It seems inevitable that we will watch Senate Republicans cave on the stimulus plan next week; after yesterday’s no vote by eleven Democrats and every Republican I do hold out some hope but I also have skepticism. Realistically the Senate bill should be more “bipartisan” than the House bill. Obama’s “I won” diplomacy lost yesterday and the split in the Senate is closer to fifty-fifty than it is in the House. No doubt a few trinkets will be tossed to entice Republicans and we will watch some of them give in and give up on the free market and fiscal discipline.
This “stimulus” bill is a little bit of good with a whole lot of bad. We will be handing over the wealth of taxpayers to those who don’t pay taxes. The House bill had pork for DTV, STD’s, smoking cessation & weight loss, new vehicles for the federal government, the arts and more. This funding is not “stimulus” but fatty pork, the same that Obama declared would come to an end under his leadership. Pork should be voted on separately and not cloaked in the veil of stimulus.
Bipartisanship, true bipartisanship is a two-way street. It is not a matter of tossing trinkets to your opposition to walk away with a bulging treasury chest. Obama and the Democrats believe that the opposition’s vision of the world has little or no merit. That ideology is more important than getting things done or maintaining order. They are willing to toss funding for some Republican plans for two reasons:
1) Because they don’t want sole responsibility when things collapse.
2) Spending other peoples money is so natural to Democrats that as long as it is not for something that is both productive and ideologically inconsistent they will fund it. There would be money for circus clowns and cotton candy if Republicans asked for it.
There is only one way to prove true “bipartisanship” and it should be the way forward for Senate Republicans. All pork needs to be stripped from the “stimulus” bill and voted on separately. Let’s see how Democrats vote when they have to explain to their constituents that $500,000,000 of their tax dollars are going to weight loss & anti-smoking programs.
Next a real exploration of what the definition of “tax cuts” are. Obviously Obama and the Democrats did “win” this election. Their vision of the world is going to shape the majority of the bill. The Senate Republicans have a duty though to force Obama to stay true to his word. He promised “tax cuts” to almost all Americans and Republicans need to ensure that is what he delivers. Tax cuts are not when the government gives your money to people who don’t pay taxes. That cannot be considered a tax “cut” beyond cutting a check for people who don’t pay into the system.
Obama also promised an end to pork and “earmarks” and it needs to be pointed out an earmarks by any other name is still an earmark. Stimulus should look like a diagram of the food chain and not a food web. If you need to explain that by funding one you will put money into six which will trickle to three and then theoretically pay five who will branch to two and four and then take from six and then redistribute to three… that is not a stimulus but a graduate thesis in wasting time and resources. Money into consumers hands to feed business which will create consumers who will feed business and government. That is stimulus.
Finally Republicans need to push for the true accountability Obama promised. That means a seat at every table and some way of watching to make sure this money is not just a handout to left-wing interest groups. Whatever system is going to be in place for overseeing how this money is used needs to be 100% open to the public. That means not just a report on some Web site ten months after the money has been dolled out and spent. We need day-to-day accountability and Republicans need to scream bloody murder when they see things that don’t make sense. Then as Republicans get back into power they too need to be accountable in the same way. Where “bipartisanship” should be embraced by Republicans is in accountability.
We need to be realists, Republicans are in the minority now and all we can do is keep Democrats to their word. Additionally those of us on the outside should expect that our Representatives not just be used as patsies in a marketing ploy for “bipartisan” responsibility. If we get a towering inferno for a stimulus Republicans need to stand as a true opposition when it collapses. That cannot happen if they vote for the bill. All too often we hear elected Republicans go on television and complain about something and then walk into their chamber and vote for it. This cannot be tolerated and it is up to us citizens to call them on it and vote them out of office.
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