The vaunted stimulus package is heading for a vote in the House. It’s time for Republicans to lay it on the line and by that I mean they should all vote against it. Sure, if they do the media will come at them, guns blazing:
- “It’s the same old partisan politics”
- “They’re listening to Rush Limbaugh”
- “They are not giving the new president a chance”
- “They are going against the historic moment by trying to deny our first African American president his right to govern”
- “They’re just a bunch of racists”
But here’s how it should play out. If this bundle of Democratic handouts will really fix the economy, then let the Democrats carry the ball. They have the President, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. They do not need any Republican votes to carry it, and the Republicans should not filibuster it. If it doesn’t provide the promised stimulus, it will be entirely their responsibility and they will have to face the voters with that record in 2010.
If the Republicans sign on, in the “spirit of bipartisanship”, and it succeeds, Obama and the Democrats will take all the credit, because they control Congress and the Presidency. If it fails, they will say that Republicans also voted for it, so re-elect me because we tried and we will keep on trying. It’s heads the Democrats win, tails the Republicans lose. This is not a stimulus package, it a package to consolidate Democratic power.
This package rewards those groups that helped elect Obama and the Democrats. There’s money for:
- Hollywood
- Education (read teachers unions)
- National Endowment for the Arts
- Bicycle paths
- Birth control
Does anyone know how these things will stimulate the economy? The purpose of this plan is to reward those who helped elect the Democrats to make sure they stay on board for 2010. Find more groups to give handouts to so they will also vote Democratic. Once they have a lock on power, they can wait forever for the economy to finally correct itself. If the Republicans question that, the Democrats can point to the Roosevelt administration and how long it took to end the Great Depression.
If, however, the Republicans stand firm then the Democrats will soon realize they are standing naked with this blatant goody bag for their supporters. The do not want to have all the responsibility for this if it fails, and based on what’s in there it will. So they will retreat to the drawing board and work with the Republicans to craft something that will actually work.
If this is the administration of hope and change, why do they have to reach back 85 years for ideas on how to deal with the economy? Many of the things they are pushing are the very things that did not work then. The way out of this morass is to cut taxes, increase the money supply, and shrink the government, maybe not immediately, but as soon as the economy starts moving.
