Richard Luger and Bipartisanship

This election cycle, various conservative groups are not only attempting to defeat Democratic candidates, but they are also attempting to defeat moderate conservative incumbents in Congress.  Senator Richard Luger's defeat in the GOP primary in Indiana is one such example.  Granted, he was vulnerable for a variety of reasons unrelated to his voting record, but his primary defeat has sent an important message to other conservative candidates.

The man who defeated Luger is Richard Mourdock.  Mourdock campaigned vigorously and had very considerable Tea Party support.  Although Senator Luger had a fairly good conservative voting record in the Senate, he had not maintained a residence in Indiana for a very long time and was perceived to be more interested in national issues than those of the state that he represented.  He was also perceived by some ultra conservatives to be guilty of too much bipartisanship.  Mourdock is reported to have said during the campaign that the only compromise that he will accept is to have Democrats agree with Republicans.

I presume that Mourdock took this ultra hardline conservative position during the primary fight to ensure the continued support of the Tea Party.  Now that he has that behind him, I expect him to modify his rhetoric so as to win the general election.  Many moderate conservatives and political independents, like myself, are alienated by the overly harsh political rhetoric of the Tea Party.  The idea that conservatives should not be willing to work with Democrats to fashion solutions to the problems facing this country is utter nonsense.  To do so would be to act just like President Obama and his Democratic Congress during the first two years of his presidency.  It would ensure that conservative values would be immediately lost in subsequent elections.

I do not agree with the overly harsh Tea Party rhetoric, but still argue that we need to elect a Republican majority to both houses of Congress.  The economic danger to this country is just too great not to do so.  We absolutely need to get our economy functioning again so that we can successfully address all of the other challenges that face us.  Once that is done, I fully expect the Tea Party to wither into the background of the political landscape.  I should also note that I believe the Tea Party is serving an important long term purpose in warning ultra liberal politicians that they can not go too far with their flawed political philosophy without risking a powerful populist backlash.

Them and Us

The war of the political ads has commenced in earnest.  The Romney campaign uses the President's own words to point out that Barack Obama pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.  These ads go on to point out that the national debt has, instead, increased by half again during his three and half years in office - from 10 trillion dollars to 15 trillion dollars and is still going up at an astronomical rate.  The other day, Vice President Biden attempted to answer this charge in a highly emotional speech that brought back memories of Howard Dean's famous rant and leveled the countercharge that "they don't understand us."  I don't follow the Vice President's muddled logic, but it is very clear that neither he nor the Obama campaign has answered the GOP point concerning the debt.   Instead, they are attempting to change the subject back to one of class warfare - "them and us."

There are differences between groups of people in this country.  Some of those differences are good and some are not.  A discussion of them is a useful undertaking, but they are not, repeat not, the looming danger that faces this country at this point in our history.  The most important immediate danger that faces us is economic and our massive debt is a critical element of that danger.  It can destroy us.  It must be addressed in order to continue a rational discussion of all of the other issues including "them and us."  For the Vice President and the President to both refuse to meaningfully address the issue of the debt is disturbing to say the very least.  Their silence on this subject, combined with three and half years of failed policies, makes it clear that they do not have a clue as to how to get us out of the financial mess that we are in.

Whether we are conservative or liberal in our approach to all of the multitude of issues that swirl around us in our political system, we must hold that system together in order to have any hope of making any real progress toward our own political objectives.  Gay rights is an important issue, immigration reform another, education yet another, poverty, racial relations….  The list goes on and on and each entry is important, but when the very existence of our country is in danger we must rally ourselves to deal with that threat so that we can continue the argument about all of the other things that plague us.  Our faltering economy is such a danger.  This coming November, we must keep this in mind and vote for conservative candidates at the national, state, and local levels.  After we restore our economy we will have the financial strength to do all of the other things that we need to do to make this country as good as it should be.  If we do not restore a vital economy, our society will continue to spiral downward into a rabble squabbling over the pennies that we have left over from the past.

Drowning in Debt

The extreme danger posed by the enormous debt that has been piled up in this country by this and previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, is, unfortunately, poorly understood by the American public.  We have a vague fear based on an understanding of what happens to our own household budgets when we spend more money than we take in, but the problem that faces our country is much more serious even than that.  In today's America, there are enumerable safety nets, private and public, that are in place to assist those that go into bankruptcy.  It is not a pleasant process and it requires a severe restructuring of the way we live our lives, but we can dig ourselves out of the financial hole fairly easily if we so desire.  Family, community and government will provide enormous assistance and, in a worst case scenario, we can even walk away from at least some of our debt with very little consequence.  On the other hand, if our country falls into bankruptcy there is nobody around that will, or even can, do much to help us out.

In order to better understand the danger that faces us, we should be watching Europe very closely.  Several European countries are going through something very similar to what faces us in the not too distant future if we continue our profligate ways.  Greece is furthest down the path to financial and social collapse, but several other countries are hovering not far behind and there are fears that the European Union could collapse if they continue to founder much longer.  At the present time, the crisis has reached the point that there is no effective central government in place in Greece, the population is in riot mode, and the people are taking their money out of the banks in record amounts.  Please note that this is the situation even though the entire European Union and the United States are fully invested in trying to help Greece get through the problem.  If something similar happens in this country, do not expect Europe to be in any position to help us get through it.  If you think that China is going to be able to help us, please think again.  That country may have the second largest economy in the world, but its own internal problems will keep it focused on it's own self-interest.  We must face facts.  We will have to deal with the disaster all by ourselves.

