Didn’t we honestly suspect this all along? It is so easy to point the finger at the previous administration and the currently seated House and Senate Republicans as the culprits in the current financial and economic meltdown. But now we see behind-the-scenes action by Chris Dodd and the Obama administration to protect the obscene bonuses of the Wall Street insiders at AIG and other large financial institutions. Have you noticed that even with us, the taxpayers, owning an 80% interest in AIG and having “invested” more than the total market value of the entire stock portfolio in Citigroup that top management (who presided over this meltdown) has not been fired—even though there are thousands of Wall Street executives out of work and begging for a job?
Remember the Glass-Steagall Act that prohibited banks from offering investment, commercial banking and insurance services? It was repealed during the previous Democratic administration. And ‘off-the-books’ accounting slight of hand for banks was promulgated during that same administration. And when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to exert some regulatory control over financial derivatives, that was quashed by Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan—again before the disastrous Bush reign. Oh, and don’t forget the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Although orchestrated by Republican Phil Gramm, it was signed into law by President Clinton.
I won’t enumerate the sins of the Bush reign—they are far too numerous—because I want to emphasize that between 1998 and 2008 the financial sector spent 5 billion dollars on U.S. federal campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures. And those campaign contributions were evenly spread among Republican AND Democratic candidates. Equal opportunity bribery. And the American taxpayer gets screwed.
Both parties are now bought and paid for by the bankers, the insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical industry. Is it any wonder that we can’t have a real debate about burying zombie banks, single-payer health care, or even letting Medicare negotiate lower prices for drugs?
On a recent visit one of my brother-in-laws who is much more conservative than Mr. Attanas even (he would not call himself a MODERATE Republican) said, unsolicited I want to emphasize, that he now thinks we need to have public financing of all elections. The corrupting influence of big money is now so blatantly obvious that, hopefully, we have the impetus to make important structural changes in our electoral system. But have you noticed? Electoral reform is not even on a BACK burner!
Public financing is only one step. We have to remove the stranglehold that both major parties have on the electoral process, through prohibitive ballot access laws, heavily gerrymandered electoral districts, and by excluding third party candidates from debates and forums. Now that both major parties have shown themselves to be devoid of any concern for struggling Americans, we need viable choices outside the box of ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’.
Jonathan Fluck
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Introduction
What's a moderate Republican to do? The Democrats hold the House and the Senate, won back the White House with a candidate that some supporters liken to a figure from the Bible, and have more support in the press than they've had in any recent time period (a truly amazing accomplishment). And at the same time the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, T.R., Eisenhower, and Reagan has become something akin to a national embarrassment. In a time of national hypertension over the economy, the Republican Party has become the party of nostalgia and negativity. If you doubt me, just replay Governor Bobby Jindal's reply to President Obama's speech to Congress. Jindal is a Rhodes Scholar, but he sounded more like a worker on a road crew with his complaints about too much government and wasteful spending. This is old thinking, and if the Republican Party is going to make a comeback before, say, 2020, party leaders have to take one, two, or even three steps back and see that the old time Republican religion does not work in a time when taxpayers are legitimately afraid about their jobs and their savings. Hard line conservatism is no longer viable during this Great Recession, and Republican candidates should take lessons from some of the smart Democratic House and Senate candidates who ran in toss-up districts and states in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and tack toward the center if they are going to have shots at winning in 2010 and 2012.
I have been a Republican since I came to understand the history of the Republican Party. My mother was a staunch Republican, and she told me of the party's leading role in the fight against slavery, the party's belief in invididuals, its suspicion of group politics, and its belief in our nation, without apologies or exceptions. Yet, being a Republican was to possess a hard luck political gene. I say "hard luck" because I grew up in, and still live in, that most left wing and most parochial of cities: New York City. In New York it has long been the case that in politics what matters is whether you have a "D" or and "R" next to your name. If it is a "D" you are a saint. If it is an "R" you are an unrepentant sinner, never to be allowed into the political heaven that is the home to such greats as F.D.R., Al Smith, and, in Manhattan at least, Alger Hiss. The other side of parochial New York politics stems from the phrase, "What can you do for me?" Although the days of Tammany Hall are long gone, the spirit of Tammany still lives in the hearts of many countless New Yorkers, nearly all of them Democrats. And why not? Democratic Party politicians control nearly all but a few offices in the five boroughs, so if a hard working tax payer wants a favor he/she needs to contact the party of F.D.R., not the party of T.R. But until recent years moderate Republican politicians held offices in states throughout the northeast and upper midwest. A few still do. It is for the the supporters of these hardworking, often beleagured office holders that I write this blog.
