Deficit Failures and Primary Concerns

I want to demand that the government deficit super-committee members show us the actual proposals they made during the past three months of failed negotiations.

I see a lot of finger pointing, with different factions making claims about what the other side proposed or rejected. However, we are not permitted to see what these politicians were actually willing to do to us.

In the absence of information, this means that the vast majority of us will make our judgments based on our partisan prejudices.

A Democrat will say that the blame belongs to Republicans for refusing to tax and to seeking to preserve the estates of the very wealthy (who control over half if the political power precisely because they control over half if the money used to buy it).

The Republicans will say that the blame belongs to Democrats' insistence on taking other people's money and treating it as their own.

One absurd claim being made on the Republican side is to blame President Obama for his "lack of leadership".

It's a political year. We can expect this type of political rhetoric simply because we can expect politicians to behave in a contemptible manner.

On this suggestion my reaction was, "You immature little children. You are supposed to be mature adults. Don't go bawling because Papa Obama wasn't there to hold your hand during these negotiations. This was your job. There is no fault in expecting you do it."

Of course, we can't know what any of these people (and I use the term loosely) were trying to do to us unless we can see the proposals. The arrangements for the super-committee made it easy for the members to shove all sorts if unpleasantness down our collective throats - a straight up-or-down vote with majority rules and no amendments permitted. It would be interesting to see just what each side was hoping to get away with.

But we are not going to see them.

We will not see them precisely because the politicians are manipulating us into a position were we will use those political prejudices to their advantage. Each of us will tell ourselves, "It's not the fault of the people I voted for. It's somebody else's fault". Republican politicians know that Republican voters in regions dominated by Republicans will blame the Democrats and re-elect the Republican candidate. Democratic politicians know that Democratic voters will blame the Republicans and re-elect the Democratic candidate. The incombents will face no fall-out for their failure. So, why succeed when failure is just as rewarding?

The incumbents get re-elected, regardless of the failure. Which is all that really mattered anyway.

This tells us that the system truly is broken. As much as we may want to say that the Founding Fathers were geniuses who set up this wonderful system of checks and balances that allows the government to work without anybody getting too much power, it doesn't work.

It works when it is occupied by people willing to accept checks and balances and are willing to work with others to come to a common agreement. But, when a system of checks and balances is filled with "My way or the high way" politicians, the effect is deadlock.

Who do I blame?

I blame anybody who is unwilling to compromise. I blame any Republican who announces that he or she will not raise taxes. I blame any Democrat who say that social security and Medicaid are not to be touched no matter what. I credit any Republican who announces, "I will accept the following tax increases as a part of the overall package." Or any Democrat who says, "If we are honest, we must admit that the following changes in entitlement programs are vital to the financial security of the country."

Everybody else is a waste of biological mass and needs to be thrown out.

The primaries come sooner than the general election. There is still an opportunity to get better candidates within each party on the ballot in November – where voting the bums out does not require voting another party in.