GOP Now Calling Itself 'The Party of Ideas.' Problem Is, Most of Them Are Bad Ideas
By Joe Rothstein
Many restaurants try to attract customers by posting the words, "home cooking" in their windows.
My very wise, late mother-in-law used to warn us that, "home cooking" is not necessarily a positive recommendation for where to eat. "Depends on whose home it is," she used to say.
Lately, Republicans have been trying to attract customers by referring to themselves as the "party of ideas." But as with home cooking, "ideas" is a neutral word until you look carefully into the pot to see what's cooking.
Just to run through a few ideas the Republicans have advanced this year, and other years since they became dominant:
---The idea that Social Security should no longer be a government program, but that it should morph over time into a managed relationship between you and whoever is privately managing your retirement accounts.
---The idea that we should shrink the size of government and outsource as many of its functions as possible to the private sector.
---The idea that the state governments should not get in the way of the federal government on many important issues.
---The idea that even though nearly half the voters voted for Democratic candidates in 2004, big decisions should be made inside the Republican caucus without negotiating a bi-partisan consensus.
---The idea that energy independence for the U.S. can best be achieved by giving huge tax breaks to big oil companies.
This is a short and very arbitrary list. But I think it's fairly representative of where the "idea" party is taking us.
The recently-enacted energy bill gives billions to the most profitable industry in America as "incentives" to search for and develop more oil and gas resources. This was the result of the Republican idea that $65 a barrel oil simply wasn't enough incentive on its own.
The energy bill also makes it difficult for states and localities to stop high-powered transmission lines from going where states and localities might not want them. Ditto with highly volatile liquid natural gas facilities. Earlier in the year the Bush administration fought and won a battle in court to override the wishes of state voters who wanted to legalize the use of medical marijuana. The Republicans' new idea seems to be to trash states' rights when they stand in the way of tighter control from the White House.
On Social Security "reform," the idea on which President has spent so much time and political capital, don't count the issue out just because of widespread public opposition. As we know by now, once the President convinces himself that he's right, he doesn't abandon a campaign. Fundamentally changing Social Security is one of the Republicans' biggest ideas, and it's coming back for a re-run early next year.
The American Society of Civil Engineers recently graded America's infrastructure---highways, bridges, water and sewer systems, schools, etc.---and gave the whole public works sector a D. The engineers' estimate is that we need $1.6 trillion invested in the country's crumbling infrastructure over the next 5 years just to bring it up to a safe and acceptable standard.
Meanwhile, the Republican idea is to continue to cut taxes so that the country won't be able to afford to pay for its most basic requirements. You have to go back 25 years (when Carter was President) to find corporate tax receipts as a percentage of GDP as low as they are today.
I watched a news clip of President Bush signing the new highways bill. He told his partisan audience that the bill was fiscally responsible because the gas tax wasn't increased to pay for the roads. No, it wasn't. The nearly $300 billion tab will be paid with money the federal government borrows, which makes it the most expensive way to build and repair our roads. President Bush's idea of fiscal responsibility is to add more debt to the national burden.
The idea of transferring government jobs to the private sector is in full flower. No better example of it is the no-bid, sweetheart contract the Defense Department gave Halliburton to peel potatoes, provide gas for vehicles, handle our troops' laundry, and provide other services once performed by government workers. So far these contracts amount to $12 billion and rising fast. And all along the way Halliburton has been nailed for cheating our troops on the firing line.
The President and the Republicans are full of ideas. We've watched as those ideas have been unwrapped over the past few years and tossed into the stew that we call the Republican agenda.
The aroma is not inviting. The taste we've had already is hard to swallow.
As my late mother-in-law said, it depends whose home is doing the cooking.
Joe Rothstein, editor of USPoliticstoday.com, is a former daily newspaper editor and long-time national political strategist based in Washington, D.C.
Many restaurants try to attract customers by posting the words, "home cooking" in their windows.
My very wise, late mother-in-law used to warn us that, "home cooking" is not necessarily a positive recommendation for where to eat. "Depends on whose home it is," she used to say.
Lately, Republicans have been trying to attract customers by referring to themselves as the "party of ideas." But as with home cooking, "ideas" is a neutral word until you look carefully into the pot to see what's cooking.
Just to run through a few ideas the Republicans have advanced this year, and other years since they became dominant:
---The idea that Social Security should no longer be a government program, but that it should morph over time into a managed relationship between you and whoever is privately managing your retirement accounts.
---The idea that we should shrink the size of government and outsource as many of its functions as possible to the private sector.
---The idea that the state governments should not get in the way of the federal government on many important issues.
---The idea that even though nearly half the voters voted for Democratic candidates in 2004, big decisions should be made inside the Republican caucus without negotiating a bi-partisan consensus.
---The idea that energy independence for the U.S. can best be achieved by giving huge tax breaks to big oil companies.
This is a short and very arbitrary list. But I think it's fairly representative of where the "idea" party is taking us.
The recently-enacted energy bill gives billions to the most profitable industry in America as "incentives" to search for and develop more oil and gas resources. This was the result of the Republican idea that $65 a barrel oil simply wasn't enough incentive on its own.
The energy bill also makes it difficult for states and localities to stop high-powered transmission lines from going where states and localities might not want them. Ditto with highly volatile liquid natural gas facilities. Earlier in the year the Bush administration fought and won a battle in court to override the wishes of state voters who wanted to legalize the use of medical marijuana. The Republicans' new idea seems to be to trash states' rights when they stand in the way of tighter control from the White House.
On Social Security "reform," the idea on which President has spent so much time and political capital, don't count the issue out just because of widespread public opposition. As we know by now, once the President convinces himself that he's right, he doesn't abandon a campaign. Fundamentally changing Social Security is one of the Republicans' biggest ideas, and it's coming back for a re-run early next year.
The American Society of Civil Engineers recently graded America's infrastructure---highways, bridges, water and sewer systems, schools, etc.---and gave the whole public works sector a D. The engineers' estimate is that we need $1.6 trillion invested in the country's crumbling infrastructure over the next 5 years just to bring it up to a safe and acceptable standard.
Meanwhile, the Republican idea is to continue to cut taxes so that the country won't be able to afford to pay for its most basic requirements. You have to go back 25 years (when Carter was President) to find corporate tax receipts as a percentage of GDP as low as they are today.
I watched a news clip of President Bush signing the new highways bill. He told his partisan audience that the bill was fiscally responsible because the gas tax wasn't increased to pay for the roads. No, it wasn't. The nearly $300 billion tab will be paid with money the federal government borrows, which makes it the most expensive way to build and repair our roads. President Bush's idea of fiscal responsibility is to add more debt to the national burden.
The idea of transferring government jobs to the private sector is in full flower. No better example of it is the no-bid, sweetheart contract the Defense Department gave Halliburton to peel potatoes, provide gas for vehicles, handle our troops' laundry, and provide other services once performed by government workers. So far these contracts amount to $12 billion and rising fast. And all along the way Halliburton has been nailed for cheating our troops on the firing line.
The President and the Republicans are full of ideas. We've watched as those ideas have been unwrapped over the past few years and tossed into the stew that we call the Republican agenda.
The aroma is not inviting. The taste we've had already is hard to swallow.
As my late mother-in-law said, it depends whose home is doing the cooking.
Joe Rothstein, editor of USPoliticstoday.com, is a former daily newspaper editor and long-time national political strategist based in Washington, D.C.
posted by Tejano Insider at 8:15 AM
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