck for four more years with a left wing president who is a very good campaigner and a lousy executive. It was a narrow but clear victory (51% - 48%), won not on his record or his vision for the future, but on dividing the country on economic, ethnic, age, and gender lines. Our candidate could have been a great president, but allowed himself to be painted as a negative caricature, shied away from drawing sharp policy contrasts, and ran a poor get out the vote effort.  

    Republicans missed a lay-up in the Senate, losing a net two seats (for a 55-45 disadvantage) when 23 of the 33 seats up for election were Democratic. We will have the same opportunity in 2014. Pray for McCain/Graham/Ayotte to remain vocal. 

    Republicans lost at worst eight (three Tea Party)  seats in the House, retaining a 235 - 200 majority. The redrawing of districts after the 2010 census helped, and will remain in effect for a decade. Pray for Boehner/Ryan/Cantor.

     Republicans gained a net one governorship (North Carolina), bringing their total to 30. Pray for local wisdom to deal with Obamacare and public employee unions.

    In California the public voted to further raise the nation's highest taxes and to create Democratic super-majorities in the Assembly and Senate which can operate with few restraints. Republican voter registration fell below 30%, and we have instituted a "cap and trade" tax/regulatory system to punish what remains of our industrial base. There's nobody to pray for.

    In San Francisco we lost the leading moderate on the Board of Supervisors to term limits (a liberal ideologue beat a union official to represent this relatively conservative district) and voted out the one reformer on the Board of City College (which faces loss of accreditation for decades of mismanagement).  The Board did vote to ban public nudity - except at street fairs. Ditto to California on the prayer front.   

    There, that's it. My therapist tells me that I also need to separate what is temporary from what is permanent and focus on what can be done. More than a few friends from afar have suggested that a moving van might be a good start, but first I've got to sort through the "temporary / permanant" thing and get a grasp on "what can be done".  I apologize in advandce if the next few weeks feel like my therapist's couch.

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   This week's video is an Erskine-Bowles outline of what is necessary to resolve the country's financial crisis. John Boehner is starting to sound as if he is in tune with last week's post.  

bill bowen - 11/30/12       

Comments

[Bill McCormick]

BILL BOWEN--Bravo to your continued efforts to educate and motivate us on the issues that confront the country. Most of us view the curent tranformational era as vital to the future of our children and theirs. America is moving into a era of minority rule with black,Hispanic and Asian minorities combining to take charge. It remains to be seen if this will become an era of redistribution of wealth or an era of equal opportunity for all. With Obama most whites fear the worst: a move to redistribution of wealth through massive government growth, targeted tax increases and changing laws on immigration and social services. It is scary to watch Illinois, California and New York model themselves after the failing governments of Europe blind to the economic consequences and relying more and more on the subsidies from the other 47 states through Federal aid to support their socialistic projects. It is even more frustrating to see the huge advantage they possess in elections with their share of the electoral college dominating the other 47 states in electing the President, the House fo Representatives and indirectly the appointees to the Supreme Courts.

This month it was announced that the State of New York was the first state to reach the point of no return that Thomas Jefferson warned us about: more people in NY now work for the government than for private enterprise. And, as we know the nation is approaching a similar split on taxes: with 47% of the population now paying no Federal income tax we are dangerously close to laws that push the burden of government onto a minority of the people. And, Obama is pushing hard. Forget the upper 2% paying more tax. It will soon be 49% of America paying for 51% and then we move further down the slippery slope toward Greece.

Last week I met with the Senate's Healthcare advisor. She was a wonderful person. I would hire her in a heartbeat. However, while her competance was encouraging, her willingness to listen unending, it was scary to know that like Pelosi said "we have to pass it to learn what is in it" it is somewhat true. Obamacare is an emerging program and no one can predict what impact it will have in terms of success or cost. The people who carved it out and brought it to legisative birth do not fully understand it. It started as one program and by the time they modified it to satisfy the Senators they needed to vote for it to get it passed it was changed in many ways. It is a pile of 2000 pages of compromises. No one's fault really. It is just the way the system works: everyone gets something for their vote. It is no mystery why government programs especially legislation are so ineffective, controversial and expensive. It truly demonstrates why executive leadership and management expertise is so important if we are ever to control government spending. My objective was to find out what is going to happen to small business helthcare plans in 2013 and then beyond October of 2013 when we are forced to the new system. I can honestly say that despite her and my best efforts to determine I do not know. She is working on my questions. I will try to educate small businesses somehow as we go. Obama's objective different from mine was simpy to cover 31 Million uncovered Americans. Something we would all like to see but perhaps the price of this legislation will be economic peril for the nation's job creator's: small business. Perhaps not.

[DickG]

'INTENTIONAL GROUNDING'; This President's repeated 'moving of the
Goal Posts', the full length of the field is clearly Economic Sabotage. Four years of Constitutional Violations,incompetance (anyone having spent more than 15 minutes in a meeting will testify), support of fraudulent organizations and personnel assignments of questionable characters should culminate in Impeachment Hearings at very least.
Are we all standing around awaiting economic suicide ?

[DickG]

STUNNED SILENCE; during the latter stages of the Campaign, Romney made mention he would 'loose' his legal people upon this Administration's Constitutional violations. He has done so, with little 'fanfare';upon Janet Napolitano's stoppage in 'deportations'. It is time Conservatives in each State rally to their respective organizations and promote this .
It has become apparent that elected officials , both Dem & Repub., will not endanger their political office even to the detriment of the Country.