You Have to Be Kidding Me

I am not the smartest guy in the world and freely admit that. There are many things in this world that I do not know and that I'm not good at. So it staggers my imagination that the Republican's latest offering, their Pledge to America, is the best they have to offer. Really? That's as good as it gets? I still find myself shaking my head in shock and awe at this disaster.

First of all, who in their right mind gave the okay for a 48 page document? 48 pages? How in the world are Republicans going to cut bloat in Washington when they can't even cut the bloat in their pledge? Who were they writing this for? Grandpa Joe who needs some good reading material for the bathroom? Any first year marketing major will tell you that the key is to be brief, concise, to the point.

Admittedly, many pages are little or nothing more than random pictures. I'm as patriotic as the next guy but in this context, using full page pictures of the Statue of Liberty and Mt. Rushmore seems a bit forced and contrite. The picture list:

• an unnamed politician standing behind a meat counter
• a town hall meeting perhaps being led by in unnamed politician in an undisclosed location on an undisclosed date
• unnamed politician pointing to a pie chart of America's debt
• unnamed politician at a factory of some sort, she is dressed like she is going into the boardroom
• a man in a suit presumably giving a speech
• unnamed man and woman on horseback
• Viewing screen of a TV camera with an unnamed politician (I will say that the fuzziness of the politician does ring true)
• a horribly stated photo shoot of an unnamed politician with a forced smile
• unnamed politician in a blazer at what looks to be a lunch and learn
• a stirring silhouette of a cowboy
• two men outside of a van, one is a business owner, one is an unnamed bored politician
• a shot of a TV studio, presumably with a Republican politician(?)
• a stuffy looking unnamed politician at some local concert(?)
• unnamed politician standing in front of a crowd
• a picture of front lawns with a horrible cropping the American flag in the foreground
• unnamed politician being friendly with soldiers in an unknown context
• bad picture of a politician leaning in, presumably to better hear the older woman he is talking to
• a pie chart of federal assistance programs with no indication as to what the numbers in the chart represent
• an older man, presumably a politician with a messy chart behind him
• people sitting at a nice boardroom table with the focus on the water bottle in the foreground
• a town hall meeting with an unnamed politician and the same messy chart as was in a previous picture
• politician with his hand on a stack of paper, white board in back with the title House Republican Reading Room
• unnamed woman politician
• Ah ha! Finally a close up of the messy chart that had been in previous pictures. A Maze of Bureaucracies (unfortunately this was not added at a high enough resolution that the chart could actually be read)
• a collage of unnamed male Republican Representatives. The layout quality of this was perhaps on par with a high school yearbook. There is a horribly cropped picture of the Capitol dome on a dismal, cloudy day
• another montage: A bored unnamed politician struggling to either understand or get through the moment, a politician listening to a bald man, an unnamed politician at a veterans event(?), a horribly overdressed unnamed politician shaking a veteran's hand, unnamed politician pointing like he means it
  
• a picture of a street with nice lamp posts that were probably paid for with federal grant money. In zooming in to 150% I did see that this was taken in Washington County, which state is a mystery
• another montage: unnamed politician talking to people in a location I can't figure out, unnamed politician sitting next to an American flag which is partially obscured by an open laptop, a meeting of some sort with lots of American flags, a man in camouflage and an unnamed politician, unnamed woman politician at a town hall meeting taking a question
• the White House in winter
• another poorly cropped picture of the Capitol(?)
• the Supreme Court
• another montage: unnamed politician with an empty cup at a meeting and a whiteboard labeled IDEAS with only one idea, unnamed politician at a radio station - KHTS, staged shot of an unnamed female politician in a hardhat, some sort of a meeting, a group of unidentified people standing in front of the Shawnee Community Hospital, 3 unnamed politicians
  

That was painful. In case you want to go and look at these pictures yourself: http://www.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/solutions/a-pledge-to-america.pdf

This really was one of the strangest things I've ever looked at. It has a very stuffy and formal feel to it and then you see all of these horrible pictures thrown in for no rhyme or reason. I find it strange that not one of the pictures included a caption as to the context of the picture and who was in it. Admittedly, having that information would have only marginally helped but it would have been at least an attempt to come across as personable.

The actual content of the document is rife with generalities, lack of depth and childish jabs at Democrats. This begs the question, to whom was this Pledge directed? The perceived audience to me is loyal Republicans who don't need a whole lot of explanation. Review this Pledge and really think about what the message is.

There IS some substance here, like:

• "reforming" Fannie and Freddie, though over the years Republicans had ample opportunity to do this which may have prevented the bubble in the first place.
• Impose a net hiring freeze of federal employees - I can get behind this but doubt it will be implemented
• Root out government waste and sunset outdated and duplicative programs. This sounds noble, but I find it hard to believe that Republicans will be rooting out waste and duplication in programs which benefit their getting elected again.
  
• I can get behind purchasing insurance across state lines.
  
