STIMULATING THE ECONOMY

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (1/18/08)

The President and the Congress are hell-bent for another government give-away, called “stimulating the economy.” They propose to borrow more money from Arab oil tyrants and the Communist Chinese so that they can give more money away to taxpayers and non-taxpayers hoping that they will consume more. It’s an antidote that made the economy sick in the first place, government spending without taxation.

A thriving economy to these politicians is people spending lots of money, not one in which people are producing lots of products. The Congress and the President have let our manufacturing capacity languish, thereby reducing the number of well-paid workers, while they have opened our borders to cheap labor, thereby reducing the wages of the remaining workers. While doing this, they have spent the nation into debt, engaging in a war whose victory, if there is a victory, will be pyrrhic.

The current gang of candidates, both Republican and Democrat, offer the same nostrum, borrow to spend as though the nation were a casino and they were gambling addicts. So far, the only candidate who’s made economic sense is Mike Huckabee who’s proposed developing our manufacturing capacity so that we can make the things we buy. Sadly, he wants to turn the nation into a Fundamentalist theocracy, thereby eliminating the majority of the population from the benefits of citizenship.

Adlai Stevenson said it best: “Any political campaign is how to win without proving you are unworthy of winning.” So far, they’ve all fallen short.

DIOGENES LOOKING FOR REPUBLICANS

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (1/18/08)

Although I don’t live in a tub, I feel like Diogenes of old, only I’m not looking for an honest man, but for a Republican. I hear they are around with their customary squeaks and jibbers. However, I have yet to find one even though I’m told they’re still 32% of the population, that is, the Republicans who support President Bush.

Now, some of them have gone underground either out of shame or until the storm blows over. They are the ones who called everyone who opposed the folly of Bush’s Iraqi War cowards and unpatriotic so they’ve gone cowardly into hiding. I assume that they are the ones who prosper in a housing crisis, which was largely the making of their allies on Wall Street and the failed politicized federal regulatory agencies. They certainly are the ones who relish a health care system in crisis, one in which everyone else, the poor and middle classes suffer from a lack of proper medical care.

The 32% of the Old Guard Republicans must be in favor of a worsening economy as long as they can enjoy their own luxuries. They are surely in favor of open borders as a source of cheap labor. However, the real heart of the Old Guard is their endorsement of a war without purpose because it ramps up their dwindling testosterone. Unmindful of the dead, the wounded, and the maimed, they speak of victory, but never answer the question: Why?

No wonder they can’t be found.

A REPLY

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (1/01/08)

In his letter saying that it was time to get over political rhetoric (Dec. 28), the writer defends the Republicans and President Bush on the grounds of incompetence, urging us all to “forgive them their mistakes” and assuring us of their “good intentions.” As Samuel Johnson said, “Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions.” The phrase “meant well” is polite code for “messed up.” The Iraqi War and the inept response to Katrina can’t be put down to mistakes.

In the letter, “Hyper-partisanship deserves a rest,” (Jan.1) another writer argues that both the Democrats and the Republicans agreed about invading Iraq. While some Democratic politicians were dupes and voted to authorize the war, as did Sen. Clinton, it was the President and the Vice-president who did the deceiving. Blaming weenies doesn’t work.

Now, that the truth about this catastrophe has hit home, the Republicans are trying to blame the Democrats, asking for mercy, or accusing writers of partisanship, being ministers of the Gospel, or veterans. I was criticized as a clergyman, but never ridiculed for having served my country as a soldier. I don’t know anyone stupid enough to buy that argument or vitriol.

Any President and Vice-President, no matter how well-intended, who without purpose incompetently pursued a fraudulent course in which 3,200 American military are killed and 29,000 are wounded and maimed with nothing to show for it save a decimated nation don’t deserve forgiveness for their “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Politics aside, they should be impeached and convicted.