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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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 Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:38 pm Post subject: A conservative with an actual idea |
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"In the unhappy aughts, we witnessed the exhaustion of Reaganomics. A quarter-century after Ronald Reagan�s mix of tax cuts and deregulation revived American competitiveness, George W. Bush�s attempt to imitate the Gipper produced only wage stagnation and skyrocketing debt.
This failure helped cost Republicans their majority...
If we hope to avoid a similar plunge, the Obama-era tilt toward government intervention needs to be balanced, and soon, by a new growth-oriented agenda. This will require more than the rote invocations of Reaganism that too many Republican politicians have fallen back on, however. The age of sweeping tax cuts financed by deficit spending is over. The policies of the 1980s will not keep America competitive in the 2010s. Our challenges are new, and we must think and act anew...
He proposes a fourfold agenda: Unwind the partnerships forged between Big Business and Big Government in the wake of the 2008 crash; seek financial regulations that �contain busts,� by segregating high-risk transactions from lower-risk enterprises; deregulate the public school system, to let a thousand charter schools and start-ups bloom; and shift our immigration policy away from low-skilled immigration, and toward the recruitment of high-skilled �migr�s from around the globe.
To this list, I would add tax reform and entitlement reform..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/opinion/04douthat.html?ref=opinion
I disagree with most of the proposals, but his bottom line is correct. We can't move ahead as long as we are holding on to the failed policies of the past. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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So you've discovered Ross Douthat. Yeah, he doesn't like the GOP establishment. He's my favorite social-con commentator (as in, I can finish his columns without wanting to wretch).
| Douthat wrote: |
| A billion-odd Chinese had a pretty good decade |
Their crash cometh. But yeah, replace pretty good with apparently good, and its right.
| Douthat wrote: |
| For now, at least, our decline is only relative � from hyperpower back to superpower, from the only nation that mattered to the one that matters most. |
Its true. Perspective is good. But I also like the 'for now, at least.'
As for his four-fold agenda, its a little modest for my liking. But its true that you can't destroy Medicare or Social Security, that's the political nature of entitlements. But there's so much money locked up in there that there will have to be a reckoning.
I will more than quibble with his statement about the immigration system. It does not encourage 'low-skilled' labor, unless you mean the current enforcement mechanisms are impotent against the mass of the underground migrant workers cloaked in the shadows. The legal immigration system doesn't discriminate entirely on economics, its true. But it gives its due to preserving family integrity. Frankly, if someone has a future in the States, I believe it doesn't hurt anyone to share that future with their close family. In fact, it helps immigrants assimilate. Immigration law also nods its head (but thats about it) to international accords on asylum law. But what immigration really needs is administrative staffing, because the backlogs are embarrassing to America and unfair to immigrants. This has less to do with immigration reform than the Bush administration's covert sabotage and hollowing out of the immigration structures. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| His piece gives me hope that the right has a glimmer of a chance of once again being relevant. The news that Florida's RNC chairman resigned gives me the expectation that this will not be the year of renewed relevance. But at least there are some thinkers out there not in the ultra-right starting to come up with policy proposals beyond: Cut Taxes. It's a start. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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Conservatives will be "relevant" soon enough. By "relevant", I mean "dominant". All those young, inspired kids who voted/volunteered for Hope and Stagnation won't be doing jack next time around.
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2405693
In my non-partisan opinion, the Dems are worse, thus far, than the Republicans. The health care bill is a complete disaster. It is such a strong disaster, that I suspect it will push millions of voters away from the idea that government is at all able to solve problems. Because, for the most part, it isn't. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| His piece gives me hope that the right has a glimmer of a chance of once again being relevant. The news that Florida's RNC chairman resigned gives me the expectation that this will not be the year of renewed relevance. But at least there are some thinkers out there not in the ultra-right starting to come up with policy proposals beyond: Cut Taxes. It's a start. |
The fact that you're still plugging the false left/right wing paradigm shows that have basically no relevance yourself. The Dems and Reps are on the same team. Get it through your skull. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
Conservatives will be "relevant" soon enough. By "relevant", I mean "dominant". All those young, inspired kids who voted/volunteered for Hope and Stagnation won't be doing jack next time around.
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2405693
In my non-partisan opinion, the Dems are worse, thus far, than the Republicans. The health care bill is a complete disaster. It is such a strong disaster, that I suspect it will push millions of voters away from the idea that government is at all able to solve problems. Because, for the most part, it isn't. |
Ron Paul is basically the only credible person left in congress at this point (and deservedly so). Never underestimate the power of propaganda though. People like ya-ta are so susceptible to it, and the results so predictable, it's not much different from programming a computer. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 4:15 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| In my non-partisan opinion |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:43 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| In my non-partisan opinion, the Dems are worse, thus far, than the Republicans. The health care bill is a complete disaster. It is such a strong disaster, that I suspect it will push millions of voters away from the idea that government is at all able to solve problems. Because, for the most part, it isn't. |
I agree the health care bill is a complete disaster, and I certainly feel the Democrats are really blowing their time in power thus far, but they've got a ways to go before being worse than the Republicans. Admittedly, the Republicans had quite a bit longer to do their damage too, so time will tell. |
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