Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Conrad Burns: Good Riddance
As I write this, neither national nor local (Montana) news observers are calling the outcome of the race for U.S. Senator in Montana. But Democrat John Tester has an 8% lead over Conrad Burns, with nearly 50% of the vote counted. Burns has lost, thank God. This thoroughly corrupt and disgusting buffoon is out, and will hopefully go back to Nebraska where he belongs. No more racist jokes, no more insults thrown at flight attendants, no more attacks (physical attacks) on exhausted firefighters, no more embarrassing pork stolen from taxpayers in the rest of the country…if, of course, Tester takes a lesson from Burns experience.
Hopefully, in general the Democrats will take a lesson from the disaster the Republicans have brought on the country and themselves…corruption, fiscal madness, wildly growing government, corruption, foreign policy quagmires, and more corruption. On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi has just promised the "most honest House ever," just what the Republicans promised when they took over some short few years ago. Pledges like this are the first sign of corruption -- the honest never waste breath proclaiming their future innocence: honesty is way of behaving, not a policy to announce. As the Onion puts it, the big winners in this election are the politicians. Nothing has changed the calculus that gives the politician the incentive to "give" the public benefits while deferring and hiding the costs. The Democrats won’t learn, and won’t prove to be better than the Republicans. But what they might contribute is a willingness to fight the Bush administration, hopefully bringing us gridlock and, unintentionally, a stop to the growth of government for a time.
Well, gridlock is good. If only it didn’t depend on George W. giving some sort of principled opposition to Democrat agenda, I’d be reassured. Well, if not that outcome, maybe the Democrats will spend all their time impeaching Bush. It’s not a sensible 2008 strategy for them, but it would be a good thing for the country – if only because it would keep the politicos at each other’s throats and away from ours.
Hopefully, in general the Democrats will take a lesson from the disaster the Republicans have brought on the country and themselves…corruption, fiscal madness, wildly growing government, corruption, foreign policy quagmires, and more corruption. On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi has just promised the "most honest House ever," just what the Republicans promised when they took over some short few years ago. Pledges like this are the first sign of corruption -- the honest never waste breath proclaiming their future innocence: honesty is way of behaving, not a policy to announce. As the Onion puts it, the big winners in this election are the politicians. Nothing has changed the calculus that gives the politician the incentive to "give" the public benefits while deferring and hiding the costs. The Democrats won’t learn, and won’t prove to be better than the Republicans. But what they might contribute is a willingness to fight the Bush administration, hopefully bringing us gridlock and, unintentionally, a stop to the growth of government for a time.
Well, gridlock is good. If only it didn’t depend on George W. giving some sort of principled opposition to Democrat agenda, I’d be reassured. Well, if not that outcome, maybe the Democrats will spend all their time impeaching Bush. It’s not a sensible 2008 strategy for them, but it would be a good thing for the country – if only because it would keep the politicos at each other’s throats and away from ours.
