As I continue with this theme, I’m doing my best to avoid pointing fingers. Sure, I could write endless posts about the silliness of political pundits, but I’ve hit a point in my life where I’m uninterested in wading into their waters just to remind myself of my own aversion. I’ll let other more capable people skewer the ridiculousness on television. I’d rather stake out my own place amongst the forest of complicated issues facing politicians.
How the government simply approaches any single issue, let alone how they hope to solve it, seems to start a lot of arguments. Does the government use its authority to create standards and guidelines that keep people safe from persecution and discrimination? That sounds pretty good to me. Or do they make sure a structure is in place to promote personal responsibility and regional preferences toward any particular issue? Well, that sounds pretty good, too. Or do they smother the problem with Federal regulations and money? Well, that doesn’t sound as nice as the others.
I think my position here comes from both of my parents working for the Federal government, not to mention the endless reports of government ineptitude and waste. Yes, the government is capable of good things done by good people, but those good people probably aren’t doing those good things very well due to endless bureaucracy and wastefulness. True, throwing money at a problem usually solves it, but it shouldn’t be our best option. Especially when it’s borrowed money being thrown.
So that should lead me towards the Republicans, right? A belief that a strong response from the federal government is wasteful, inefficient and never the best option should make me Republican, right?
Nope.
The Republicans believe, incorrectly, that the Federal government does nothing well and should therefore have no role in any problem new or old. Balderdash! Highways, roads, police, firemen, paramedics, public schools, public universities, the military, FEMA and endless other things are supported by the federal government and seem to run just fine to me. Just because they occasionally stumble doesn’t mean we should scrap the whole thing.
The Republican response to this idea seems to be, over and over, to refuse to do anything helpful or meaningful within the government to show everyone else how dysfunctional it can be. “Oh, you don’t think the federal government is a mess,” most Republicans seem to ask. “Well watch me fuck it up and then tell me it’s not a mess.” Excuse me, but I don’t question my house cleaning techniques if a toddler shits on my floor and then complains about standing in filth.
I need a political party that acknowledges an oversized Federal government is too cumbersome to achieve sustainability without massive taxes and/or debt. I also need a political party to understand and acknowledge the government can do a lot of things really well besides deregulate everything.
This seems perfectly applicable to Obamacare. The Democrat response to our broken healthcare system involved overreaching with a program that no one really understands but we’re told we’ll probably appreciate in the end. Let me make something perfectly clear: At no time do I ever want a politician to pat me on the head, tell me not to worry and offer me a cookie.
The Republican response? To not even come to the table for discussions and completely stick their heads in the sand until only their asses could be seen. Their refusal to acknowledge the problem puts them so far outside of reality that I have trouble taking them seriously.
The Republican response should have been to acknowledge the injustices being done within a broken system that affects millions of people, sit at the discussion table and argue how to move forward. Not to claim “the market” will magically fix everything in the long run. 1. In the long run we’re all dead. 2. Is there any way an average person could create their own small business version of health insurance to compete with giant corporations? How could a competing startup ever hope to affect a billion dollar industry?
What if both parties agreed on a few basic points where laws needed adjustment. Then the Republicans push other oversights and systems be left to individual states to decide. Want to live in a state where the state government covers all healthcare needs and therefore has higher taxes? How about a state that only covers basic healthcare needs as defined by the Federal government and has moderate taxes? How about a state that deregulates healthcare completely and has really low taxes? This kind of response would have acknowledged the problem, acknowledged that we are a nation made up of very different people and acknowledged that giant federal responses are rarely the best idea.
Of course, the Republicans couldn’t have had this kind of response because they were too busy wondering why their asses were so cold but too scared to pull their heads out of the sand to check.
Show me a party that acknowledges a problem, creates a solution that doesn’t involve smothering it with federally borrowed money or a solution that doesn’t just make money for soulless corporations and I’ll get right in line. Until then, I’m living in a political blindspot and wondering when the floor is going to drop out from underneath me.
*Side note: Not all of my future posts will be about Thoughtful Conservatism, but it’s a topic I’ll return to often.
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