• Enact medical liability reform. I like this, but the solution is vague at best: "We will enact
  common-sense medical liability reforms to lower costs, rein in junk lawsuits and curb
  defensive medicine." How? Define common sense.
• There is a reference to a program that House Republicans implemented called "America Speaks Out," though there is no link for this.
• Read the bill - blah blah blah. Wow, geeze, the Republicans are promising 3 days of review prior to voting as opposed to Obama's promise of 2. That is really going out on a limb. The fact is, even 3 days is not enough to review what is in these megabills that the House is passing. It is physically impossible for the average person to read and comprehend a 2500 page bill in 3 days. If these jackholes insist on passing these enormous bills, a rule should be established whereby for every 100 pages in a bill, there will be 1 day for review, with a minimum of 3 days. The same applies for any amendment. Each amendment should allow for at least one day, as well as 1 per every 100 pages. This way, if you have a 2500 page bill, there will be a public review period of 250 days. That sounds a bit more logical to me. I would hope that a consequence of this would be a shrinking in size and scope of bills. This would be concurrent days, meaning, if 10 amendments, each 100 pages long are tacked on on a single day, 20 additional days of review would be added to the total for the bill (1 day for each of the amendments and 1 day each for the 100 pages). Some would say that this would allow a system whereby new amendments could be piled on to kill a bill. This could be avoided by the bill's writer imposing a limit to the number of amendments allowed for their bill. If the want to get it voted on quickly, they will limit the size and scope.
  

I vectored off there a weebit, and what I presented may very well be a horrible idea. On the other hand, it could be a good idea. If nothing else it would empower the people of the United States to at least have a chance against our elected officials.

My point of all this is that I think, despite there being some good ideas in the Republican Pledge to America, in its essence it's a stinker. We the people of the United States deserve better. Presenting things as they have in the Pledge, I am even more convinced that the Republican Party is not the party for me. This is the proverbial lipstick on a pig and I can't help but think that if the Republicans somehow manage to take the House, it will still be business as usual.

R.I.P. Republican Party

The Republican Party is dead. I have been preaching this message to my friend John for a number of months now and though he originally agreed with me only halfheartedly, he has now come to see things as I have. The reason I say this is because the GOP has no principles upon which it stands and is willing to fight. Most Republicans, if asked, will tell you that theirs is the party of Reagan, of smaller government and lower taxes. This is the GOP that I have rallied around for years because these are the principles which form the foundation of my personal political views. These are not the views of the Party today however. I cannot align myself with the governing philosophy that George W. Bush used when he was in power for 8 years. That philosophy is not the foundation of what the GOP used to be. The size of government exploded under W. Some will declare that the reason for this was 9/11. I respect that opinion, but those actions do not align with GOP principles. I have regretted casting away my vote on him, but have made peace with myself in pointing out the the alternative was just as bad or even worse. He was the lesser of two evils.

Look at the Tea Parties. It is my understanding that the Tea Parties are rooted on the principles of smaller government and lower taxes. If the GOP held these as core values, then why the need for these new organizations? They are essentially fighting for the same exact things. Numerous Republican candidates ran in this past primary season backed by the support of the Tea Parties. The Tea Parties were fighting against the very group which supposedly hold the same values. The Tea Parties are, to a degree, could have brought the Republican Party back to where it belongs. Instead of rallying behind these candidates, the GOP has in some cases disowned Tea Party candidates, supporting them grudgingly and only in an effort to quell the protesting voices from within. In many cases though, the Republican party continues to support their entrenched candidates by encouraging them to run as Independents or write-ins. This tactic makes no sense to me, especially when the Republicans the members of the Tea Party are supposedly on the same side. The actions of the GOP will do nothing more than split the conservative vote, thus creating a great opportunity for Democrats to at the very least retain their power. Look at what the Democrats are doing in comparison to the Republicans Go to Organizing for America (http://www.barackobama.com/index.php) and you will see a marked difference to what you hear about Republicans. The Democrats are organizing and building momentum as the Republicans tear each other apart.
It is more than 2010 though. We are rapidly coming up on the two year mark for the next presidential election and who is the front runner candidate for the Republican Party? No one, which means they are already too late. Because of this, 2012 will prove to be the final, crushing defeat of the GOP. After that, the party will prove to be little more than a whimper as the final nails are hammered into the coffin of Capitalism and the American Way. Once that happens, there will be no further need for the Republicans as all of the socialistic machinery will already be firmly in place and there will be no going back. At that point there will be no saving the Constitution as none of it will be left to save. By then, the government will be telling you what you can and cannot eat and drink. It will be telling you what kinds of cars you can drive, what kinds of household appliances you can buy, what kinds of information you have access to. It will be be the nightmare America that scared so many of us when we were growing up under the specter of the Soviet Union. People will stand, dazed and confused wondering how and when all of this happened. And though I will not be able to give a specific day, I will be able to say it was the day that the GOP drifted from its charter principles of smaller government and less taxes.