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?

New Schools and the Taxpayers' Money

Over the past several years, the State of Ohio received its share of the so-called tobacco settlement (shakedown) from the tobacco companies. It was in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and was supposed to be put into a trust fund so that the interest it made could be used for various worthwhile state projects, such as they are. I read in the paper several weeks ago that the fund is now, for all intents and purposes, depleted. The money was spent on school improvements.

I didn’t have to look far to see where the money went. There is new East High School and new Chaney High School in Youngstown. There are several new elementary schools. The old schools have either been sold to charter schools, torn down, or abandoned. This was an investment in education…an investment in the future.

What a crock!!!!!!! Here’s a news flash. If you couldn’t teach these kids in the old schools, you sure as hell won’t be able to teach them in the new schools. The two most glaring examples of this boondoggle approach to education is Volney Rogers Jr. High School in Youngstown, and Warren Harding High School in Warren.

Volney Rogers High School was for all intents purposes “new”. It was only 35 years old and in good condition. It was built on the Westside of town when I was in high school. St. Christine’s Catholic School, right down the street was built at about the same time, and is still up operating just fine…teaching kids the old fashioned way. 2 x 2 still equals 4 no matter what the age of the structure in which it is taught.

What is disturbing is that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the structure that was there. Only in the public sector can a 35 year old building be deemed insufficient to teach the same things they were teaching in one room school houses as late as 70 years ago.

Warren Harding High School is a magnificent structure that couldn’t be duplicated today at an acceptable price even if they tried. Instead of preserving the building, and fixing it up, they are tearing it down, and have built a new Harding High with construction that I guarantee you will be nowhere near the quality of the one that is being torn down. New construction, these days, usually means cheap and shoddy.

The new Chaney High School in Youngstown is 2 years old, and has a feature that the original Chaney did not have… a lock up room that serves as a jail cell to incarcerate violent students while waiting for the police. Although I haven’t seen it for myself, sources tell me that school is fairly beat up for being as new as it is.

Here’s the basic truth. Unless there is discipline and self motivation, you can throw all the money you want at schools, and learning will not improve; not for the students, nor for the government who is wasting your money

Energy Madness

Are you tired of paying $3.60/gal for gasoline? Then you are in luck. Pretty soon you will be paying $4.00/gal. But don’t you worry, Congress is on the job, and has determined the solution is to mandate that 7.5 billion gallons of Ethanol be added to the nation’s fuel supply by 1012, and that starts with “E” and that rhymes with “c” and that stands for corn. So in addition to $4.00/gal gas, you will be paying $8.00 for cereal and $4.00 for bread as farmers plant more corn instead of wheat. Isn’t government wonderful?

Here is the lesson to be learned. Whenever government interferes in free markets, chaos ensues. Now, everybody agrees that some regulation is needed to prevent abuses and fluctuations in free markets, such as banking regulations. But when it involves social engineering resulting from a vocal bunch of whackos who can holler louder than anyone else, stuff happens. Make no mistake about it, environmentalism is not only social engineering, it has become a religion. And for some reason, all of these rules and regs only apply to the United States.

We are the laughing stock of the world as we slowly strangle our economy with environmental regulations that are not only over the top, but off the charts entirely. The surprise isn’t that energy prices are so high, it’s that they aren’t higher. And folks, they are going to the stratosphere unless this country comes to its senses.

Clinton, Obama, and McCain can point their fingers at the oil company “windfall” profits all they want. At the end of the day, they are operating at an 8% profit margin, which is the generally accepted profit margin for most American companies. All of the energy companies have done a miraculous job in provided somewhat reasonably priced energy in the face of regulations that should have put them out of business, and will put us out of business unless they are changed.

Is there anywhere in the United States you can drill for oil either on or offshore? The Chinese are drilling for oil at the limits of Cuba’s territorial waters…taking our oil. Bill Clinton vetoed a regulated plan to allow for drilling in ANWAR 10 years ago saying that it would take 10 years for it to come online and was therefore unnecessary. Well, 10 years is up, and wouldn’t it be nice if it were coming on line now. So much for strategic planning.

