How's John Boehner doing so far? I know, we're not even at the three month point, but I think it's not too early to ask. Are you happy with what he's done so far as Speaker?
Mr. Bernstein, As someone who considers himself a conservative, but concedes that the current conservative power would disagree, I am asking if there will be a question for the rest of us? But to answer your question, as much as I would like to say no, in reality he has done a decent job of keeping the far right and the tea party at bay. It is, and in my opinion always has been, a difficult task for an political operator to lead a politically idealistic caucus.
While the debt issue is important, and the Republican party has a lot of rhetoric about society’s responsibility to our grandchildren, what is disappointing, and in my opinion as a citizen irresponsible, is the complete lack of discussion pertaining to the issues that need to be resolved in order for there to be anything for left for our grandchildren.
I don't necessarily believe that the Democrats are trying to engage in these issues either. Collective Bargaining, Debt Reduction, Public Employee Pensions, and access to the current Health Care System are all important issues. Yet, they don't touch on the fact that we have so many people unemployed and no indication that the situation will change. If we do hear an elected official talk about unemployment it is usually in the realm of "jobs" and some policy (often tax cuts) meant to induce potential employers to hire. We could be addressing the structural changes necessary to prosper in a "post industrial" society. For all of the talk of how bad uncertainty is for corporations, it is worse for individuals who could be successful freelancing and project job hopping if there weren’t so many hurdles inherent in our Tax and Health Care systems.
So as speaker, Congressman Boehner is doing a decent job at managing his caucus, but as a party, the Conservatives are totally avoiding the real issues, but then again so are the Liberals.
Mr. Bernstein,
ReplyDeleteAs someone who considers himself a conservative, but concedes that the current conservative power would disagree, I am asking if there will be a question for the rest of us? But to answer your question, as much as I would like to say no, in reality he has done a decent job of keeping the far right and the tea party at bay. It is, and in my opinion always has been, a difficult task for an political operator to lead a politically idealistic caucus.
While the debt issue is important, and the Republican party has a lot of rhetoric about society’s responsibility to our grandchildren, what is disappointing, and in my opinion as a citizen irresponsible, is the complete lack of discussion pertaining to the issues that need to be resolved in order for there to be anything for left for our grandchildren.
I don't necessarily believe that the Democrats are trying to engage in these issues either. Collective Bargaining, Debt Reduction, Public Employee Pensions, and access to the current Health Care System are all important issues. Yet, they don't touch on the fact that we have so many people unemployed and no indication that the situation will change. If we do hear an elected official talk about unemployment it is usually in the realm of "jobs" and some policy (often tax cuts) meant to induce potential employers to hire. We could be addressing the structural changes necessary to prosper in a "post industrial" society. For all of the talk of how bad uncertainty is for corporations, it is worse for individuals who could be successful freelancing and project job hopping if there weren’t so many hurdles inherent in our Tax and Health Care systems.
So as speaker, Congressman Boehner is doing a decent job at managing his caucus, but as a party, the Conservatives are totally avoiding the real issues, but then again so are the Liberals.
Hmmm... I have to agree. I would like jobs to be first and foremost. But it isn't.
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