Flirting with Liberalism Again

Once again the American electorate is flirting with liberalism. It has been a long time since we have done a mating dance with liberals, and the flirtations have been tenuous at best. Since the end of World War II, there has only been one liberal (re: progressive) President as we currently define it.

John Kennedy was not “liberal” in the modern sense. He cut taxes and believed in a strong defense. A military man himself, he was not afraid to use American power. He learned his lesson in the botched Bay of Pigs invasion and after naively meeting with Nikita Khrushchev without an agenda. Khrushchev believed Kennedy to be weak, which led directly to the Cuban Missile Crisis. But Kennedy understood the military and the use of American power, and the rest is history.

Lyndon Johnson was the first modern president that could fit the “progressive” mode, with his Great Society programs and Civil Rights legislation. But on defense, he was conservative. One can debate the Vietnam War forever, but in my humble opinion, the war was lost not on the battlefield, but here at home. Ho Chi Minh stated overtly that American politics was his strongest weapon. Johnson, and subsequently Nixon, was forced to fight the war with one hand tied behind his back, never allowing the full force of the American military to do its job.

That gave rise to Eugene McCarthy, who almost defeated Johnson in New Hampshire. Eugene McCarthy was the first modern progressive to gain a foothold in American politics, not Bobby Kennedy, as the latest television docudrama would have you believe. Kennedy was late to the party, only entering the race after McCarthy destroyed the chance for a Johnson second term, and when Kennedy was sure that Hubert Humphrey could be beat at the Democratic Convention, something McCarthy could not do.

Jimmy Carter was the first true modern progressive president. It was a failed presidency. Those of us old enough to remember the Carter years try to block out the misery index, more commonly known as stagflation. Income tax rates were high. So were interest rates, choking off the housing industry, industrial expansion, and just about everything else. Inflation was rampant…and Carter lusted in his heart while complaining about American malaise. Then came the beginning of the escalation of problems in the Mideast from regional distress to a world class crisis. We are still paying the price for Carter failing to deal with the Iran hostage situation, which cost him the presidency.

The country shifted dramatically back to the right under Ronald Reagan. Then George H.W. Bush violated his pledge of “read my lips, no more taxes,” and the country once again shifted to the left and elected Bill Clinton, who learned a hard lesson. His election wasn't a mandate to shift to the left, but rather a repudiation of the first President Bush’s broken promises. Two years later, Bill Clinton was forced to govern from the center after the country rejected the progressive policies implemented when the Democrats controlled of both houses of Congress and the Presidency. The electorate switched control of both Houses to the Republicans.

Now we are flirting with progressive liberalism again, or are we? Since the 1932 election of President Roosevelt, America has NEVER voted “for” progressive liberalism, but only against the failure of the incumbent conservative President to deliver his conservative promises. Richard Nixon soundly defeated George McGovern’s progressive liberalism in 1972. Jimmy Carter was elected as a result of Watergate and Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Nixon, only to be defeated soundly by Ronald Reagan 4 years later. Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush on the basis of broken promises about taxes, only to be neutered by the electorate two years later after a failed attempt to nationalize health care as the Republicans took over both houses of Congress in the midterm elections. George W. Bush defeated two progressive liberals, Al Gore and John Kerry.

I don’t think that this year will be any different. George W. Bush has failed to deliver on his promises of fiscal conservatism. He failed to deliver on his promises relating to partial birth abortion. He failed to deliver on his promises relating to illegal immigration. You can debate the merits of the Iraq war, but had it been managed better, it would not be an issue today. Proper military tactics have all but removed it from the front page of the newspapers.

As bad as the Bush numbers are, the popularity of the Democratic controlled Congress is even less, by almost 50%. What does that tell you? It tells you America doesn’t buy the Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid agenda. If Obama should be elected President, he should know that a repudiation of George Bush is not a repudiation of the center/right ideological base of the American electorate. If Obama is elected President and views it as a “mandate” for a left wing political agenda, he will meet the same fate as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

America’s flirtations with liberalism always remind me of Jimmy Carter just a tad. We may lust in our hearts…but at the end of the day, we don’t touch.

Are We Better Off Than Our Parents?

I was watching Fox News this morning, and Frank Luntz, the best pollster around, got into a discussion with his focus group about whether or not they are better off than their parents. He was somewhat surprised when most of the group answered yes. That, in turn, led to a very early morning (not the best time of day) between myself and my wife as to whether we are better off than our parents. After much “too heavy for 7:00 AM” discussion, we decided that our answer is yes….but!

