We are facing an economic crisis. And that sentence seems to represent the totality of agreement on the issue by the populace.No one agrees how to handle this mess. That doesn't stop anyone from having strong feelings about the stimulus, which is good for healthy debate.
<-- GUESS THE REPUBLICAN ANSWER (Hint: Rhymes with Fax Struts)
My purpose in sitting down to spew my thoughts is threefold. First, I want to address the ridiculous practice of re-arguing the New Deal debate, especially when its done to political ends. Second, I will explain my reason for supporting the stimulous bill even though not one person in this nation is completely happy about it (as if that isn't argument enough). Finally, I want to explain why I believe the zero-vote strategy adopted by the Republican party neither helps the country nor the future of that party.
No one wants more debt and no one wants to waste. Even the best of solutions sometimes taste bad going down, but we do what we must.
FAIR DEAL
I recently read that the conservative talking points during the stimulus debate included an argument that the New Deal made the depression worse. The "proof" provided is sketchy at best. The truth is that this argument leads to a dead-end.
Once the New Deal is brought up in any context, the respective sides will take their usual places and dig in. I will never be convinced that it did not help the nation out of the depression because my great-grandparents credited the public works projects that employed my great-grandfather with saving their lives in the wake of depression.
The truth is that the New Deal represents a fault line for the most basic of political disagreements: The role of the federal government.
Just like I cannot be moved on this topic, neither will many conservatives budge from the assertion that only tax cuts and the private sector ever produce results on anything from slicing bread to ending a recession.
Ironically, they point to the war as the true savior while conveniently leaving out one important fact. WWII created jobs because of the massive government spending necessary to arm the nation to the teeth in a very short time. That's right, those private sector jobs would never have developed if the government wasn't in the market for massive amounts of products to be produced ASAP. Who else but the government would ever make such huge purchases?
Remember that fact when new RNC chair Michael Steele says that the federal government has never created a single job in the nation's history. Such a statement defines foolishness. It also shows that he is driven by only ideology and not by reason. And he's the leader of the Republican party.
Believe it or not, my purpose is not to sing the praises of the New Deal. It was not perfect. It probably did take too many steps toward government activism and earned some of the animosity of the right. My point is that we don't live in the 1930s or 1940s anymore, so the debate doesn't serve any purpose beyond creating arguments that lead to the same old stalemate.
We must use reason and thought to come up with a new strategy for this moment in time. And, all ideas must be considered without resort to blind ideology. That goes for both sides.
STIMULATING
Perhaps the best argument I can make for the stimulus bill that passed is that no one is happy with it. It makes the very liberal unhappy because many spending projects were shelved to make room for more tax cuts. It makes conservatives upset because there aren't enough tax cuts. What better evidence could there be that this bill (thanks to the only three Republicans willing to participate out of 219) involved compromise.
As usual, I look to Benjamin Franklin for perspective on this. Franklin put into eloquent words what I have experienced in my practice when discussing compromise. Franklin's final thoughts on the Constitution were as follows:
Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good.
I have reservations, as does everyone, about this stimulus package. But, I sacrifice them for the public good. We all admit something needs to be done. This package will absolutely create jobs. There is no doubt about that. Construction projects must be "shovel-ready" to receive funding and that means jobs now. Those people who are employed by the projects will in turn spend money, which will help surrounding businesses. The money will bounce around our communities, which is just what the doctor ordered. Is it being done perfectly? I doubt 100 years of debate would accomplish that.
Although the opposition to this bill has been fierce, that opposition has offered nothing reasonable as an alternative. To point only to tax cuts as an answer when that has been the only action taken over the last eight years represents slavery to ideology. Such positions do not involve reason. In fact, the opposition has often even refused to meaningfully participate in the discussion at all, which brings me to...
ZERO EFFECT
There are 219 Republicans in the two houses of Congress. Exactly three of them voted for the stimulus bill. And, many conservative groups have announced that those Senators will face primary challenges when they next face re-election.
But, any true conservative should send those Senators a thank you note along with me. Without those three Senators -- Arlen Specter, Olympia Snow and Susan Collins -- conservative ideals would be even less represented in the bill. Indeed, I wonder how many more of those ideals might have made their way into the bill if a handful of other other Republican officeholders would have decided to be part of the solution as opposed to political foot-dragging.
I understand that only 12 Democrats voted against the stimulus, and I do not pretend that only the Republicans are sticking to their guns. The difference in my eyes is in the effort. Only Republican leadership has threatened to "take my ball and go home." And, no workable (read: non-abolition of taxes) solution has been offered as an alternative.
By offering primary challenges to the few Republican party members left who have political courage and who are not slaves to the "only tax cuts will do" ideology, the party has cemented its status as a regional second-rate party. Until that party's moderates start making decisions again, there will be no meaningful opposition party. And, that's a shame.
Although I am not a conservative, I belive that our country works better when both parties are thinking straight. Afterall, no party (even my own) accomplishes great things without constructive opposition.
Here's hoping for success.
In the meantime, Jacob's generation is left to ask...
Wait!? We're borrowing HOW MUCH again?
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