Ted Kennedy sued to prevent the establishment of a wind energy farm off the coast of Cape Cod because it would ruin his view. And Al Gore, Mr. Global Warming, is making a fortune trading so called “carbon credits” notwithstanding the reality that more of the earth’s oceans are covered in ice than has been evidenced in the last 50 years and the mean temperature of the earth is actually going down. You think what Enron did was bad? Carbon credits are a fiction on pieces of paper, and you are footing the bill. This is snake oil, folks!! Wake Up America!!!!

When was the last time we built a nuclear power plant? When was the last time we built a refinery? When was the last time we built a hydroelectric dam? Now the whackos are out to stop solar energy farms and wind power farms. To make things worse, we are using food for fuel, which is downright immoral.

When the rest of you are ready to shout “uncle”, let me know. Until then…happy $200.00/barrel oil.

The Frog; The Scorpion; and the Pennsylvania Primary

An old story came to mind last night while watching the Democratic Primary results in Pennsylvania. A scorpion was trying to cross a river, and saw a frog sitting on a lily pad close to shore. “Can you carry me across the river?” the scorpion asked the frog. “No,” the frog replied. “You will sting me and kill me.” The scorpion gave the frog his assurance that would not happen, and climbed on the frog’s back and they proceeded to cross the river. ½ way over, the scorpion stung the frog. “Now you have killed us both! Why did you do that?” the frog cried out. The scorpion replied “It’s my nature!”

Such is the nature of the far left and the Democratic Party. If the Democratic primary were held under Republican Party primary rules, the process would have been over last night, and Hillary Clinton would have been the nominee by a delegate landslide. But the liberal, activist wing of the party, the same folks who have castrated grades in schools, don’t want winners or losers in kids sports, and spend a great deal of time worrying about “fairness” and “inclusiveness”, has woven a hangman’s noose out of a ridiculous proportional delegate selection process, and is slowly killing itself. Such is the advantage of winner take all primaries….you actually get a winner.

Instead, the conundrum the Dems are now facing is Obama being ahead in the delegate count, mostly from states he can’t win in the general election. He is ahead in the popular vote, but only if you exclude Florida and Michigan, two states the Dems have to carry in the fall election. Include them in the total, Hillary is would be ahead in the popular vote, depending on which newscast you are watching. Hillary has won every big, industrial state except for Illinois, Obama’s home state. But to the left, that is irrelevant. Black Obama trumps female Hillary every time.

After finally being hit with tough debate questions last week as to his associations, Obama is now refusing to debate further, and you will see him cutting off press access as he hunkers down. It is “prevent” defense time. If Hillary wins Indiana and has a respectable showing in North Carolina, then it will be time to play the real race card.

The Democratic Party has something called super-delegates which are there to protect the party from another 1972 McGovern type debacle. After all, the Democratic Party is a big tent, but the coalition between blue collar “Reagan” Democrats and the Kerry/Kennedy/Gore limo and latte crowd is strained and threatening the tie ropes. The super-delegates are there to cut some slack.

Not this year. Fear has gripped the super delegates. While proportional delegate selection might satisfy left wing sensitivities, it doesn’t work that way in the general election where it is winner take all for the electoral votes. Just look at a map. With a moderate McCain giving the Reagan Democrats a place to go, an Obama nomination would be a fiasco. Under normal circumstances, this would be a no-brainer. The first term Senator from Illinois can’t win the old industrial states or Florida…go with Clinton.

But all the super-delegates will see is Obama’s race, and the inherent threat of a party collapse if they choose Hillary. The Soros crowd will freak, and the blacks….well, the commentary from the news pundits is downright scary. That, my friends, is the ultimate race card. Geraldine Ferraro called it when she said Obama would not be where he is if he wasn’t black. She is right.

This year should be an easy river crossing for the Democrats, but the left wing of the party is stinging them again. It’s their nature.

Solving the Energy Crisis for Dummies

As gasoline is approaching $4.00/gallon, and the cost of heating our homes and illuminating our houses reaches the stratosphere, it’s time that America comes to its senses with its energy policy, and fully understand and address the conundrum we have created. Unless we escape the cage into which we have locked ourselves, we are doomed as a nation. It is our Achilles heel. The cage will destroy our financial system.

