By Thomas Sowell
If the continued existence of mathematics depended on the ability of the Republicans to defend the proposition that two plus two equals four, that would probably mean the end of mathematics and of all the things that require mathematics.
Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, epitomized what has been wrong with the Republicans for decades when he emerged from a White House meeting last Wednesday, went over to the assembled microphones, briefly expressed his disgust with the Democrats’ intransigence and walked on away.
We are in the midst of a national crisis, immediately affecting millions of Americans and potentially affecting the kind of country this will become if ObamaCare goes into effect — and yet, with multiple television network cameras focused on Speaker Boehner as he emerged from the White House, he couldn’t be bothered to prepare a statement that would help clarify a confused situation, full of fallacies and lies.
Boehner was not unique in having a blind spot when it comes to recognizing the importance of articulation and the need to put some serious time and effort into presenting your case in a way that people outside the Beltway would understand. On the contrary, he has been all too typical of Republican leaders in recent decades.
When the government was shut down during the Clinton administration, Republican leaders who went on television to tell their side of the story talked about “OMB numbers” versus “CBO numbers” — as if most people beyond the Beltway knew what these abbreviations meant or why the statistics in question were relevant to the shutdown. Why talk to them in Beltway-speak?
When Speaker Boehner today goes around talking about the “CR,” that is just more of the same thinking — or lack of thinking. Policy wonks inside the Beltway know that he is talking about the “continuing resolution” that authorizes the existing level of government spending to continue, pending a new budget agreement.
But, believe it or not, there are lots of citizens and voters outside the Beltway. And what is believed by those people whom too many Republicans are talking past can decide not only the outcome of this crisis but the fate of the nation for generations to come.
You might think that the stakes are high enough for Republicans to put in some serious time trying to clarify their message.
Read the rest here.
Thomas Sowell, at his age, should know better.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans don't articulate their position because the idiocy of their positions become clear if they articulate them.
For instance....
The Republicans claim they are fighting Obamacare when in fact they are fighting ONLY for a one year delay of the implementation of the individual mandate. Seriously, what does that buy anyone? If anything, it gives the Obama administration another year to get their shit together. As a matter of fact, it's amazing Obama didn't jump on the deal given how clearly they are inadequately prepared.
That's why Republicans don't articulate their plans. If they did, it would become even more obvious to a greater number of people that they are just tweedledee to the Democrat's tweedledum.
"That's why Republicans don't articulate their plans. If they did, it would become even more obvious to a greater number of people that they are just tweedledee to the Democrat's tweedledum."
DeleteYup, and that's the KEY. Why people keep thinking they'll get freedom inside this faux two party mafia system is beyond me. But as I always say, stupid is as stupid does.
"The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the responsibility to originate all spending bills, based on what they think should and should not be funded." - Sowell
ReplyDeleteIncorrect. They also have to consider what can get approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President. A bill which does not fund Obamacare is not getting through the Senate and is merely a political statement. The Constitution does not authorize Congress to pass legislation simply to make a political statement and shore up their base.
The Constitution doesn't allow you to pass Obamacare in the first place.
DeleteNo, Sowell is correct. BTW, were you able to figure out the difference between the debt and the deficit, moron?
DeleteSave your breath. JWolf NEVER comes back to defend his ignorant comments.
DeleteIf anyone exposes his ignorance then he just tries a different post.
He is a SICK. SAD and DISTURBED troll. I feel sorry for him/her/it.
The constitution does not allow congress to do about 98% of everything they do, dummy.
DeleteThe constitution does not allow the right-wing fascists to do all the war-state things they did under Bush (and Obama), and it does not allow the left-wing fascists to do all the welfare-state things they did under Obama (and Bush).
Yet, that never stopped the fascists on BOTH sides of the isle. Why would it now?