In
Manhattan Beach, a
dead pig wearing a Mitt Romney T-Shirt was dumped near
the Manhattan Beach Republican Party headquarters. I have heard of wasted pork,
but this just takes the barbecue all the way.
When
will we put an end to the inter-party bickering which is eating away at this
state? If this is the kind of degrading folly we have to look forward to, no
wonder more people are no longer voting with their ballots. Instead, they are
voting with their feet and moving to other states. Great for Arizona, Nevada,
and Oregon, but not for those of us who still love the South Bay sunshine, who
are still waiting for the silver lining to sliver through.
Barack
Obama won reelection, but the partisan divide of this country is sharper and
slimmer, not any better. How do we stop the spending when so many people are
depending on entitlements, for better or for worse, whether they paid into the
entitlement programs or they merely feel entitled to them? What do we say about
our national political culture if a few stray comments about the rights of the
unborn and a devastating superstorm can so shake our sensibilities that we
neglect to consider the consequences of our electoral choices? Moment-minute
media has had a momentous impact on our elections. Are we willing to live with
our votes two, four, or six years down the road?
The
Republican Party needs to reach out and step back. Not “Middle of the Road” but
“more consistent”: if we really prize individual liberty, let us protect
individual liberty body and soul. A scary, shaken world mocks at liberty
without providing security. Pro-choice is pro-life, in that women who are
victimized once should not be victims again of cruel laws. What happens between
two consenting adults which does not pick my pocket or break my bone should be
off-limits from legal sanction. It is immoral to incarcerate individuals who
use controlled substances.
Where
there is no redemption, there is no risk-taking, there is no stepping out into
individual liberty. Let us recognize, let us appreciate that people feel off
course. One cannot rest on the mere assumptions that one should say to the
down-and-out members of our communities, or to our nation, “Limit Government!”
without providing a proper means for “expanding opportunities.” Still no plans
for a voucher program, still no prosperous considerations for letting parents
choose where they send their students to school. “Welfare to Work” is what we
need, not “you’re on your own!” with nothing to own.
At
Hesse Park during the Bloomfield/Waxman debates, one voter questioned the
religious integrity of certain voters because they supported Obama. Is such
finger-pointing necessary? Two Democratic voters I spoke with in Palos Verdes
told me: “We like to help people.” Promoting economic prosperity through
limited government and local control helps people. “Big Government” out of city
hall, not Sacramento or the National Mall, does more good because the voters
can keep a better lock on the spending.
One
thing is for sure: people on the left and the right feel rightly aggrieved
about the “Naughts” (01’ – ’09) which left us with “Not Much,” yet President
Obama’s presidency has not pressed us past the partisan divides and grinding
gridlock. We can yell and scream about the Bush years, but why waste our
precious time on yesterday? This goes for the Republicans as well as the
Democrats.
(Memo
to Republican headquarters throughout Los Angeles County: If you have cardboard
cut-outs of George W. Bush, wrap them up in barbed wire and throw them in the
trash.)
Unlike
the “No Labels” constituencies, or the liberal establishment, or
supermajorities left and right, our federal government is merely doing what “We
the People” have been sending there and telling them: we want change, but we do
not want to change. We want to cut the spending, but not our spending.
A
pig is petty way of making a point, and in a way, the political class is still
carving up the same dead-on-arrival ideas. A dead pig is just as dead as the
long-standing arguments for voting against someone as opposed to voting for
something better.
Why
not advance this argument: everyone takes a hit, and then we receive the grace
to make the most of the space we have now? Canada
climbed out of the 1990’s with
roaring recovery when a liberal government cut spending. The
Governor of Puerto Rico cut state spending the
way one rips a bandage off a recovering patient – really fast. It will sting,
but the long-term healing will make up for it. Wisconsin
instituted budget reforms which helped cities
throughout the Dairy State save millions.
Someone
can make these arguments without spending a lot of money to do it. We do not
need a wealth of advertising; we need a wealth of ideas that will tell us the
truth without insulting our intelligence, which will institute the short-term
hurt with long-term health to follow.
And
let’s leave the poor pigs alone. At least they do not feed off the public
trough!