Populism and the Penalty Box
Obviously, a very active, populist, big-government trend is sweeping the nation. There are many reasons for this, but I think it’s mostly attributable to the fact that Americans felt that the prior administration leading our country was taking us in the wrong direction. You may disagree to the extent of how bad of a President many believe Bush to be, but we are where we are. As I like to say, “People lie. Numbers don’t.”
So even if Republicans are right about various topics such as how involved the government is getting in our lives – and how bad this may be in the long term – the Party is in the penalty box, pure and simple. They are being punished for past transgressions and no one will listen because many believe it’s their governing that got us where we are. I don’t think it’s EXCLUSIVELY the Republicans fault, but I do think that 1) by going to war against the wrong people and 2) essentially believing that lowering taxes for rich people is a complete economic policy, as examples, they dug themselves a pretty deep hole.
To me, that’s what it boils down to….It’s not that everything the Republicans are saying is wrong, it’s just they lost credibility by not speaking out about the role of government and tremendous expansion when their own guy was in charge. Bush presided over the largest expansion of government ever. I heard Newt Gingrich refer to the two parties as “the Republican Party of Big Gov’t” and the “Democratic Party of Big Gov’t”. So Rs got booted out for doing the same thing they’re now complaining the Democrats are doing!
While there are plenty of Democratic Party positions I passionately disagree with, I do think Obama’s leadership, competence and charisma will successfully guide us through a very challenging period in US history.