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This morning, Larry Joe and I drove his '57 T Bird to Hempstead to be in the parade that opens the Waller County Fair. We took our place in line according to our assigned number-right behind the Waller County Republican Party's parade entry. We stopped to shake hands. "We are really mad at our party right now," said one. The others nodded their heads. "I say anybody but Cornyn. What a wimp, and Kay Bailey Hutchison is not much better. Don't get us started on President Bush." Behind them, their SUV was decorated with red, white and blue signs reading "lower taxes," "limited government," and other Republican slogans.
Holy Milton Friedman! I knew the Republicans were in trouble, but I did not know it was this bad. The great conservative experiment has failed utterly, and the grand theories lay dead on the ground beside these former true believers.
"What about Mike McCaul?" Larry Joe asked them. Said one man, "Oh, he sits on committees. He is always telling us about the committees he is on, but we ask, 'What have you done for us?' Nothing, that's what."
The collapse of the conservative movement leaves a huge opening for the Democrats to take control of the country, and mold progressive policies that will carry this country successfully through the challenges of the 21st Century. Do Democrats have the nerve to make the most of this opportunity? The first thing Democrats must do is demonstrate they are worthy of trust.
Yesterday, I caught on C-Span Steny Hoyer's electrifying speech to the National Press Club. He talked about fiscal responsibility with an energy and passion we have not heard in a long time. He discussed Democratic efforts to establish fiscal discipline in Congress, the upcoming battle with the president over spending bills, and long-term economic challenges facing the country. Getting control of spending is basic to implementing reforms such as health care, clean energy, and real protection against terrorism.
Right now, some Democrats want to join Republicans in a BRAC style commission to implement tax and entitlement reform. This is their way to get the tough job done, and duck the backlash:
September 26, 2007: Congressmen Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) today introduced legislation requiring Congress to address the nation's looming fiscal crisis before spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid bankrupts the federal government. The SAFE Commission Act of 2007, H.R. 3654, would require Congress to vote up-or-down on a plan to overhaul spending and revenue, as drafted by a 16-member, bipartisan commission made up of members and outside appointees of the legislative and executive branches.
http://www.cooper.ho...
Larry Joe Doherty supports fiscal solvency. He can ignore the lobbying by special interests and tax loophole grabbers. Larry Joe agrees with John Kerry, who said, "If we can't pay for it, we're not going to do it."
Back to our Republicans in Waller. "What would you do to solve our country's problems?" asked Larry Joe. "We need to put machine guns at the border, and kill Mexicans as they try to cross." came the answer. Holy Abraham Lincoln! The conservative movement is so dead.
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