It is important to understand that our massive debt is going to cause us severe problems no matter how we vote in November.  We do not have the option to avoid these problems.  They are upon us now.  Our choice in November is only relevant to how we deal with them.  For reasons that continue to elude me, very well educated liberals want to continue to borrow and spend, grow government, and tax their way out of the economic morass that we are in.  Conservatives, myself included, see this as a recipe for bringing the disaster closer and making the adverse impact of it greater for all of us.  If you think that America is somehow different from Greece, please look hard at what is going on in California.  The state is effectively bankrupt.  Governor Brown, a liberal Democrat, is now proposing severe budget cuts to state government, education and the prison system.  The last time that California went down this road, the administration released a lot of felons convicted of serious crimes.  Many of the state parks are already closed, which is ironic because much of the overspending was done in the name of the environment.  Riots have already torn up several cities in the state.  Granted, it is small potatoes compared with Greece, but it is a strong indicator of what is to come.  And we should remember that Governor Brown still has a friend in the White House who is helping to try to keep California afloat.  When the problems fully impact the country, there will be no one to help us.

I can not predict how things will go down in this country, but my gut tells me that it is not going to be pretty.  It is inevitable that we are going to see a reduction in borrowing and spending.  Economic forces beyond our reach will force that to happen.  The question is whether we face up to the problem now and deal with it intelligently or continue to pretend that it does not exist.  The liberal side of the aisle continues to block a serious discussion of the budget and spends all of it's time talking about other issues - some important and some not.  If we go with that approach, the massive debt dictates what happens.  Conservatives want to look the problem squarely in the face and deal with it now when we can mitigate at least some of the worst case results that loom out there ahead of us.  I argue that, distasteful as it may be, we must face economic reality and vote conservative this time around.

The Importance of Leadership

A successful president needs to be able to provide leadership.  He obviously can not solve all of the many problems that come across his desk by himself.  The challenges are just too big and too numerous.  Somehow he needs to be able to stimulate others to do what is necessary.  If you have ever been in a leadership position you know what I am talking about.  If you have not, please understand that it can be a daunting challenge.

America is facing economic dangers that threaten it's very existance.  We can pull ourselves out of the financial hole that we are in, but we need to get our act together to do it.  As we look at the two men running for the job of president we should assess their leadership abilities.  Both men have records that are relevant.  The sitting president's record is one of failed leadership.  When he applied for the job in 2008, he promised to bring us together.  Instead of stimulating us to work together, he is attempting to divide us in every way imaginable so that he can squeak out re-election.  The alternative before us is Mitt Romney.  His record as Governor, although not perfect by any measure, is one of solid accomplishment including a proven ability to work across the political aisle.  Add to that his role in salvaging the Salt Lake Olympic Games and you have a record that includes proven leadership abilities.

Elections have consequences.  We should not be frivolous with our vote.  Mitt Romney cut off some kid's hair in school.  That was stupid.  Barack Obama experimented with cocaine in his youth.  That too was stupid.  Romney tied his dog cage to the roof of his car while the dog was in it.  That was wrong.  Obama ate dog and then joked about it.  That was disgusting.  None of these things are particularly relevant to the role of President of the United States.  A man's ability to lead is extremely relevant.  It looks to me that Romney's record is superior to that of President Obama.

Mitt Romney - The Man

President Obama has started tearing at Mitt Romney in earnest now that he is the presumptive Republican candidate.  The most recent ads take up the cudgels last wielded by Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich in the primary battles.  The basic point of these ads is to question Romney's economic credentials and his personal value system.  If Obama can prove that Romney is a bad businessman with bad personal values he can weaken his appeal to the American voter.  Romney's past is a valid subject for debate.  We all need to think carefully about the man that we are electing to fill the most important office in the nation.

I am certainly not an expert on Romney's business activities, but I have tried to follow the various arguments that have been made for and against his acumen as a businessman.  My conclusion is that he has been extraordinarily successful.  Not just successful - extraordinarily successful.  He was indeed born into wealth and was given a first class education, but I do not hold that against him.  He did inherit wealth, but, as I understand it, he gave it all away before he started his business career.  Even if he had not done that, I would not have begrudged him his inheritance, but I must say that his philanthropy as a young man would appear to say positive things about his personal value system.

Romney's personal character is going to be pretty hard to attack successfully based on concrete facts so he is being characterized as boring.  I don't mind having a boring person at the helm as long as he can straighten things out in Washington so that we don't go broke.  We do not need to elect a person President of the United States based upon his performances on late night comedy shows.  Nor do we need to malign a person based upon his religious beliefs as is being done in the current whispering campaign attacking the Mormon Church.  I admit that I find many of the tenants of the Mormon Church to be difficult to accept, but then I also find similar difficulties in every religion that exists in this world including the Christian Church.

There is no question that during his business career, Romney fired a lot of people and made decisions that effectively sent jobs overseas.  This has led to charges that he engaged in "vulture capitalism."  My understanding of free enterprise, whether we like it or not, is that it is hard ball.  The strong prosper and the weak fail.  An effective businessman has to make difficult decisions if he is to be successful.  Romney made those decisions and his business was successful.  The people that were fired were employees of companies that were collapsing.  The jobs that went overseas went because it was not possible economically to keep them in this country.

I conclude that Mitt Romney is an effective, hard nosed businessman and I do not see that as being a black mark against him.  On the contrary, I think that it is precisely what we need right now in the Oval Office.  Someone who understands the rough and tumble real world of business and can make the tough decisions that are necessary to make the American economy strong again.  I do not expect that I am going to agree with all of his decisions, but job number one in this country is getting America back to work.  After we get that done we can argue about all of the rest of the things that need to be addressed.  If we don't get that done we are going to collapse in on ourselves.