With the polling suggesting that not more than 25% of Americans want to be known as Republicans, it's no surprise that Arlen Specter has switched to the Democrats. After all, he wasn't that liked by his former party. So with him a Democrat, there are only two ways to avoid a filibuster-proof majority.
1. Norm Coleman manages to get them to do another recount which he somehow wins. Unlikely because so far he's farther behind with every recount. Or he could talk the Minnesota Supreme Court into a new election, which he isn't likely to win because he's so unpopular now after all these crazy recounts.
2. Republicans could take reasonable positions that Democrats might agree with them on, and vote accordingly.
So let's face it, Republicans have handed over the keys. They want to lose every vote but stand up for their principals; among them the right to torture people, to not fund public health or natural disaster monitoring, and to spend our tax money only on new missles and a great big wall along the southern border. Oh, and no taxes. The missles will build themselves.
Seriously, this is a huge disaster. I said it before, I like the two-party system. I think the Democrats can stay moderate for a while but sooner or later, unless them wingnuts get their act together, we're going to outlaw gasoline. Come on you guys, quit whining and start doing something constructive, like making law instead of trying to shout it down.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Specter Of A Supermajority
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10 comments:
I'll bite.
Here are some of my positions. Can you suggest how I can still be true to my beliefs/convictions, and take a "reasonable position" as you suggest?
1. I believe small a Federal Government is better than a large Federal Government.
2. I believe people need to take responsibility for themselves, in regards to housing, food, healthcare, and work. Obviously, those that cannot help themselves should be exempt.
3. I believe life begins at conception, and abortion should not be funded with public monies.
4. I believe the best offense is a strong defense.
5. I believe that there are forces in the World that wish to do harm to our Country, and that we need to protect our Country from those people.
6. I believe that Government is not the answer to all of my problems.
7. I believe that lower taxes encourages more investment in business, which in turn creates jobs and prosperity.
8. I believe that the Federal Government has no business running auto companies, banks, or insurance companies.
9. I believe that our borders need to be secured, and without such, our Country will be bankrupted.
10. I believe that the concept of "cap and trade" will cause much more harm to our Country, than any benefit could be gained for the environment.
1. Pretty vague terms, "small" and "large". If you can specify, there's probably some room for agreement. More than you think, I bet.
2. We already agree with you there.
3. Alas.
4. Same here. Though a strong offense by itself doesn't make the country safer.
5. Yep. See number 4.
6. It sure isn't, but can you admit that it is to some of them?
7. It sounds like common sense, but there is no proof of that. Clinton raised business taxes, Bush lowered them; check out the economic growth numbers. By the way, taxes are lower now then they were under Reagan and that went okay, right?
8. I believe that Karen Black had no business piloting a commercial jet in AIRPORT 1975, but in an emergency sometimes you have to do extreme things. And she brought the plane down safely, at which point it was returned to trained pilots.
9. Bankrupted? That's just stupid. And there's lots of xenophobic Democrats anyway that will agree with you. Check out that Lou Dobbs sometime!
10. That too is a little hysterical. More likely it will lead to business opting for more energy efficient methods, which in the long run will help the environment and save the businesses money.
Good riddance to Spector. I've hated that guy for a long, long time. Glad he's your problem now.
1. I believe small a Federal Government is better than a large Federal Government.(YES)
2. I believe people need to take responsibility for themselves, in regards to housing, food, healthcare, and work. Obviously, those that cannot help themselves should be exempt.(Yes, but that last bit needs definition.)
3. I believe life begins at conception, and abortion should not be funded with public monies.(I believe that the states have a right to make abortion illegal, too)
4. I believe the best offense is a strong defense. (Yes. In fact, I believe we should never spend less than 15% of GDP on the military. Not in peace time, especially.)
5. I believe that there are forces in the World that wish to do harm to our Country, and that we need to protect our Country from those people. (And I believe some of them live here)
6. I believe that Government is not the answer to all of my problems.(I believe it rarely is... in fact, almost never)
7. I believe that lower taxes encourages more investment in business, which in turn creates jobs and prosperity.(Yes)
8. I believe that the Federal Government has no business running auto companies, banks, or insurance companies.(or healthcare, or retirement accounts, or support of those out of work, and as far as the federal government goes it has no business in education, agriculture, religion, and many, many other areas.)
9. I believe that our borders need to be secured, and without such, our Country will be bankrupted. (without integrity of borders a country is NOT a country.)
10. I believe that the concept of "cap and trade" will cause much more harm to our Country, than any benefit could be gained for the environment.(In fact, it is a sham that does NOTHING AT ALL for the "environment" and is just another way for government to control our lives.)
Responding to your response to my list of 10. I'll note that you really didn't offer me ways to take a "reasonable position" on those that you and I disagree on.
1. Let's start with a balanced budget. You guys did it under Clinton, right? Should be super easy to do, what with control of all three branches of the Federal Government, and a fillibuster-proof majority.
2. Then the Democrats will support welfare reform, medicare reform, and place limits on how long the majority of public assistance benefits will last (like unemployment benefits)?
3. What is the "reasonable position" you would like me to take here?
4. It's a good start.
5. Including methods to protect our Country, even though they may be unseemly to some? What is my "reasonable position" here?
6. I'm assuming we aren't talking about roads and such here.
7. We'll agree to disagree. What is the "reasonable position" you would like me to take here?
8. What is the "reasonable position" you would like me to take here? The very Government that got us into this mess, is now the same one that is going to get us out of it? Our Government is now backing warranties of auto manufacturers that are soon to be out of business.
9. So you are calling my belief "stupid". What "reasonable position" would you like me to take here? I work in many cities on the Mexican border. I see the massive line of illegals in the hospitals I work with every day, surviving on taxpayer funding. If you don't think there's a huge looming problem, you are fooling yourself. Look at your own State budget.
10. What "reasonable position" would you like me to take here?
I don't know if I want to address this stuff point by point, just because it's time consuming and too much like work. It's telling that you are demanding that I define your compromise positions for you. My suspicion is that would reject them. So I will cover things you did go into detail about.
1. Snarky joke - how easy can it be? Bush had all those things AND a balanced budget.
3. We're not going to see eye to eye on this one, sadly.
4. We already have a strong defense.
5. Torture is "unseemly to some" the way that Nazis are "villains to some." No American president or official, EVER, has considered torture OK until Bush. Even then he had to lie about it throughout his presidency hoping we'd warm up to the idea.
6. Maybe it is just roads and cops and firemen. That's worth discussing.
8. The government didn't get us into this mess. What got us into the mess was the hiding of loan risk by spreading it out through exotic investment instruments. When the loans failed, it took the system down. The government played a part by encouraging home ownership and removing barriers that prevented exotic investment instruments.
9. The hospitals aren't publically funded. Illegal immigrants use some public services and don't pay income tax, it's true, but they do pay SALES tax and contribute to the local economy. So where is the threat of bankruptcy? What am I missing here? Public schools? I can't think of anything else.
You stated that "Republicans could take reasonable positions that Democrats might agree with them on, and vote accordingly."
I merely asked what "reasonable positions" you think I should take, based on a sampling of things I believe in. Since your side is the one with the power, your side decides the positions, no?
It seems your definition of "reasonable positions" is "shut up and get in line".
au contraire, I'm asking to you to go into more detail.
Didn't you say a few comments ago that you didn't want to go point by point because it was too much like work?
Now you want detail?
I'll put it this way: say on number 6, I'm inviting to you explain where you think it's useful to have government. For number 9, quote me some figures to prove me wrong. Stuff like that.
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