Message to Independent voters

Don't be. It's like wearing designer jeans to a construction site. It may make you feel special, but you become irrelevant for actually getting things done. Political decisions are made by the major parties. When you step out of the major parties to be independent you turn over the primaries to folks with brains incapable of seeing two sides of any question. No big surprise that when it comes time to vote your choices aren't very appealing.

Rule number 110 about politics. Primary votes have become more important than general election votes, because the primaries are where the candidates who actually think about problem solving get bumped out by the folks who give the hardcore idealogues whatever they want to hear.

Even if it goes against your sense of self, register with a party and then hold your nose and vote for the candidate who seems to comprehend that there are actually two sides to almost every issue.

Sarah Palin

Two points:

1. Rule number 1 about politics - you can be a good person and be a lousy lawmaker. Or you can be a bad person and be a good lawmaker. It is not a good idea to mix up these concepts and think good person equals good lawmaker.

2. Sarah Palin needs to talk to Donald Rumsfeld. It seems like not only does she not know what she doesn't know. She doesn't know that she doesn't know what she doesn't know.

More on Republicans, Democrats and Banks

After posting the previous post about the results of the two periods that Republicans controlled Government, I got to thinking about the fact that Bank failures were key to the great depression and the great recession (or whatever we end up calling it) that we are experiencing right now. I am old enough to remember the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980's that ended up costing taxpayers some 700 billion dollars or so to bail out bad financial decisions. I remember vaguely there was some legislation in the early years of President Reagan's presidency, that loosened up the restrictions on Savings and Loans that had been imposed after the disaster of the Great Depression. I don't recall the specific legislation, I do recall 5 Senator's later faced ethics charges for their activities relating to loosening up the regulation of Savings and Loans. Anyone out there remember the specific legislation? I will work up a little history of it if someone can identify the public law number.

But I went back to see who was controlling the levers of Government at that time. Ronald Reagan had been elected in a landslide in 1980 (and I voted for him). Republicans took control of the Senate, although Democrats continued to hold a substantial majority in the House. That situation continued - Republicans controlling the Senate and the Presidency, Democrats controlling the House, from 1980 through 1987. So it appears the Democrats get to share at least some of the responsibility for the legislation that set up the $700 billion dollar bill to the taxpayers for bailing out Savings and Loans. Once I identify the specific legislation I will do a blog on who was actively pushing it and what the justifications were.

Lower taxes & less regulation - not always the answer

Here is a little historical evidence regarding the wisdom of lowering taxes and reducing regulation as the solution to all government problems.

During the the last 100 years Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency for 6 to 8 years twice. During both periods their primary economic policy goal was lowering taxes and reducing government regulation. The first time was 1919 through 1932. The second time was from 2000 to 2006.

The first time after 10 years of Republican tax cuts and cutting regulation the 1929 stockmarket crash sent us into the great depression. Republicans tried to fix the great depression using "market" mechanisms between the 1929 crash and their loss of power in 1933. By that point we were mired in the worst depression of modern times, with unemployment reaching 25%.

The second time Republicans controlled both houses of Congress from 1995 through 2006, and the Presidency from 2000 to 2008. In the first 5 years the dot com bubble expanded until it burst. Over the next 5 years bubbles in commodities and housing expanded and burst as we rolled into 2007.

The two worst economic downtowns in the last 100 years happened at the end of lengthy periods of almost unfettered Republican control of public policy. Hmmmmm.