Crisis in the Federal Courts

Another example of the effect of irresponsible, intransigent ideological posturing now substituting for rational governance in Congress. They ignore their oaths and placate uneducated minorities while driven by self-aggrandizement or sitting in cowardly obstructionism.  We would do well with our own "American Spring" movement. 

"The nation’s independent federal court system, though hardly perfect, is central to American democracy and the rule of law. Its current crisis was created by Washington politicians, and Washington politicians hold the power to solve it. The letter from the judges asks that Congress approve the $496 million increase in funding for the judiciary recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee even if a continuing budget resolution is enacted this fall keeping government spending at its current level.

That would be the reasonable thing to do, even though reason is in short supply in today’s Washington."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/opinion/federal-courts-in-crisis.html?_r=0

A Rush to Judgment

The U. S. Attorney General has requested and, accordingly, will probably see an early decision by the United States Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Conservative challengers to its constitutionality have been pressing the issue as well for an early decision by the Court.

A decision prior to the election by the Supreme Court upholding the Law would place the issue of repeal squarely at the top of the Republican 2012 election agenda. Given the almost total misunderstanding of the American people about the law and the lack of time for education, the Republicans may well achieve their goal of winning in 2012.

On the other hand, a decision of the Supreme Court in the Spring of 2012 holding the law or a critical element of the law unconstitutional would be a benefit to the President. He could then face the electorate honestly claiming to have tried to better their lives albeit with a slightly inappropriate approach and promise to correct the effort.

I assume therefore that the administration expects or at least hopes for a holding of unconstitutionality.

In any event, the fact that the Republicans orchestrated and acceded to the lies and distortions at the core of America's lack of faith in the law will not help the President. The fact that the Republican administration of George Bush created the breeding fields for those who nearly destroyed our economy will not help the President. The facts that Republicans in Congress purposely both created major delays and built legislative impasses to economic recovery will not help the President.

Why not? Because there are too many American people who are too easily manipulated, disinterested in learning facts about important issues, selfish and self-centered, disorganized, short-memoried and lacking the deep pockets of Republican backers interested only in maintaining existing financial/economic paradigms without oversight.

You See Surrender. I See Necessity.

A friend presents two articles in which he finds "subdued towel-tossing" on the left. I suggest that he continues to see only what you wants to see.

I respond: The "Obama captained ship," you surely must recognize, has a crucial portion of its crew, over which the "captain" has no control, intent on insuring that the ship makes no progress.

Your labeling of an "embedded towel-signal" in a Friedman note that lambastes the Republican intransigence is merely a recognition of a personal crying towel for one disappointed writer of opinion. Friedman is obviously disappointed with the President's strategy not aligning with what he had "argued [was] the only way for Obama to expose just how radical the G.O.P. has become....." (my emphasis). While defending his proffered tactic Friedman firmly reasserts his belief in the substance of the President's stance on issues. "[W]e cannot just be about cutting. We also need to be investing in the sources of our greatness: infrastructure, education, immigration and government-funded research. Real conservatives would understand thatt you cannot just shred the New Deal social safety nets, which are precisely what enable the public to tolerate freewheeling capitalism, with its brutal ups and downs." So, despite his tactic not being employed as he would like it he keeps the faith. "My fading hope is that this is Obama’s opening bid and enough Republicans will come to their senses and engage him again in a Grand Bargain. My fear is that both parties have just started their 2012 campaigns." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/opinion/friedman-are-we-going-to-roll-up-our-sleeves-or-limp-on.html?src=me&ref=general

And while Friedman acknowledges the validity of the President's proposals for "jobs," Brooks tearfully finds it "a campaign marker, not a jobs bill." Again, my friend, you see what you want in reading this as "subdued towel-tossing." Brooks decries the tactics or "governing style," as he puts it , and not the substance of the President's policies. "The White House has clearly decided that in a town of intransigent Republicans and mean ideologues, it has to be mean and intransigent too.... So the White House has moved away from the Reasonable Man approach or the centrist Clinton approach....The White House has decided to wage the campaign as fighting liberals. I guess I understand the choice, but I still believe in the governing style Obama talked about in 2008. I may be the last one." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/opinion/brooks-obama-rejects-obamaism.html?src=me&ref=general

He is not. Brooks believes in what the President would be if there existed a political arena in which there could be a true contest of ideas and issues. I do as well. Brooks wants, as most intellectually engaged willing to subdue ideology, a grand solution that will be embraced joyously by a waiting populace. It ain't going to happen. Even in the best of political worlds such a construct would and should require congressional deliberation toward consensus.

