[Rhodes22-list] Political: Reply to Dave about understanding what is not ...

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Hank,
 
I say again, if you actually read the article you posted, it’s about  
California and California politics, and as I recall the word liberal doesn’t  even 
appear.
 
I have actually lived in California, and I can attest that not all  Democrats 
in California are air head liberals.  
 

Ed, 
 
Again, regrettably, we disagree.  We agree there were conservative  
Democrats, but you say they no longer exist.   Let me offer an  existence proof: First, 
let me be clear, a conservative Democrat, to me, means a  responsible adult 
affiliated with the Democratic Party.  Are there  currently responsible adults 
openly affiliated with the Democratic Party?   Well, how about Warren E 
Buffet, does he count?  Quite apart from the  billions he has amassed, and the 
multitude of companies he owns or  controls,  Mr Buffet was asked by Schwarznegger 
to assist with the Calif  budget debacle - I’d call Buffet a responsible 
adult, and a Democrat.  How  about Robert Rubin, who was a responsible and 
accomplished Secy of the Treasury  for Clinton?  Compare the parade of Treasury 
Secretaries  that Mr Bush  has had against the performance of Mr Rubin - it’s not 
close, Rubin made it  work, the other's haven't.  Maybe George Soros - who has 
amassed a few more  billion $, and a few more businesses, than you or I could 
be counted as a  responsible adult.  The list goes on, but the 3 examples above 
are clearly  and openly affiliated with the Democratic party.  The air heads 
get the  press, but there are a lot of responsible (i.e. conservative) 
Democrats that  have accomplished much more than you or I.  Moreover, I suspect they  
understand the distinction between  “new conservative" Republicans and the  
air-head liberals of yore is a distinction without a difference.   Conservative 
Democrats, as I’ve defined the term, exist today.
 
As for the Libertarians, I  looked at their material some time  ago.  It 
appeared to me that the Libertarians and the “new conservative"  Republicans both 
believe that the solution for everything from the West Nile  Virus, to defense 
spending is that magic phrase “tax cut”.  They are going  to cut your taxes, 
it feels good and, it appeals to the greed in all of  us.  But exactly what 
is the program, exactly how are they going to reduce  the government?  Well, 
that's to be determined, isn't  it.  
 
I regard Libertarians advocating reduced government and tax cuts, just as I  
regard “new conservative" Republicans advocating reduced government and tax 
cuts  - with great skepticism.  Show me the reduced government spending - show 
me  the savings - and then we’ll talk about the tax cuts. And before we can 
talk  about any future tax cuts, we need a huge amount of cost savings to support 
tax  cuts that were passed as far back as Reagan.  The path followed by “new  
conservative" Republicans since Reagan has been to just have tax cuts with no 
 cost savings - we have the debt to prove that claim.  Now the “new  
conservative" Republican  crowd has been found out and blame is coming home  to roost, 
so they are going to repackage themselves as Libertarians.  It’s  the same 
lame game.
 
You could do a lot worse than trusting the judgement of people like Warren  
Buffet, Robert Rubin, and George Soros - and even Al Gore.  
 
As for "the truth keeping us free", the truth is that we are in hock  up far 
above our necks as the result of the "new conservative" fiscal  follies 
(remember Cheney saying "taxes don't matter") and none of the ways  out of this mess 
are free.  The new Treasury Secy, Paulson, is widely  expected to "manage" a 
devaluation of the dollar.  You will quickly  appreciate how "free" a solution 
that is on your next trip abroad.   Perhaps even sooner, you will appreciate 
that "free" solution as the  effects of a devalued dollar ripple through the 
economy via inflation. The truth  is that the current Administration has been a 
continuing fiscal disaster of  historic proportions.  A second truth is the 
program promised by the  Libertarians is exactly the same program that was 
promised by the "new  conservative" Republicans years ago, and unless they 
explicitly identify a  coherent program and cost savings, it's likely the same bag of 
gas the "new  conservative" Republican promise was.
 
JMO.
 
Dave