On the face of it, there is no question that we are better off, and so is most of the country. The percentage of home ownership in the United States, especially among minorities, is the highest in US history. Look at the size of the homes that are being built for the middle class. Three cars garages are the norm, and some have 4 car garages. Square footage is up substantially. A house with less than 2 full baths just doesn’t sell these days.

When I was growing up, we had one car. When we got a second car, it was a stripped down Plymouth with vinyl floors, a heater, and no radio. Air conditioning? Fuggetaboutit. We called it “the radiator” in Italian. We had one television set in the living room, and one telephone in an alcove in the hallway, and a radio in the kitchen. We ate out one or two times a month.

Today, I have 4 cars, one of them being a 1991 Caddy. Houses without air conditioning are the exception instead of the rule. I have 5 television sets in various parts of the house, along with 8 telephones (kitchen, family room, 3 bedrooms, and 3 phones in my very long basement). Two phone lines go to two of the phones. That doesn’t count the three cells phones I pay for. Although we don’t do a whole lot of traveling (we are just too pooped to pop), people around me are flying off to Florida and Las Vegas like they were driving to Warren.

When I was growing up, if you got cancer, it was a death sentence. If you had a heart attack or a stroke, you would die. The average life expectancy continues to increase. Although there are some challenges to our health care system, people still flock to the United States for the best health care in the world.

But does all of the above mean we are better off than our parents? It’s the intangibles that are missing. When my parents got a job, it was for life. Today, the average person will change jobs 4 -5 times. My parents knew what was right and what was wrong. Today, it is shades of grey. My parents had a sense of control over their lives. Today, we are the mercy of computers, digital machines, phone trees, and private and government bureaucrats. In my parents’ day, the nuclear family was the bedrock upon which our society was built. Now, Mom and Dad and Junior are the minority, as single family households lead the pack in our society. Familial commitment is a thing of the past. Our parents were secure in themselves. Today, there is nothing secure about anything, including social “security”.

Our national sense of destiny died with Ronald Reagan. Today, political ideologies have morphed into perversions of the American dream. What took a family now takes a village. The bad guys are the good guys. Self reliance is replaced by an omnipresent government that is looking out for you. The largest industry in the United States is now government, employing almost 60% of the workforce at some level. That is a scary statistic.

Are we better off than our parents? I suppose. But here is my question: Will my son be better off than me?

WE DESERVE BETTER!

We deserve better. For the first time I can remember, we are entering into a Presidential election and there is nobody I am for. Obama and McCain are two of the sorriest candidates I have ever seen. Here are our choices. We can pick between a 71 year old man who hopefully will learn to give a public speech after his doctors shoot him up with some B-12 and give him a Viagara pill. For God sakes, John, show some life. It’s bad enough that we can’t tell the difference between your policies and Hillary’s. Can your attempt to woo the conservative base be any more strained? And lose the green backdrop. You looked washed out as it is. I didn’t think anyone could make Bob Dole look good. We thank you for your military service. But being a hero 40 years ago doesn’t make you any more qualified to be President than the next guy. This is politics. The question is: what have you done for us lately?

Then there is Obama…the hippies last stand. Here is a classic leftist with a whole 4 years Senate experience, whose main claim to fame is he gave a great speech at the last Democratic Convention. His senate record is a big zero, with a propensity to vote present so he doesn’t have to take a stand on controversial issues. He has associated himself with left wing, racist, America hating, pacifist radicals, using them as a base to propel himself onto the national stage…and those associates have subjected this country to some of the most vile and racially charged comments I have heard publicly uttered in my lifetime. Senator, you are judged by the company you keep…and the company you keep stinks. So don’t look so innocent when we question what you truly believe. You gave that church money for 20 years, and got Father Pfleger a $100,000.00 of our tax money 2 years ago. These are your friends and supporters, not mine.

I am concerned for the future of the country if either of these folks is elected. What is wrong with our system that it has spawned two such mediocre Presidential candidates? Where is the leadership of Ronald Reagan, the quiet wisdom of Dwight Eisenhower, the idealism of John Kennedy, the guts of Harry Truman? In a time when our country craves leadership after 8 years of doing without, we are forced to choose between a redux of George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. It is pitiful. It makes me longingly look overseas for the likes of Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, John Major. Even Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president of France, looks good. At least he married a babe after getting elected. We know he is alive.

It is my sincere hope that as we look at the crop of possible political candidates coming up behind this batch, that there is a true leader making his/her way to the forefront. We can always hope. The question is, what do we do now?