To be a moderate in the Republican Party in 2009 is to be an outsider. And perhaps that's a good thing, considering who the insiders are. Ironically, President Obama is something of an outsider in his own party. He ran against the Democratic establishment when he ran for the Illinois State Senate in 1996 (and won). He was an outsider when he ran for Congress in 2000 (and lost). He won a hard fought primary for the Democratic Senate nomination in 2004, and was not supported by most party insiders in the early stages of his presidential run. In fact, Obama may the the biggest outsider to get the Democratic nomination since Jimmy Carter. I am not saying that Obama is a closet moderate, or that Republicans should support him on many issues. An opposition party should generally oppose the party in power. But that opposition should be creative, and, especially in troubled times, flexible. We must understand that Obama is popular, and that the Democratic establishment is piggybacking off of him. In either four or eight years there will be a new president. But the permanent Democratic Party, well represented by such men as David Obey, Charlie Rangel, Henry Waxman, and John Dingell (the poster boy for term limits, with fifty-three years of taxing, regulating, and expropriating to his credit) will still be there. If Republicans present moderate, creative, and forward looking ideas, we may make a swift comeback, and put these Democratic drones out to pasture permanently. If we don't, troubled times will face us for a long time to come.
John Attanas
I have been a Republican since I came to understand the history of the Republican Party. My mother was a staunch Republican, and she told me of the party's leading role in the fight against slavery, the party's belief in invididuals, its suspicion of group politics, and its belief in our nation, without apologies or exceptions. Yet, being a Republican was to possess a hard luck political gene. I say "hard luck" because I grew up in, and still live in, that most left wing and most parochial of cities: New York City. In New York it has long been the case that in politics what matters is whether you have a "D" or and "R" next to your name. If it is a "D" you are a saint. If it is an "R" you are an unrepentant sinner, never to be allowed into the political heaven that is the home to such greats as F.D.R., Al Smith, and, in Manhattan at least, Alger Hiss. The other side of parochial New York politics stems from the phrase, "What can you do for me?" Although the days of Tammany Hall are long gone, the spirit of Tammany still lives in the hearts of many countless New Yorkers, nearly all of them Democrats. And why not? Democratic Party politicians control nearly all but a few offices in the five boroughs, so if a hard working tax payer wants a favor he/she needs to contact the party of F.D.R., not the party of T.R. But until recent years moderate Republican politicians held offices in states throughout the northeast and upper midwest. A few still do. It is for the the supporters of these hardworking, often beleagured office holders that I write this blog.
To be a moderate in the Republican Party in 2009 is to be an outsider. And perhaps that's a good thing, considering who the insiders are. Ironically, President Obama is something of an outsider in his own party. He ran against the Democratic establishment when he ran for the Illinois State Senate in 1996 (and won). He was an outsider when he ran for Congress in 2000 (and lost). He won a hard fought primary for the Democratic Senate nomination in 2004, and was not supported by most party insiders in the early stages of his presidential run. In fact, Obama may the the biggest outsider to get the Democratic nomination since Jimmy Carter. I am not saying that Obama is a closet moderate, or that Republicans should support him on many issues. An opposition party should generally oppose the party in power. But that opposition should be creative, and, especially in troubled times, flexible. We must understand that Obama is popular, and that the Democratic establishment is piggybacking off of him. In either four or eight years there will be a new president. But the permanent Democratic Party, well represented by such men as David Obey, Charlie Rangel, Henry Waxman, and John Dingell (the poster boy for term limits, with fifty-three years of taxing, regulating, and expropriating to his credit) will still be there. If Republicans present moderate, creative, and forward looking ideas, we may make a swift comeback, and put these Democratic drones out to pasture permanently. If we don't, troubled times will face us for a long time to come.
John Attanas
Monday, March 2, 2009
Where am I coming from?
