CONFUSING MESSAGES

"We the People" are certainly receiving a rash of confusing messages these days. I, for one, am trying to grasp just a piece of truth and reality from the onslaught of negativity and partainship that just will not subside.

During the entire administrations of George W, Bush the message from the Republican Party was "trust us we know what we are doing and we will protect and defend the United States of America". We were asked to ignore many assaults on what we had assumed were protected "rights" enjoyed by American citizens with respect to privacy and our right to question and object. We were told that if "we" didn't fully support the "Bush Doctrine" as it related to pre-emptive invasions of sovereign nations, then "we" were anti-American. "We" were told that virtually any dissent was unacceptable and possibly even a basis for arrest or at the least aggressive monitoring by our Government. "We" were assured over and over again that the "most important goal of the Bush Administration was the protection and security of America and yet throughout most of the past 8 years our nation's borders and ports remained basically unprotected while hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and ten of thousands of American lives were lost or ruined in foreign lands waging a futile "war on terror" against a basically invisible enemy. I will not diminish the (hopefully) positive effect our military actions have had on millions of Iraqi and Afghan citizens but at some point we must view the results through the "reality mirror" and make truthful conclusions about the effect these engagements have had on reducing the number of groups or individuals throughout the world that wish America harm. The point is, for the most part, the majority of Americans went along with the foreign policy program of the Bush Administration mainly because the administration was always able to use the "support the troops" as a successful political tool. To oppose the policy was to oppose the troops, right? I disagree completely with that logic as I believe supporting the troops would have been to NOT place them in imminent danger for over seven years without ever having a clear cut, obtainable mission to fulfill.

"We the People" must also not simply overlook or downplay the economic facts of these past eight years. The fact is that our National Debt that is suddenly such a concern for the Republican Party INCREASED from 5.7 TRILLION dollars at the end of fiscal year 2000 to just over 10 TRILLION dollars by the end of fiscal year 2008. This astounding increase occurred under the Republican President (G.W. Bush) and for six of the past eight years, a Republican controlled Congress. One should consider this while listening to the suddenly born again fiscally responsible Republicans now flooding the airwaves. Quite the confusing message!

The Democrats should not be let off the hook either. In the usual process that is Government accounting, our National Debt under the Clinton Administration increased from 4 TRILLION dollars to 5.7 TRILLION dollars while toward the end of that administration the annual budgets had begun operating in a surplus of billions of dollars.

It must be noted also that the proclaimed King of fiscal responsibility and modern conservatism, Ronald Reagan, was the man in charge of an 8 year period (actually a 12 year period when the George H.W. Bush Administration is included) saw an increase in the National Debt of almost 450 PERCENT from ONE TRILLION dollars to 4 TRILLION dollars! A review would also show that the extent of Government involvement in the lives of Americans and American business was every bit as much under Reagan as is being proposed now under President Obama. I suppose it is (as always) a matter of opinion.

Feeding from the "spending trough" is not, not has it ever been limited to any one political Party and any claims by either main Party to the contrary is just a partisan lie that continues to be told to "we the people". The spending philosophy of our Government has certainly not been ignored by American citizens. The collective "We" have managed to spend ourselves into near financial ruin during the past two decades. Our financial institutions and retailers have been more than willing to relax the rules (with the blessing of our Government) and create an irresistable candy dish of irrational spending and borrowing that inflated the value of homes and stocks to almost silly levels. This has not been the private playground of Democrats or Replublicans but rather the actions of a greedy and irresponsible society. WE need to stop trying to blame the Government or the Banks or our employer and focus on individual responsibility.

