Today, our country faces challenges on multiple fronts. The economy is not generating enough quality jobs. Our debt is massive, with a mounting deficit. Health and retirement costs are expanding exponentially. Our schools are failing. We are not utilizing our vast energy resources. We are spending blood and treasure on two ten-year wars. We want a clean environment, but we are wasting trillions on what amounts to a blind green religion, and the failure to utilize our vast resources.
Politically, we are snarling at each other. Not since the Revolutionary War, and then the Civil War, have we been so divided. We are at each other’s throats in a battle of lying demagogues on the left, and economically unsophisticated demagogues on the right.
Each Side is a Little Bit Correct
The left is spot on with regard for the need for growth, about which the right is clueless. But, the left seeks growth by confiscating wealth instead of reforming entitlements to pay for the growth.
The right is correct in that we need to cut spending, but they are buffoons in insisting that the cuts be immediate and drastic, and they are ignorant of concepts like the debt ceiling. They also spout unhelpful mantras like “Keynesian spending never works,” and “raising taxes never helps.”
We Ought Never say “Never.”
Ban all mantras and platitudes! We ought to be sophisticated empiricists, not platitude speaking robots.
The Truth is, Sudden Worldwide Contraction Will Cause a Depression
Yet the mania for immediate drastic cost cutting is doing exactly that. And, surprise surprise, we will get what we ordered, lower growth, stocks crashing, real estate remaining depressed, higher interest, a challenged dollar, and high unemployment.
There is a Third Way
Enact a real stimulus now. Pay for it with entitlement reform. Cut costs in the medium and long term.
This way, we can cut spending while at the same time stimulating the economy.
How do we stimulate?
With infrastructure, a massive program. And, we must assure it’s not an “Obama” stimulus, meaning unions, cronies, and government jobs. It should be pure private industry construction, with open bidding.
The Wisdom of the Common Man (Not!)
The current myth of the Republican Party is that the common man is wise and will decide accurately what is best for the country. As far as voting goes, the American people do deserve the right to elect whomever they want. They also have the right to influence their representatives to enact policies they desire. However, there is a reason we formed a republic and not a democracy.
As a former stockbroker, I know the public always gets the market highs and lows wrong. They swarm to buy the highs, and scramble in fear to sell the lows. The common man was behind or at least beside the ignoramuses who don't understand the debt ceiling, and caused our first credit downgrade in history. Many of our common men support the loon, Ron Paul. The common man is not a genius.
We need geniuses running the country, not bumpkins like Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, or Sarah Palin. We need people with economic sophistication, who know that the debt ceiling must always be raised if it is reached, and without a show battle between idiots. We need economic brilliance to know when we do need to raise taxes, and when to lower them. When to stimulate and when not. We do not need people in office taking No Tax pledges or vowing never to raise revenues.
We also do not need people who believe the government is an unending font of spending. We don't need class warfare, against the rich, or the poor.
Can America Still Enact Big Ideas?
In addition to utilizing intelligent sophistication, conservatives ought not give up on big ideas. Going to the moon, building our national superhighway system, the Hoover Dam, and in the future, things like high-speed rail, these kinds of programs require government support. If we reform entitlements, we can afford some of these programs, assuming we have the national will. Being conservative ought to mean American excellence, in every area, not retreating to the Amish farm (forgive me you wonderful Amish).
Do We Need to be Cruel?
The current right says no to unemployment insurance. Some of them even advocate dismantling Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security Benefits. The left is not exaggerating when they say Republicans want to throw Granny off a cliff. Republicans are wrong in saying that charity can take care of all the poor’s needs. Nonsense. Charities usually do not pay rent, phone calls and other necessities for people to get jobs.
The Best of Both Worlds!
is an economic stimulus costing nothing, with medium and long term cuts in spending. We can cut costs and reduce the deficit, while maintaining a humane social safety net, including things like unemployment compensation.
Instead of taking sides and screaming at each other “libtard” or “Tea bagger”, we need to focus on the issues and what might work. We then need to try these ideas and see what results we get, adjusting along the way. This means we must escape a bit from our ideologies and become also empiricists. Sometimes, Keynesian spending does work (WWII), and other times cost cutting is right (welfare reform under Clinton).
Other Issues
We think this economic policy using concepts that work in reality is a model for policies on other matters.
Let’s address one more issue with this approach. As Sun Tzu says, protracted wars are never wise. With both Iraq and Afghanistan, we ought to have fought harder, abandoning political correctness, and got out quickly when our goals were met. We could have accelerated the war in Iraq if we had pursued a Surge strategy early in the war, and in Afghanistan we should have defined our goal as the expulsion of Al Qaeda, and then got out when we met that goal.
The Third Way
There is the Right, and the Left, but we believe a better approach is The Third Way.
We are on a mission from God!
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