A LIBERAL VIEW OF THINGS: An embarrassment in governing

It finally happened. Our federal government managed to avoid destroying the country — for now. They tried mightily to ruin more than 200 years of statesmanship, debate, compromise, traditions and civil discourse.

They failed in that task, as well as the one that resulted in another stinking temporary solution to a permanent problem: unfair distribution of wealth. How corporate/banking America got away with no change in their financial obligations to the betterment of the country can be only explained by who voted in their favor.

From a citizen’s point of view — and by “citizen” I mean those of us not in the top 1 percent to 2 percent of wealthy people — the bad guys won again. Worse, the newly elected members to the House of Representatives — the tea party caucus — covered themselves with shame by displaying their self-serving ignorance for all to see without a whit of embarrassment.

I know some tea party people in this community, and some are quite embarrassed, too. Others dance about as if they had actually won something.

The winners are the rich and corporate/banking America. The losers are everybody else. There will be no deficit reduction until at least 2012 no matter what the bill says. We will continue to hemorrhage cash and jobs to other countries as those unaffected by the bill attempt to beat the coming storm of real tax and loophole reform after the next election cycle. I’m not very good at predicting things, but see if we don’t end up repeating 1937.

In 1937, after almost four years of economic growth from the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democrats lost their nerve and succumbed to the Republican tenet to reduce government spending. The result was a return to the depths of economic depression, known affectionately as the double dip. With job creation at a standstill, two wars on credit and no new revenues for the government plus no reduction in social services except education, I predict a second visit down this road of double-dipping. I hope I’m wrong.

I also hope we the people have finally learned our lesson: We simply have to do something about the election process.  The jokes going around my email world talk about how we just witnessed the second (some say third) string operating our government. Who can honestly say otherwise? The appallingly embarrassing experience of John Boehner and the House Republicans covered everyone with mud of a particular type. After Boehner actually exhibited statesmanship and worked toward compromise with the Democrats and President Barack Obama, the tea party extremists in Congress refused to provide the votes for a balanced approach to attacking the deficit. Instead, they added a wish for a balanced-budget amendment. Really? We Texans have seen how well that works: We have the largest budget deficit of any state except California. Brilliant.

Feeling sorry for any Republican doesn’t come easy for me, but Boehner didn’t deserve this from members of his own party. Then again, in a burst of political desperation, the Republican Party rushed to embrace the tea party to gain votes and seats in Congress. “Be careful what you ask for” must be ringing in Boehner’s ears as he tees it up in Ohio.

While I’m at it, our president and the Democrats did a pretty lousy job of standing up for their constituents. They also covered themselves with ignominy by caving in, i.e., paying the hostage-takers. By allowing the Republicans to attach the debt-ceiling debate to the deficit-reduction plans, they helped blow up the process that could have produced something the common citizen would have seen as fair, just, intelligent and far-sighted. Instead we got this … thing.

In a column I wrote after the health-care bill was passed, I alluded to the Democrats negotiating with themselves. This time they showed how poor they are at standing by their own principles. Our politics no longer are actions of statesmanship or reason or compromise. Our politics are all about power and how it is used. In this instance, the power of the presidency has been wasted and the second team committed a grievous error.

Is it any wonder the rest of the world is embarrassed for us that we govern so badly? This is the worst performance by any government of mine in my lifetime.

Turner is a retired teacher and industrial engineer who lives near Marble Falls. He is an independent columnist, not a staff member, and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Tribune or its parent company. "The Voter’s Guide to National Salvation" is a newly published e-book from Turner. You can find it at www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks. He can be reached by email at vtgolf@zeecon.com.