Containing Multitudes

[kandrathe]

When Clinton was President and Republicans took over Congress, they played the role of obstructionists and our government literally did nothing except maintain the status quo for months at a time (even having no approved budget for the current fiscal year at one point). That was fiscal conservatism in a literal sense, and the country seemed to thrive for it.

I think to some (me included -- depending on the issue), stalemate is preferable to any motion in the wrong direction. Last time I checked, the federal budget is still unbalanced, debt is soaring, Social Security is still on the road to bankruptcy, our borders are still as porous as cheese cloth, and the military is about 1/2 to 1/3 the size it really needs to be to adequately protect the free worlds democracies. We have failed or are losing on all the pseudo "feel-good" wars; the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on illiteracy, and soon enough now the war on terror. There is plenty to do, just no one is willing to work on it lest they commit political suicide. I would suggest some day we should just skip the politicians and just get some good citizens in their to make some good decisions and get the job done.