The message that the new Administration continues to deliver about the critical need to "stimulate" the economy by encouraging us to go back to spending money and for the Banks to hurry up and start lending again appears (at least to me) to be confusing at best and destructive at worst. I cannot understand how it make sense for American citizens who are currently in deep trouble to keep digging their financial hole they have dug for themselves. I should note here that not everyone or every family is in financial distress. With a national unemployment rate approaching 8% it still means that 92% of American workers ARE employed and that means that there should still be an abundance of spending throughout the country. If an approximately 3% of mortgages are in jeopardy that means that 97% ARE NOT. The negative effect on home valuation on the homes not currently in mortgage difficulty is certainly real and potentially very harmful to homeowners who purchased their homes during the past 2 to 3 years when home prices were at their most inflated levels, but as with any investment, there was always that risk. For the homeowners who bought their homes to actually live in over the long term and who are able to continue to make their payemnts (which is still the vast majority) the "reduced" valuation of their homes should actually have little effect on their day to day lives. History has shown that, at some point, home values will rebound (though hopefully not to monopoly money levels), so just be patient and live your lives responsibly. For those who made the decision to "buy" homes that they MUST have known were more expensive than their means (no matter what the real estate agent ot lender told them), sadly, the price for those decisions must be to give up the home, start over and hopefully not make the same mistakes again. For those who purchased homes (at inflated prices) strictly for the investment and now find themselves on the losing side of that investment but face the reality that when it comes to investments, sometimes you profit from them and sometimes you do not. For the banks and lending institutions who created the "candy dish" for borrowers and home buyers must also now bear the responsibilty of their actions. Whatever loss they now face (even if it means losing their business altogether) must be faced and it must be done without further damage to "we the people" in the form of Government subsidies. Capitalism was not designed to be a one way street.

So, my "message" for the Republican Party is;

Stop whining!
Stop perpetuating the image of the imminent collapse of the United States of America because you are not "in power" at the moment. It is an especially weak position when one considers the Republican controlled results of most of the past 28 years.
Stop being "anti American" (yes, I said it!) and leave your insane partisanship behind during our current national crisis. We have always tried to have the policy that politics are left at the shore when it comes to our foreign policy and it now critical that you leave your partisanship in the closet during this extreme domestic crisis.
Stop distorting the facts and cherry picking everything that is proposed in your attempt for ratings or votes and for once do the right thing for the citizens of the United States. As more and more people become educated and aware of the facts, these distorations are being exposed. There are simply too many ways to verify your lies and spin to keep passing them off as facts. Just because you say it doesn't make it true.
Stop the hate speech! You are only inflaming desperate people and causing them to be more desperate. The result will most likely be even more hatred between American citizens and an unnecessary increase in violence and mistrust of everything and everyone. This is not only destructive to our country but just plain wrong.


My message for the Democrats and President Obama is;

Stop trying to move too quickly. The American people, although they are looking for change and better days, may not be able to absorb too much too fast and the negativity being projected by the opposing Party appears to be confusing too many people. Keep it simple.
Stop giving the impression to the American people that you are fully able to correct all the ills of our economy and make all our dreams come true. You must know that cannot happen and the message (that was given at last weeks speech by President Obama) needs to be expanded and promoted by all those in the Administration and Congress and leaders of the individual States. It is very dangerous to give too many people the impression that the people themselves are going to be rescued and that all they have to do is wait.
Stop the bailouts! In spite of the amounts already allocated and in spite of the pontential effects on large firms, these bailouts have just become too much. Again, Capitalism was not designed to do this. We cannot get to the bottom of our problem until we let the bottom develop. Only then, will everyone know the real situation and begin to rebuild this great country. The real pain involved is a sad necessity but we must endure it in order to get well.
Stop engaging in "sound bite" politics and offer more substance. You must stop over reacting to all the critisms and be committed to your plans by allowing them to be implemented and then live with the results. You have a major advantage now in that your opposition seems only prepared to be totally negative and can only spew out the words; "tax cuts" as their only idea while offering no alternative plans of their own.
Stop making the suggestion that our economy will recover only through a return to spending without making the clear distinction that those in severe financial distress should not be part of that spending until and unless they get their financial houses back in order. For the majority of Americans (yes, it's still the majority) who are not in severe financial distress, the message should still call for prudent spending. I have no doubt that the economy will find its proper level and be successful if the spending is real and not falsely inflated by credit card debt and home equity loans that have driven our economy for far too long.

The popular campaign message of "YES WE CAN" needs to be changed to "YES WE WILL". This is, after all, America, and I still believe that "we the people" can and will overcome any obstacle, even the unnatural actions of too many of our fellow citizens that have refused to join in the effort.