Dear Mr. President, here’s the deal as I see it: Most of the country – and I know I – voted for you to *change* the course from an America that was too fueled by anger and intolerance and too little support for the disadvantaged.
We knew you’d bring a great deal of intelligence and leadership within the context of the country we all think is a great and powerful experiment in economics, freedom, and well-being for those of us fortunate enough to live here.
However most of us really did NOT want to bring in even more big government and “overly sensitive” left wing sensibilities. We hoped you’d stem the tide of polarization and bureaucratic nonsense that has plagued the congress for some time. For the most part we did not support the agendas of the new congress which was too reckless with our tax dollars and too quick to bring changes that would have unintended consequences.
That’s why folks are now voting in the Republicans – not so much because they think they have better answers, but to say “stop” to the current set of reckless congressional pork barrel politics.
The moral of the story? One of the parties needs to get smarter, which means to adopt the basic founding principles (SMALL Military, SMALL Government, BIG Freedoms) that fueled the economic and intellectual and cultural powerhouse we call the USA.
Founding principles does NOT mean the agenda of the Tea Party, plagued by silly cultural conservatism, too many irrational thinkers, and an aversion to “true” conservative values like cutting military spending and common sense control of guns. True conservatism (which we’ll all need very soon or we’ll break the bank) will mean major cuts in both entitlements and defense. And by “major cuts” I don’t mean the pussy footing drops in the bucket both Democrats and Republicans are proposing – I mean 20-30% across the board. Ironically if the government cut spending people would NOT expect their taxes to be cut immediately. Most of us understand the economic mess will take years to unwind, but we want government to be a lot smarter and a lot leaner … now.
A high percentage of social service spending isn’t needed at all, and smarter defense policies that substitute infrastructure aid, cultural sophistication, and clever international marketing could save hundreds of billions annually.
Do that, and you’ll see support flow back to you faster than any of us can say “CHANGE”.
Joe Duck 