It is Not the Time for Caution

8 Commentaries for Week Ending 3/13/2009 #1

You would think that with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Democrats at least would get that we need to make big, transformative changes as soon as possible.

And most of them do. Certainly President Barack Obama's economic recovery bill and budget -- as well as calls for fundamental reform of health care, education and energy policy -- show that he does. Certainly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does: On Tuesday, she said in a meeting I attended that the House would pass Obama's major reform legislation in 2009. Most Democrats in the House and Senate understand that the moment for big change has arrived.

Not so much for a small minority of Democrats in the Senate.

Mike Lux at Huffington Post

One of the problems with membership in a "Big Tent" party is that a small group of disaffected Senators or Congressmen can railroad the ambitious plans of the more liberal wing of the party. I think in the long term that this check on liberal power works out OK. However, these are not normal times. We are in the midst of a crisis that continues to worsen. We are at moment to learn. Americans are primed to learn.

I think that every Senator in Evan Bayh's group needs to be given a copy of Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment. FDR succeeded because he acted. He wasn't timid. He knew that the failure to act would worsen the crisis and would prevent help from reaching those who need it. The amount of suffering in our country is unfortunately high in the best of times. With a rising unemployment rate over 8%, the level of suffering will soon reach dramatic levels. It is our moral imperative that we do everything we can.

This isn't just realizing long held liberal ideas; it just so happens that these ideas (such as economic stimulus, investment in green energy, and national health care insurance) are the right ideas to alleviate suffering and to allow the country to begin the long process of climbing out of the economic mess born out of conservative ideology. If these Senators want to be on the right side of history, they will not stand in the way of the Obama agenda. They will be called out. They will face opponents in their next primary. If they still choose to play the role of obstructionist, I would imagine that their electoral future will be one of peril in the not so distant future.

Karl Frisch says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for 2/10/2009 #5

The strengthening of the social safety net during the 1930s stimulated the economy while also providing assistance to those waiting to feel the economic recovery for themselves. That's perhaps why Fox News' Bill O'Reilly saw fit to lambast portions of the president's plan aimed at assisting those most in need during these difficult times, claiming last week on his television show that increased funding for programs like food stamps has "nothing to do with stimulating the economy." Though his ego will never let him admit it, O'Reilly is dead wrong.

- Karl Frisch in an op-ed on the New Deal. (Read the entire piece. It's an excellent history lesson.)

This goes to an important point about the stimulus package. The programs that are designed to assist those most in need DO help the economy. They allow people to purchase goods, which allows companies to make money, which allows companies to keep employees and hire new ones, which enables more people to purchase goods, and on and on and on.

Those that refuse to learn from history are stupid. Those that lie about history to advance their own agenda are dangerous. 

Mitch McConnell: Bag of Scum

8 Random Items for 1/27/2009 #2

The debate over the evils of partisanship doesn't interest me. Hell, I think this country could use a healthy does of partisanship from the Democratic party. I am interested, however, by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell's comments about social security.

The entire point of the conservative movement is the destruction of the New Deal. This is as true of so-called "principled conservatives" as Barry Goldwater and John McCain as it is of the truly disgusting types such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay, Brit Hume, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, etc, etc, etc.

A little reminder to my fellow Americans: the New Deal saved capitalism in America. The only point in our history where true socialism (or for that matter, fascism) had a chance to grab hold in this country was during the depths of the Great Depression. FDR, for the record, rejected both socialism and dictatorship and chose instead to strengthen our capitalist system, retaining all of its freedoms, while providing some measure of protection for the average American from the effects of a major economic down turn.

If we allow the Republicans to rewrite our history, we've lost for good. The world would suffer.

Stupid Conservative

8 Random Items for 1/8/2009 #7

Fox News moron Brit Hume says ...

(T)he New Deal -- everybody agrees, I think, on both sides of the spectrum now, that the New Deal failed. The debate is over why it failed.

Funny, but I don't think that is the case. History shows that the New Deal ensured the very survival of millions of Americans during the depression, and, if not for the very conservative attempt to balance the budget in 1937, might very well have pulled us out of the depression. As for what did pull us out of the depression, that would be World War II, or more specifically, the largest government spending project ever undertaken by our nation.

I apologize for the redundancy in the headline.