Posted on 11/23/2014 11:54:09 AM PST by Kaslin
“What too few in Washington appreciate — and what the new Republican Congress must if we hope to succeed — is that the American people’s current distrust of their public institutions is totally justified.”
So wrote Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in The Federalist shortly after the big election earlier this month. “Americans are fed up with Washington, and they have every right to be.”
You can say that again.
When Democrats swept the 2006 mid-term elections to re-take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, it was much more a repudiation of the pork-barreling, corrupt crony behavior of that Republican congressional majority than an embrace of the Democrats’ agenda. The same is true for the thumping voters inflicted on Democrats and Obama just weeks ago, allowing the GOP to capture the Senate and thus control of both chambers. Obama’s agenda lost far more than a Republican agenda won.
Perhaps, that’s why Sen. Lee starts off with the need to earn trust.
Will many Americans simply shrug? His notion of a “more open-source strategy development model that includes everyone” sure sounds nice. But will the same old congressional leaders really change their spots? And after Obama’s promise of the most “transparent” presidency in history, and delivery of one of the least, skepticism is natural.
At least Lee knows his challenges: “Republicans in fact can’t ‘govern’ from the House and Senate alone — especially without a Senate supermajority.” He sees the necessity of working with Democrats, but insists that the congressional majority not compromise away the whole enchilada.
“We should find common ground that advances our agenda,” argues Lee, “rather than let the idea of common ground substitute for our agenda.”
He’s on to something. Finding common ground with Democrats to enact a popular agenda that advances freedom isn’t a compromise. It’s called victory.
And a victory for the people, not just the GOP.
Moreover, Lee proposes the correct issue area.
“Anti-cronyism legislation is win-win for the GOP,” he writes, and views “taking on crony capitalism” as a test of the GOP’s “political will and wisdom.” Fighting the corrupt Washington culture of insider deals is sure to test Democratic lawmakers, too.
The issue is important, because, as Lee explains, “The exploitative status quo in Washington has corrupted Americans’ economy and their government, and made its entrenched defenders rich in the process.”
This latter point also suggests any attack on crony capitalism will precipitate a political battle royal, as an army of cronies from big business and big labor fight to keep their hooks into the taxpayers.
But such a high-stakes gambit can carry massive positives for Republicans. “The GOP’s biggest branding problem is that Americans think we’re the party of Big Business and The Rich,” complains the Senator. “If our ‘Show-We-Can-Govern’ agenda can be fairly attacked as giving Big Business what it wants — while the rest of the country suffers — we will only reinforce that unpopular image.”
Instead, Lee implores the “new Republican majority” to “make clear that our support for free enterprise cuts both ways. To prove that point, we must target the crony capitalist policies that rig our economy for large corporations and special interests at the expense of everyone else — especially small and new businesses.”
For starters, Lee suggests dissolving the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and eliminating the “taxpayer bailouts for big insurance companies in Obamacare’s ‘risk corridors’ program.” He also notes the need to “break up taxpayer subsidies for the energy industry or large agribusinesses.”
Echoes of Ralph Nader, but with deep free-market rumblings. Not discord, but harmony.
So wrote Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in The Federalist shortly after the big election earlier this month. “Americans are fed up with Washington, and they have every right to be.” "
Just remember that Hatch and the GOPe have their knives out and sharpened for Lee's 2016 re-election campaign. He's higher on their list than Dingy, H!, Pelosi and basically the whole 'rat Party Party.
“Obama’s agenda lost far more than a Republican agenda won.”
Thank God for small favors. *Rolleyes* The new Congress had BETTER kick some @ss and take some names!
We. The. People. Have. Spoken!
Spend the next two years filing lawsuits and ferreting out the criminals. Arrest them. Try them. Hang them. (On BOTH sides of the aisle!)
Drain the Swamp! (Barf. Sorry to quote Pelosi. She and Reid need to be the first to go!)
When politicians spend 99 percent of their waking time rooting around for money like porkers for truffles and only maybe one percent of their time doing their elected jobs then you can easily assume that the voters wishes are not high on their list of priorities. The congress is little more than a career path to a plush retirement or fancy living while the aides and interns do the heavy lifting.
exactly correct.
I’m conservative as heck but it is clear to me that the GOP is friendly to owners of large companies and doesnt care at all about the middle class.
they believe we are unsophisticated, racist, fundamentalist hayseeds from flyover country.
right now I say death to the GOP but I am open to an absolute miracle.
Good luck with getting the crony out of capitalism. Wall St, the multinational corps, and banks LOVE crony capitalism. Progressives are their best friend because Marxists hate the middle class more than they hate the rich. They see the rich as an enemy to be defeated and brought under control, but they see the middle class (petit bourgeois) as class enemies who vote against their best interests.
So, as long as the Progs don’t actually win, the Crony Capitalists have no problem working with them to subjugate the middle class.
Take it a step further and look at your friends, neighbors and relatives. Think about how many depend on the government for their income in one shape or another: School teachers, firemen, hospital workers, the retired, those who work for companies with defense contracts. This is not to indict anyone but rather to point out how involved the government is in the economy.