Though my friends find it hard to believe, I started out a Young Republican! I jest that it was Richard Nixon and Watergate that turned me into a Commie! Once I saw that the gods had feet of clay, I began questioning everything. And so I turned from capitalism and embraced a democratic socialist perspective; I turned from military engagement and embraced diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of conflicts; I turned from a foreign policy that actively enforced our (especially economic) way of life on the world and embraced a much less invasive (and much less profitable) engagement in the world; I even left Evangelical Christianity to attend Quaker Meeting! I came to believe very strongly that the influence of money and those with money subvert our democratic process. As our society has matured the only bulwark against the overwhelming interests of those with money is our elected government and truly grassroots organizations, in which I include labor unions.
But now that Obama is president I should be happy, right? Well, no. As glad that I am that Bush & Cheney no longer steer the ship of state, I am already not particularly pleased with a host of appointments and policy decisions of this new administration. That will become apparent as I blog throughout this year. Or just reading my two January posts will verify that!
I believe that both Democrats and Republican are so tied to corporate money that they can no longer respond to the needs of ordinary people. The only difference between them is the speed with which their knees hit the floor when the lobbyists enter the room. This is no where better exemplified than in the attempted solutions to the financial meltdown, the collapse of our economy, the inability to craft a rational health care system for the nation, the refusal to reign in exploding military spending, and the almost 9,000 earmarks in the budget bill that recently passed the Senate.
I obviously stand no where near the center of the political spectrum. Although a New Yorker for the last 30 years, my views are not well represented by anyone in the New York Congressional delegation. Bernie Sanders most closely represents me in the Senate, and Dennis Kucinich in the House. That gives you a pointer to where I stand on issues. And I cannot think of ANYONE in Albany that represents my views; certainly not my State rep, Joan Millman, or my State senator, Velmanette Montgomery both of whom resemble Democratic Party hacks.
But pointing the finger at people who successfully game the system smacks of sour grapes, though it is necessary to make a point and show the the overall corruption of the system.
More important, I believe, is nurturing alternative voices and opening up our process to perspectives not sanctioned by Democrats OR Republicans: Greens, Libertarians, Socialists, Constitutionalists. Through restrictive ballot access laws, district gerrymandering, and two party collusion, all of which distorts a level playing field, these alternative voices are not given a fair hearing when campaigning for public office. And so I heartily endorse those who attempt to open up the system and, through this blog, hope to add my voice to that effort.
Jonathan Fluck
But now that Obama is president I should be happy, right? Well, no. As glad that I am that Bush & Cheney no longer steer the ship of state, I am already not particularly pleased with a host of appointments and policy decisions of this new administration. That will become apparent as I blog throughout this year. Or just reading my two January posts will verify that!
I believe that both Democrats and Republican are so tied to corporate money that they can no longer respond to the needs of ordinary people. The only difference between them is the speed with which their knees hit the floor when the lobbyists enter the room. This is no where better exemplified than in the attempted solutions to the financial meltdown, the collapse of our economy, the inability to craft a rational health care system for the nation, the refusal to reign in exploding military spending, and the almost 9,000 earmarks in the budget bill that recently passed the Senate.
I obviously stand no where near the center of the political spectrum. Although a New Yorker for the last 30 years, my views are not well represented by anyone in the New York Congressional delegation. Bernie Sanders most closely represents me in the Senate, and Dennis Kucinich in the House. That gives you a pointer to where I stand on issues. And I cannot think of ANYONE in Albany that represents my views; certainly not my State rep, Joan Millman, or my State senator, Velmanette Montgomery both of whom resemble Democratic Party hacks.
But pointing the finger at people who successfully game the system smacks of sour grapes, though it is necessary to make a point and show the the overall corruption of the system.
More important, I believe, is nurturing alternative voices and opening up our process to perspectives not sanctioned by Democrats OR Republicans: Greens, Libertarians, Socialists, Constitutionalists. Through restrictive ballot access laws, district gerrymandering, and two party collusion, all of which distorts a level playing field, these alternative voices are not given a fair hearing when campaigning for public office. And so I heartily endorse those who attempt to open up the system and, through this blog, hope to add my voice to that effort.
Jonathan Fluck
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