Saving Federal Dollars

Some congressmen believe the government should not spend any money, shouldn’t borrow, shouldn’t raise the debt ceiling, and shouldn’t raise taxes. They are from “red” states or districts. And they don’t want to vote for hurricane relief for the northeastern states.

Others believe government should do what is necessary for the welfare of the people. When people are in trouble, good people help. They are from “blue” states or districts. And they voted for hurricane relief for the South and Midwest.

It’s not just Tea Party ideology. Whose ox is gored matters to them. If the hurricane hits my district, well, they’re good people, so we gotta help. But if it’s somebody else’s district, especially a “blue” district, we certainly do not want to help “those” people. So we have a combination of politics and ideology.

OK then, here’s a proposal.

Obama’s Choices Among Boehner’s Disasters

I’m going to be away for a few weeks and it looks like all heck will be breaking loose in Washington while I’m away. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to figure out President Obama’s options.

The underlying assumptions of this commentary

No one should make the mistake that many conservatives do of claiming that liberals have no morals, and no moral backbone. We have a different system of morals than those conservatives, but it is a very principled set of morals and we’re just as passionate about them. The battle for the soul of America is very much a moral battle.

Vote

I’ve been thinking about my retirement account. From the time George Bush entered the White my account has been flat – even though my employer and I add to it every pay period.

Deer in the headlights

For most of the past two years, we have had a President who has been trying to make changes and an opposition party that has been blocking everything, leveraging 40 votes with arcane senate rules to block the majority in both houses of Congress.

The Rewards of Obstruction

Yesterday Obama announced a new jobs and infrastructure proposal. The Republicans have already said no.

Overkill

More than two centuries ago, Jeremy Bentham explained the virtues of moderation. If you cut off people’s heads for the most minor infraction, you encourage the petty thief to kill.

Qualifications for Judicial Nominees

We have discussed on several occasions nominations of Supreme Court justices. Chief Justice Roberts famously compared the job of a justice to the job of an umpire calling balls and strikes. You stand behind the plate and if the ball travels inside that territory called the strike zone, it’s a strike; if not, it’s a ball. The strike zone is real and measurable, although baseball has chosen not to use high tech equipment to second guess the umps.

Homeless Veteran

As I left a shopping plaza a few days ago I spotted a woman, probably in her 30s, with a sign that read “Homeless veteran.” I have not been able to get her out of my mind. It’s not the paltry dollar or two that she wanted. It’s that we as a society take so little responsibility for the tragedies in our midst.

Republican Word Doctors

Years ago we stopped in at a place that wanted to sell us a piece of land. The person we were talking to asked what we would enjoy and then asked us to imagine it was all there. We had to imagine it because he wanted to sell us our own dreams. Nothing he asked us to imagine was actually there or in the contract he wanted us to sign. Our children were young then and urged us to do it daddy and mommy.

I had the same sense of people trying to sell us our own dreams as I read The Word Doctors “Language of Financial Reform” prepared by Dr. Frank Luntz for Republicans.