The Knee Jerk Conservative Approach

There’s a certain fascination in watching the Republican approach to just about everything. It seems so predictable an observer can guess which talking point will be unveiled in response to the hot issue of the day and pretty much count on being right every time. At the moment the uptight crowd is tying itself in knots over the “don’t ask, don’t tell” issue, what to call detainees in our protracted foreign engagements and how to address the reckless behavior in our financial industries.

Those in opposition to lifting the ban on openly gay members in the military have dusted off and re-articulated the old arguments about showering together or sharing a foxhole. And while we were told to ‘listen to the generals’ when Bush was president, opponents now suggest the top brass is Obama’s mouthpiece and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. The anti-gay camp ignores the fact that the military has discharged gays who were not only patriots but proficient in much-needed Middle-East language skills. On the other hand, enlistment procedures have been relaxed to allow felons and other questionable enlistees to join the military and represent us abroad. This is a rational policy?

Then there’s the ever-popular rant that Democrats are not strong on national defense. Whatever one thinks of the original plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in lower New York in response to his part in the 911 attacks the possibility of unintended consequences and huge expense was hard to ignore. As the right-wing rhetoric directed at the Obama Justice Department grew more frantic the chances that such a trial could be conducted with some measure of decorum grew ever slimmer. Interestingly, treating detainees as common criminals in our courts instead of referring to them as enemy combatants actually diminishes their status. But it seems not to occur to political opportunists that their rhetoric about Democrats being soft on defense may suggest that our country is an easy mark - - playing politics with the nation’s security is about as unpatriotic as it gets.

And as the nation struggles to regain its economic footing, the conservative hue and cry focuses on balancing the budget, more tax cuts and less spending. There are those on the right who say the economy has been hampered by too much not too little regulation even though ordinary people have been held captive by a reckless investment sector and capital controlled by fewer and fewer hands. Kevin Warsh, a Bush Federal Reserve appointee, says “financial reform efforts that focus narrowly on expanding regulations could stifle the economy.” It would be better he says if more attention was focused on “government sponsored mortgage finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” (Reuters.com) Has there ever been a banking executive who didn’t blame Fannie and Freddie for most of our problems, or a more flagrant betrayal of the American people by our largest institutions with procedures that defy decency and fiscal responsibility?

Conservatives in Congress and across the nation say they have ideas, but they are the same old ideas, and though some politicians say that yes, the past administration over- spent and made mistakes, there is nothing in their approach that signals greater fiscal restraint or the promise of jobs. The Bush tax cuts produced neither a booming economy nor employment opportunities and, by not paying for its wars and increasing our entitlement burden with its unfunded prescription drug plan, the administration left in its wake a huge deficit and a looming recession.

That reality doesn’t appear to concern Republicans who have remained steadfast in their opposition to every program the Obama administration has proposed, ignoring the facts of a deep recession and standing by their time-honored tax-cut, reduced-spending manifesto. As the president pointed out however, even members who opposed the stimulus were right on hand to cut the ribbon as new projects made possible with federal assistance came on line.

You have to hand it to Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, though. He had the audacity to be the only politician to suggest the possibility of cutting Social Security benefits. True to their Republican roots he and others never talk about raising revenues to pay for our national commitments, whether war or social programs. It might be a worthwhile exercise to ask these fiscal disciples to prepare lists, and be specific, about what to eliminate from the budget and what course of action should be undertaken to rebuild our economy and, please, spare us that old saw about cutting taxes.