Power at all cost is the GOP’s core principle
by Tom Maertens
Published September 28, 2007 in The Mankato Free Press
“The Republicans in Congress lost their way,” Alan Greenspan wrote in his new book. “They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose.”
Greenspan, 81, perhaps can remember a time when the GOP had principles to compromise (excluding Norm Coleman, of course, a politician of no fixed principles).
He can’t be referring to the party of Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon and his plumbers, or the racist Southern Strategy of Ronald Reagan. Reagan then ran the most corrupt administration in history: 138 Reagan administration officials were investigated, indicted, or convicted, according to political historian Richard Reeves.
It was also the Reagan Mafiosi, led by Grover Norquist types, who happened upon the perfect crime: Steal from future generations who can’t protest. The principle of balanced budgets became “Deficits don’t matter, to my chagrin,” said Greenspan. The result is today’s dead-beat Republican Party that proudly recites Norquist’s pledge not to pay their bills.
Junior Bush, elected with the help of the slash-and-burn politics pioneered by Atwater, Gingrich and Rove, continued Reagan’s free-lunch, borrow-and-spend policies to increase the national debt by $3 trillion.
Small government? According to the Congressional Budget office, Bush grew the federal government three times faster than Clinton, all of it on borrowed money — $248 billion last year alone.
Honest government? DeLay’s shakedown operation was as corrupt as any in modern history and helped finance the Republican Congress that endorsed Bush’s lies about Iraq.
Respect for the law? The secretive, deceptive Bush administration has systematically undermined the Constitution in order to concentrate power in the White House, revealing its only true principle: power at all cost.
Published September 28, 2007 in The Mankato Free Press
“The Republicans in Congress lost their way,” Alan Greenspan wrote in his new book. “They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose.”
Greenspan, 81, perhaps can remember a time when the GOP had principles to compromise (excluding Norm Coleman, of course, a politician of no fixed principles).
He can’t be referring to the party of Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon and his plumbers, or the racist Southern Strategy of Ronald Reagan. Reagan then ran the most corrupt administration in history: 138 Reagan administration officials were investigated, indicted, or convicted, according to political historian Richard Reeves.
It was also the Reagan Mafiosi, led by Grover Norquist types, who happened upon the perfect crime: Steal from future generations who can’t protest. The principle of balanced budgets became “Deficits don’t matter, to my chagrin,” said Greenspan. The result is today’s dead-beat Republican Party that proudly recites Norquist’s pledge not to pay their bills.
Junior Bush, elected with the help of the slash-and-burn politics pioneered by Atwater, Gingrich and Rove, continued Reagan’s free-lunch, borrow-and-spend policies to increase the national debt by $3 trillion.
Small government? According to the Congressional Budget office, Bush grew the federal government three times faster than Clinton, all of it on borrowed money — $248 billion last year alone.
Honest government? DeLay’s shakedown operation was as corrupt as any in modern history and helped finance the Republican Congress that endorsed Bush’s lies about Iraq.
Respect for the law? The secretive, deceptive Bush administration has systematically undermined the Constitution in order to concentrate power in the White House, revealing its only true principle: power at all cost.
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1 Comments:
Tom,
Reading your letter in the context of Tom Friedman’s 9/11 is Over and Juan Cole’s commentary on Friedman’s assertion plus the Mencken's prophecy , it seems that we can now recognize that grassroots politics does not exist. Instead we have candidates approved by special interest groups and industry that the voters elect. Once elected, it is industry that dominates (suggested reading Victor Gold’s book Invasion of the Party Snatchers which notes the failure of the Republican Party to appease the goals of special interest groups).
And to ensure continued being competitive in elections, the Republicans recklessly embrace Norquist’s tax policy. Remember the adage "you have all the arguments, but we have the votes.”
If any politician really wanted to end the support for the Iraq adventure, all it would take is a shift from the question of when and how many troops to pull out, to a surtax to pay for the war. The Republicans will quickly vote to end the war if the bill would be paid currently instead of from our retirement and future generations.
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