A POLITICAL STATE OF MIND

Yesterday I was in the local library and I decided to catch up on my political awareness. I admit I had stopped paying attention for a time, only listening to snippets of talk radio as I drove around on my various missions. So at the library I grabbed the latest Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, National Review, Weekly Standard, Washington Times and Popular Mechanics. My intention was to do a non-biased review of political issues and also to learn about the cool new prototype muscle cars powered by helium.

It would seem that the big issues of the day are health care reform (still), a new and improved stimulus package, the war in Afghanistan, global warming, President Obama’s Nobel Prize, swine flu and problems in the Middle East. Excluding Popular Mechanics the reporting on the issues was slanted pretty much in a predictable way. The big newspapers did some fairly objective stories. Unfortunately those stories had nothing to do with the issues I listed. The two supposedly objective news magazines were slanted decidedly in favor of the current administration’s positions. The two magazines that admit to being purveyors of conservative commentary actually seemed to have better fact checking and objective presentation of the issues than either the news magazines or newspapers. So studying articles on both sides of the political spectrum concerning all those big issues I’ve come to some conclusions.

My first conclusion is that the amount of hot air being generated in Washington, DC and other political enclaves is at a higher level than ever before. I’ve also concluded that news reporters are as conceited, opinionated and wrong as most of the politicians they support. Also, the war on terror and the war in Afghanistan have turned into political messes that bodes no good for the people fighting those wars or for the welfare of our country. When politicians look at a real and dangerous situation and start talking out of both sides of their mouths then we know the situation is only going to get worse. There is no commitment on the part of the politicians in power to win these wars. So we might as well bring the troops home and let the chips fall where they may.

Health care “reform” as envisioned by the current administration is going to happen and at a cost that will certainly hurt the country in the long run. Another huge bureaucracy will be created which will issue all kinds of edicts and fiats that will cost billions of dollars more than have already been forecast and which will get involved more and more in the personal decision making process of individual citizens. As a friend of mine from the mountains says, “It’ll be a stone ground mess.”

The “Swine Flu” panic of 2009 is in full swing. The government ordered the production and distribution of the vaccine which seems to have been somewhat delayed. Maybe the pharmaceutical companies making the stuff are worried about slow payment for their output. They do have the slow paying example of the “cash for clunkers” program as a model of government expertise. But the media drives the panic on. Some of my relatives have been hit by the bug. They’re all coming along okay. It wasn’t a nice experience for them but they treated it properly and overcame both the illness and the government driven anxiety. I’m sure it isn’t an intentionally induced panic. It’s just an issue that politicians can make a lot of noise about, furiously enact laws that make no sense whatsoever, get plenty of time in front of the cameras and then take credit for whipping the pandemic by their heroic actions. It’s a huge crock of b.s.

Global warming is a constant presence in the press. No matter how many legitimate scientists question the data being used to support the supposition that global warming is the biggest problem facing humanity the juggernaut keeps moving along. The arrogance of the people pushing the issue is huge. The amount of money involved is even bigger than that arrogance. From a common sense perspective it would seem that if there is such a problem then it would be best to allow legitimate market forces to devise solutions. When confronted with a big problem, and when left alone, markets have a way of creating ways of addressing problems so that there is an economic advantage to the problem solvers. So if the government identifies a problem with air pollution or green house gases as a possible cause of possible climate change (And government might have a legitimate role in identifying those kinds of things) then research and development will begin to find ways to get rid of those gases or pollutants because there will be an economic advantage to the entrepreneurs that come up with solutions. But the current method of addressing these still unproven problems is to turn to the politicians. They make a great deal of noise, create study panels and commissions, make foolish laws that will spend billions of dollars on more giant bureaucracies and, in the end, accomplish nothing that makes sense.

The Middle East problems are things that won’t go away no matter how many Nobel Prize winners get involved. I’m just a private citizen with no knowledge of the intricacies of diplomacy or international relations. What I can glean from several different news sources, the internet and readings from history is that these problems are cultural, long standing and compounded by the proliferation of atomic and other modern weapons. The factions are almost tribal in nature and fanatically religious in their backgrounds. The US needs some resources that the area possesses, since we refuse to utilize our own resources, so we are involved in the area. Of course a simple and logical solution would be for us to support the acquisition of resources in our own hemisphere, develop other types of resources and get the hell out of the Middle East. But that isn’t going to happen. So the other solution would be to really exercise our power, disarm or destroy the enemies we have in the region and set up proper controls for a peaceful government. But that isn’t going to happen either. We will just continue to have problems in the Middle East. Politicians will continue to talk, pose for the cameras, decry the ongoing violence and head to Oslo every once in a while to pick up a big check and a medal. Or it may all one day blow up when one of those dictators over there starts throwing atomic weapons around and the whole region collapses into a pile of radioactive dust.

One other issue that the big newspapers and newsmagazines seem to treat very lightly, if at all, is the proliferation of appointees to the current administration who are given great latitude in the exercise of executive power. These officials are not governed by the checks and balances of any congressional review or oversight, not that congress would be skilful in rooting out any bad people or incompetents. But a number of these “czars” have been found to be somewhat questionable in their backgrounds and their loyalty to the Constitution and our form of government. The only part of the media that seems to be going after these miscreants with any dedication is Fox News and the folks in talk radio. In fact the administration has been so irritated by the efforts to expose the corruption in its ranks that it has taken up a policy of attacking and trying to discredit the critics. Even some of the most left-leaning media outlets have mentioned the little spat, usually taking the side of the administration. But others have chided the administration on its attacks on the principles of the First Amendment. That might be a sign of hope but I doubt it.

Well I’m all caught up now on the political scene. Nothing much has changed in the weeks of my absence; same old problems, same old lack of solutions. So I’m going to leave the monkeys in Washington to their own devices for another week or two. I’ll still send the weekly emails to our guys in the Senate and House along with one to the Vice President and the leaders of both chambers. They’ve gotten pretty general lately. Mostly I just tell them “Don’t do any damn thing because it will cost us too much money!” I rarely get any reply. In fact I don’t even get form letters any more. But at election time they’ll all be hearing from me again when I try to help vote them out of office.

Have a fine day.