where will it end?

What a difference a couple of months can make!

The last time I posted, it was the Obama budget that was going to be the fiscal 'end-of-days' for the nation; his notion of a mere $100 billion dollars in reductions, (including some high profile sacrificial lambs from the traditional social programs hated by the party on the right) was said to be irresponsible considering the fix that we are in.

Thank God for the GOP led House of Representatives, feet firmly planted on the ground, who boldly stepped up and proposed their own budget with a very substantial $100 billion dollars in reductions, and then swiftly passing it after restraining themselves from adding back any more than $39 billion of the cuts.

Leadership. Yep.

What we have here is a situation of us vs them.

Fiscal responsibility is, let me emphasize this, is, a crucial issue right now, but it is not a part of what is going on in Washington, DC. The issue today is whose constituents are in the front row at the trough.

When you hear the Speaker of the House or some committee chair take a somber tone and talk finance, he or she means to blow smoke. The pork barrel is still open, one simply has to sing an aria rather than a song, and, (you knew it was gonna happen), spend a little more with a PAC or campaign committee.

Something to watch for:

The terms liberal or conservative. These terms have been twisted and bastardized by all sides to the point that they are useful only as epithets or platitudes, (depending on who is singing or hurling them). Any paragraph or speech that uses these terms more than once is bullshit.

The art of governing is the art of balancing many truths. Just because one point of view is factual, (true), it does not negate all other views that are equally true and factual. If ideology is evil in any light, then all ideology must be suspect. (Eccentric Recluse's Theory of 'ism's). The trend that I would like to dispose of is the tendency to label ideas, programs or people as "socialist." I am not a socialist, I am as greedy as the next guy, and maybe more. (Note: I wouldn't sell my mother, but maybe yours...). But lets dispense with the ideological slurs, ideas are ideas, some are good, some are not, some situations warrant solutions no matter how they may be defined. The invective of "My way or you are a f****ng"socialist is NOT a valid argument or defense. If one ideological tag is bad, by definition, all are. I'll try to follow this up in a later post if I sober up.

In my view, what is most needed today is a credible voice, who will speak with some balance, authority and, dare I hope, credibility? There has got to be a recognition of the needs and desires of all citizens, and, lets face it, all factions in the population. Those people whose opinions seem to make no sense at all, (see paragraphs above) also vote, may pay taxes or an accountant to keep from paying taxes, and their opinion has as much weight as any other individual.

When the current Congress speaks about the near future and the adjustments that we must make, one has to do some translating, (in fairness, this is not new, but it is a bit more pressing). The current mouthpieces sound reasonable until you see that the shared sacrifice is shared by everybody but them and the high bidders in whose pockets they reside. They are lobbyists for the old guard, with no real new ideas, just a ramped up version of the old 'tax everybody but me' crowd.... The hurt must be shared by everybody, in an equitable manner, (a term whose definition is as gray as the North Atlantic and as large as the Grand Canyon), in a straightforward, easy to understand way.

Many, not all, of the Tea Parties are driven by devotion to ideology, (like the Taliban), and refuse to see a situation, (even for the sake of debate), from any perspective except their own, and if the end result is the total destruction of the institution along with the opposition, well, then, so be it. Some, (not all) seem to see themselves in the robes of Joshua of the old testament, marching around the capitol as though it were Jericho, running their mouths like the fabled rams horn trumpets, expecting the walls to fall before them. So far, the walls have stood, and the Joshua wannabe's have realized that the source of their paychecks, perq's and power are in those walls.

To his credit, Sen. Rand Paul has proposed a major budget adjustment, in enough detail to be discussed intelligently, that might actually have an impact. Positive or negative is a matter of conjecture, it might wreck the nations economy while fixing it, damn near overnight, but the point is he put forth an idea and defended it. His bill won't go anywhere, and my opinion is that he is a nut, but he is doing something besides behaving like a monkey in a gilded zoo.

The next significant milestone will be if he shuts up or goes on with it.