There has always been some “crony Capitalism.” But as government grows, it becomes more and more of a problem. It really became evident in the Bush / Paulson bailout of Wall Street. And then, as he normally does with bad things that the government does, Obama kicked it into overdrive. Crony Capitalism is just like Welfare fraud. You will never get rid of it. But you can reduce it by reducing the size and scope of government.
First thing then is to fight the immigration givaways, especially the H1-b visas that Obama has expanded. Right now, republicans and democrats stand with the few big corporations rather than the many American STEM workers. This is something I will judge the republicans on.
>>Take it a step further and look at your friends, neighbors and relatives. Think about how many depend on the government for their income in one shape or another: School teachers, firemen, hospital workers, the retired, those who work for companies with defense contracts. This is not to indict anyone but rather to point out how involved the government is in the economy.
True, but some people perform real services for their pay and some are just bureaucrats, or even parasites who do nothing. The government is part of the economy and that’s not a bad thing. The problem is that our government has become the only part of the economy for many people, and Wall St and the corporations are ok with that because they can afford to pay employees less and know that the government will keep their workers from starving or dying from preventable diseases. Why do you think that all the big corps were so much on board with ObamaCare? They saw it as a way to shift costs from their bottom line to the government, while planning new ways to shelter their own profits from the tax increases brought by ObamaCare. The Corporation is the Progressive’s best friend, and both of these “friends” are planning to take over the other one once the American Middle Class is eradicated.
Crony capitalism is a contradiction in terms. The term should accurately be “crony socialism.” Capitalism, or free enterprise, has no cronies. In a free-enterprise capitalism system there are no corporate subsidies, no preferential treatment, no tariffs, no corporate lobbies. On the issue of competition, a capitalist says, “Bring it on.” A crony socialist starts making campaign donations and calls his lobbying firm.
Crony capitalism isn’t capitalism at all — it’s just socialism in disguise.
We should ban all bailouts and all other forms of crony socialism (which is part of the socialist variety known as fascism.)
Crony socialism is the American way. Has been since the founding of this nation. Our quaint notion that we have ever had a free market in this country is a farce
>>Crony capitalism is a contradiction in terms. The term should accurately be “crony socialism.” Capitalism, or free enterprise, has no cronies. In a free-enterprise capitalism system there are no corporate subsidies, no preferential treatment, no tariffs, no corporate lobbies. On the issue of competition, a capitalist says, “Bring it on.” A crony socialist starts making campaign donations and calls his lobbying firm.
The term is sarcastic in nature, so the fact that it is a contradiction is why it is used. The typical Crony Capitalist would not call himself a socialist and would say that he is anything but one. We haven’t had a free enterprise system in this country since the 1930s.
In addition to Wall Street, the defense industry is a ripe target with low hanging fruit. Just think, all those colonels and generals marching through the revolving door immediately upon retirement.
I will take umbridge to your one statement: ‘The government is part of the economy and that’s not a bad thing.’
Yes, it is a ‘HORRIBLE thing’. An entity that produces NOTHING but regulations, rules and the like for everyone ELSE (when was the last time someone was jailed, let alone prosecuted or, heaven forbid, FIRED?) There is NO accountability like the Capitalistic system (we have not had a ‘Free Market’ in...forever).
It is one of the reasons for the whole of the Declaration...swarms worth; and We have not learned from the past (as usual)
>>I will take umbridge to your one statement: ‘The government is part of the economy and that’s not a bad thing.’
>>Yes, it is a ‘HORRIBLE thing’. An entity that produces NOTHING but regulations, rules and the like for everyone ELSE
You can take umbrage, but you are wrong. There are legitimate government functions. Would you want a privatized nuclear deterrent force? Mercenary armies? No Interstate Highway System? No standards in ATC?
Take away federal “law enforcement” and the government becomes fairly benign. Take way federal welfare systems and it becomes relatively cost-effective. But, the rest of government is useful and helpful.
Yes, there ARE legitimate government functions, those spelled out in the Constitution, and the rest are left up to We the People through the States.
Merc armies? I’d never call the unorganized militia anything so demeaning. And, there were plenty of roadways BEFORE Fedzilla spent untold $$$ on interstate highway systems (again, much better left to the States to determine ‘need’)....ATC you’ll have to spell out for me. Even your nuclear ‘deterrence’ don’t matter much when the gov’t is the one GIVING such technology out to our enemies
As the Fed RARELY enforces the Laws as they are currently...Welfare is theft, pure and simple (Takings, 9th/10th/13th)...There is NOTHING benign in the unlawful power of regulations in every unconstitutional Dept of XYZ...making busy work to keep their (cushy) jobs. Nor would I chalk up what’s left as EVER ‘benign’ nor helpful; not with the crony Socialism we’ve had over the last 100+ years.
>>And, there were plenty of roadways BEFORE Fedzilla spent untold $$$ on interstate highway systems (again, much better left to the States to determine ‘need’).
Your ignorance of the value of the interstate highways makes your entire OPINION seem rather silly.
BTW, I didn’t call the militia merc armies. That was you. Do you really think that WW2 would have turned out so well for us if we had only used unorganized militias? When I said merc armies, I was talking about your ideal that everything should be privatized. A privatized army is a mercenary army.
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