Republicans and Stimulus

8 Random Items for 1/29/2009 #8

I had typed a bunch of lofty words and long sentences espousing my views of the crisis and the stimulus package and why liberal solutions were needed to both mitigate the impact of the crisis and to pull us out of it. The more I think about it, the more I realize that anyone who has even the most passing familiarity with history, and with the Great Depression in particular, already knows this to be the case. As Richard Nixon himself said, "We're all Keynesians now."

Still, the Republican opposition to Obama's stimulus package has left me with conflicting emotions. I do not believe that the majority of elected Republicans in Washington want to see the financial crisis deepen, but I do believe that they think it would a small cost to pay to avoid a Keynesian solution that pulls us out of the crisis. They are more than willing to sacrifice our paychecks, our bank balances, our brokerage accounts and our small businesses to prevent enactment of a liberal solution.

Let's state this plainly.

Republicans do not oppose Obama's stimulus plan because they do not think it will work.

Republicans oppose Obama's stimulus plan because they are afraid that it will work.

When conservative economic ideology is thoroughly debunked again, just as it was in the Hoover administration, the American people will again reward the Democratic Party, as they did after FDR.

This is what keeps the Republicans bed wetters up at night.