Quotes of the day – governance

"That philosophy, simply put, holds that government is necessary and can be a powerful influence in making and creating a healthy social, economic and political climate." – "Opposing view: Reinert betrays values of the left", Will Munger DNT 2013-03-11

Will, a friend of mine, wrote this in response to "Other view: Minnesota at best when colored purple" about the "Purple Caucus", an attempt by Democratic State Senator Roger Reinert, Republican State State Senator Jeremy Miller, and others to work together to get something done for the benefit of the state.

I think Will is missing the point that the Purple Caucus was formed so that government works instead of having ideological purists demand the other see things their way.

The other quote is how polarization isn't addressing what most people want.

"Most of the country, it turns out, fits the mold of moderately conservative, a place from which careful, thoughtful change comes in a logical, rational, fact-based package that remains remarkably free of sound-bite-driven hyperbole." – Michael Charney, "Unconventional Wisdom: Barbara Olschner's 'The Reluctant Republican'".

Charney, a Coffee Party conservative, wrote the above in his article on Barbara Olschner's unsuccessful attempt to get the Republican nomination for Florida's 2nd District.  She came in fifth trying to be reasonable.  She wrote "The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority" about her experience.

My question to the Purple Caucus, Charney, Olschner, and others, when will this "moderate majority" show up at election time?

Where, oh where did the moderates go?

For a good analysis of why we have so few moderate Republicans, see "George and Mitt Romney & the Death of Moderate GOP", David Frum, The Daily Beast, 2012-03-19.

As an interesting sidelight, how many current Republicans (or Democrats) would take a subway from the airport and a bus from the subway as George Romney did to visit his son's campaign headquarters?

Foreign policy rhetoric can bite you back

There are tabloids and there are tabloids! There's the National Inquirer and then there's the Onion. They both make up stories to titillate their readers. The Inquirer makes up stories hoping its readers will believe them. The Onion makes up stories hoping readers will see the irony in them.

One such unbelievable ironic story is "New Breeding Program Aimed At Keeping Moderate Republicans From Going Extinct".

You know, I know, the writers know that there is no such program. But given the way that so many Republicans who don't fall in lockstep with the ALEC program are being sidelined, don't you wish there was a way to bring back Republicans who think for themselves.

The story that inspired the title of this entry is "Iran Worried U.S. Might Be Building 8,500th Nuclear Weapon". The Onion has Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi parroting much of the rhetoric that the U.S. has used to describe Iran. Unfortunately, U.S. military policy based on short-term goals too often loses sight that U.S. actions may be causing more problems than they solve. Remember, the U.S. toppled the democratically elected Mossadegh of Iran and supported the Shah; then Iranians toppled the Shah and got the ayatollahs. The U.S. hasn't forgiven Iran for the capture of the Embassy and Iran has forgiven the U.S. for the installation of the Shah.

Moderate Republicans do exist, sort of

When I searched www.gop.com for material for another entry, I came across the Moderate Republcans group.  It has only 11 members since 2009-11-19, the eleventh joining today (not me).  It has only three entries, one being an announcement for the candidacy of Colonel Oliver Wimbledon Pepper IV Esq. for President in 2012.

I think the originator of the group had more serious purposes: "A group that has no set view on issues. We view a majority of the Republican Platform favorably. A minority of views, we may differentiate, but we all find ourselves between the far-right conservatives and centrist political spectrum."

If you're tired of the choice between the Republicans who dream of a country that never existed and the Democrats who dream of a country that will never be, maybe you should drop in on this group to give the more serious members some encouragement.

"Bipartisanship" and health care

A recent Senate Finance Committee effort for bipartisanship on health care wound up gutting some important features of the health care plan. See "Senate Finance Committee Dropping Dem Health Goals".

I think the Democrats are not recognizing that there are really four parties in Congress: the major faction of the Democrats, the "Blue Dog" Democrats, the realistic Republicans, and the "Say No" Republicans. The real bipartisanship is for the major faction to be discussing the issue with the "Blue Dog" Democrats and the realistic Republicans, however few of the latter there are. These two groups are the ones to be working with, not the G No P.