Repairing Humpty-Dumpty

03/05/2006

Paul Munnis

We are trained to look not only at what is, but also to use our imagination to envision what could be. There is no doubt that most Americans looking at the performance of our government are seeing a mess and there is now broad consensus on that point and yet when I look down the road I can see some very interesting possibilities. Indeed I can see candles being lit that illuminate the darkness.

The first thing that I am seeing is a DNC that is not satisfied with short-term gains in politics. They are going for full disclosure in government and that may take some time but when it is finished the money changers will be out of the temple and the underlying credo of destroying America nad its institutions will be fully addressed. The GOP will be out of office for another 30 years and new ethical and moral performance standards will be in place.

The second thing that I am seeing is that the neo-con penchant for “divide and conquer” is splintering the GOP and driving away those who disagree with them. The result is a party in rapid decline. The neo-cons have now eaten enough of their children that they no longer have a mandate to govern. Thus regime change is now inevitable.

Another thing that I am finding is that those driven out of the GOP are often landing in the Democratic camp and finding that they are welcomed with open arms. They are not administered a litmus test to see if they are true believers, their opinions are warmly welcomed, their insight on key issues is sought, and as one candidate for Democratic office puts it (a former GOP Moderate) “A good idea is a good idea—period. ”

As a result of the new alignments I see that the Moderates are tempering the Democratic extreme left and feel that a new Party ethos is emerging that is more American-centric. I sense bi-partisanship building and I can see it in the efforts of many and can also see the threats to bi-partisanship from the efforts of a few. I forecast that the bad apples will be tossed out of the barrel in 2006 and 2008 elections and that bi-partisanship will be restored and with new enthusiasm for consensus building. 

The Bush failure at fixing Social Security and Medicare is understandable and will be fixed another way – in part by instituting Universal Healthcare (UHC) for all Americans. We Democrats are now adamant about that objective. When fully instituted UHC will bring Medicaid, Medicare, Veterans Healthcare, and other state and Federal health programs, under one umbrella eliminating redundancy and waste. A method of paying for this will be instituted and it will not damage the American standard of living. Many methods are available for payment and will be discussed in due time for the 2008 election cycle while doing so right now just plays into the hands of the neo-cons. Let the neo-cons keep pushing their failed programs.

I think that we can fix the deficit mess too once we clean out the Bush Administration. It will require several things including managing cash-flow for the out years, the use of progressive taxation principles, and eliminating prior pork-barrel fund payments. Asking corporations to pay their fair share of taxes once again and reallocation of budget priorities are also things that can be done to rapidly set our fiscal house back in order. Investors have not given up on America and Americans citizens should not give up either. America still has a major future after Bush.

We can take stock of our strategic assets and place good security over them. We can also determine all of our strategic assets and create both domestic and foreign policy that is in alignment with the best strategic interests of America. We can make it clear that the era of government corruption has ended and make efforts to recover much of the raided treasury. We can make sure we mind our own business in foreign affairs and that does not mean isolating America but it does mean sticking with our strategic priorities.

We can secure our borders and we can stop the flow of drugs to America from abroad and we can pass a rational immigration program. We can work with Mexico to assure their people don’t have to leave home, family, and relatives in order to have a good future for themselves and their children. Once we get well along on such a program much pressure will come off our southern border. It is in our strategic interest to have neigbors that are comfortable and well-off.

We can realign ourselves with our roots in Europe and Asia and we can make new friends. We can create jobs for our people that are good jobs even as we fix our American Education system which is totally repairable especially as our teachers retire, as teacher shortages develop and when ideas such as the use of distance learning become nationally employed in order to leverage our educational assets.

All this is within our reach once we get regime change. A ground-swell for such change is rising and every reader of this editorial knows it.

So while Americans and Democrats are sickened by what they see with the poor performance of the Bushies there is no need for us to despair as a people. What one man has trashed others can repair and even improve upon.

Humpty-Dumpty can be put back together again. It can be good work and fun too.