I am no economist or business wunderkind. But I do have some common sense. The Federal Reserve regulates our economy by the insertion or depletion of money in and out of the system. If the economy slows down, it lowers interest rates and inserts money into the system to stimulate it. If the economy heats up, it raises interest rates and takes money out of the system to slow it down and stop inflation. It assumes, however, that there is a free market which will respond in a normal fashion to the stimulation or lack thereof.

Unfortunately, energy, and in particular oil, has ceased being a free market. Much of the supply is controlled by a cartel, or governments hostile to the interests of the United States. These folks have an agenda that really gives a rip about our well being. Even as late as 10 years ago, a slow down in the American economy would have had at least some effect on the financial well being of OPEC and other sympathetic countries. They learned that they could screw us; but if oil prices got too high, it would eventually hurt how much oil they could sell, and the prices would fall.

That has all changed as China and India have become economic powerhouses. The long and the short of it is the Fed can do whatever it wants, but it will not affect the price of oil because we have unlimited, worldwide demand, for a controlled and limited product. It would take a severe, worldwide depression to drive down the cost of oil.

What does that mean for us? It means that the Federal Reserve's arsenal of financial tricks is now depleted. It is the commodities, in particular oil, that has become the regulator of our financial stability. The Fed can try...but its interest rate manipulations can't compete with commodity prices in determining the strength of our economy. In fact, the Fed can hurt. The devaluation of our currency is a direct result of Fed action competing with commodity prices, and that exaggerates the commodity prices. The last ten bucks in oil costs are directly related to the devaluation of our currency as a result of the Fed rate cut. Any decrease in interest rates has been offset by the increasing oil prices.

And what are we doing in the United States to alleviate the situation? Nothing. Sure, we point the finger at the oil companies. They are an easy target with record profits, but their profit margin is actually 10%, which is an average profit margin for an American company. Microsoft’s profit margin is 17%. How much do we complain when we have to buy a new version of Microsoft Office every time we get a new computer?

Then we point the finger at the auto manufacturers. Yes, look at those gas guzzling SUV’s driving down the street. But I don’t think I saw the President of GM holding a gun to the head of that 100 lb. woman forcing her buy that Cadillac Escalade that she almost ran me off the road with this morning.

Then there are the environmentalist whackos. Don’t drill for oil, except if you are the Chinese drilling off the coast of Cuba, stealing American oil. Don’t build new refineries. Don’t put up windmills for electrical production, they hurt the birds. Don’t put up solar panels, they scar the environment. Don’t burn coal, global warming. Don’t build nuclear power plants, too much waste. And, oh my God, don’t build a damn for hydro electric power, except if you are the Chinese building the largest damn in the world, submerging 1000 year old cities. You might kill a fish.

Then you have the protectionists who want to scuttle NAFTA. Newsflash, folks, the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world are in CANADA!!!! Hello!! Do you really want to do that?

And let us not forget the peaceniks. We have just spent hundreds of billions of dollars to free Iraq of Saddam Hussein. But don’t touch the oil!!!!!!! Not even to repay us our out of pocket expenses?? It’s not moral, they say. We don’t fight wars for oil.

And finally, let’s not forget the farmers, who are thrilled to have historically high corn prices as we turn our food into Ethanol. How stupid is that!!!!

So there is the box we are in. Unless we break out of it, we are all going to be broke.

Here is the strategy:

1) Allow the oil companies to drill for oil off the coast of Florida and in Alaska. It can be monitored and kept environmentally friendly. Streamline the process to allow building of new refineries that can refine sour crude.

2) Give massive tax incentives and cash infusions to the American automakers to develop alternative modes of powering our cars, such as hydrogen fuel cells. We are close…it wouldn’t take much to reach the goal. Fund the building of the infrastructure that will be needed to make these cars go.

3) Muzzle the environmental whackos to allow the building and development of wind and solar power facilities, as well as clean coal burning power plants.

4) Work with Canada in developing its oil shale and oil sand resources.

5) Repay ourselves for the money spent in Iraq by taking in kind payment from Iraq’s oil.

6) Use corn for food. The increasing world population will support corn prices all by itself.

That’s how to do it folks. But what are the chances??