But, what alternatives are available with a Congress intransigent on the most rational solutions to just keep the government functioning to protect its citizens. In this crucible, only surrender or confrontation will engage the masses. If our nation was composed of citizens who were all educated and engaged in the important issues of our time such as "serious tax reform and entitlement reform," rational political discourse could result in decisions for the common good. The engaged citizenry today are a combination of those unemployed and struggling, those wanting a Leviathan premised on faith and doctrine, the established holders and direct beneficiaries of capital, and assorted special interest (conservative and progressive) groups. Neither individually nor collectively do they speak for or represent the majority of citizens. Most will not comprehend (look at medical reform) nor react politically to an ultimate solution that necessarily will project events well into and beyond their personal future.

The greater number of citizens, unfortunately, will engage politically as they do socially with a discourse of confrontation on simple issues easily understood and fostered. The Right having recognized this has engaged a defined "ideology" as boogieman: "socialism." The Right has selectively challenged segments of the working class to eliminate unions. The Right has skirmished on the brink of a Class War. "The White House" seeks to survive and continue. Regrettably, the Right has chosen the battlefield on low ground. Attempts by the White House and moderate/rational Republicans to maneuver off this ground have failed so the "silent majority" must be recruited and the "engaged" engaged where they are found.

U.S. Sovereign Credit Downgrade

Standard & Poors (S&P) has downgraded the US "long term sovereign credit rating" to AA+; t,he first downgrade in United States history. Now, one may challenge the capacity of S&P to render any valid judgment given their part in the last economic debacle or challenge on the numbers. As I expressed earlier, the perception and reality of the rhetoric from the Republican Right, which created the unnecessary fight over the debt ceiling, built a debt "situation" into political stagnation and economic chaos. Banks, businesses (small and large), pensioners, foreign markets, citizens (red and blue) and our own ratings agencies became the Henny Pennys, and Goosey Loosies, taking in the T-bag carrying Chicken Little rants that the "sky was falling" on the United States. Again, we, the mere farm animals, had better wake up before Foxey Loxey (A Bachman, Perry, Palin, Cain, or ....) takes control.

S&P says "too little, too late" in the budget agreement numbers but the broader fundamental issue as stated by S&P is that:

"More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness,
stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political
institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic
challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a
negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.


Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the
gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us
pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be
able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal
consolidation plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics any
time soon."

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563

I say again that the Republican Party, as presently constituted and directed, is a greater threat to our democracy and constitutional structure than the Communist Party of the United States" ever attained.

Stupidity Agenda: FAA

Having observed the FAA failing to balance the dual and contradictory missions (promoting success of US air carriers/insuring public safety) Congress has imposed, I find it incredible that this is the field chosen for the next confrontation. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/us/03faa.html?pagewanted=1&hp “We are going to lose $1 billion in the aviation trust fund if we leave this Congress for the month of August and we don’t extend the F.A.A.”

Other news reports refer to stoppage of ongoing airport construction (jobs!) and "you betcha" if there is less inspection there will be safety problems in an industry rampant with economic shortcuts. One Department of Transportation (oversight of FAA) executive said to me a few years ago during a discussion of a national problem of defective aircraft replacement parts on commercial aircraft: "I never fly if I can avoid it." This may be the real explanation for tax breaks for corporate/executive jets!

If you have flown during this imposed break you may be entitled to a return of the amount paid for the federal tax. Could this be the Democrat's way of extending another stimulus giveaway? Or, is it a Republican ideological, gangster tactic? I know but am not saying.

Republicans! Wake Up!

As an Independent in Rep. Cantor's District and once supporter of the McCain/Palin ticket, I have been sickened and repulsed by the rhetoric on the Right and the tactics of the Republican Party since President Obama took office. Rep. Cantor, for his own political ambition and obviously generated by a flawed personality, has helped the Republican Party lead this Nation to a precipice over economic chaos.

It is particularly disheartening to read comment from those identifying themselves as Republicans expressing obvious ignorance of the facts at issue regarding the debt ceiling. This is not to say that Democrats on particular issues do not likewise follow blindly the Party line at times. But this issue is enormously important to our country and the world economic situation. The Republican Party repeating, over and over, no matter the context, question or opportunity, the same phrase "job creators," for example, or other "speaking point du jour" while deliberately avoiding accurately educating their constituents borders on reckless endangerment. Those new in Congress after pledging T-Party rhetoric, particularly had an obligation to educate themselves (they have not) and to honestly inform their constituents of the facts. That IS their responsibility in a representative democracy. That is Rep. Cantor's responsibility. There are issues for reasoned debate with the Democrats. Wake up Republicans. Or are you too scared, busy, blindly loyal, selfish or indifferent to learn the truth. If so, check your citizenship at the club door.

The Debt Debacle

Republican intransigence on the issue of the debt ceiling is a national disgrace, severally stifling our economic recovery, creating instability in our international standing, and risking a dangerous level of economic chaos. The Republican refusal to moderate the supposedly "ideological" extreme is a substantial move toward increased wealth inequality, stabilization of an existing oligarchy and stagnation of economic and social progress. Their America is purely an economic unit wholly distinct from the ideals fundamental to our experiment as the first nation founded on moral principles.