Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
From his Facebook status last week:
While you’re wasting time trying to come up with the 100% perfect plan, the enemy is probably going to kick your butt. Keep your eye on the path to victory. If you can come up with the 70-75% plan and execute it well, you can win.
Think how far Obama has been dragged since his first budget in February. Think how hard it is to turn the country around, and then remember that Republicans only control 1/3 of the federal government -- well, 1/3 of the federal power structure; entrenched, mostly Democratic, bureaucrats control everything below that tippy top.
This is the end of Act One. Act Two is getting the Senate back. Act Three is getting the White House back.
But in the meantime, what we know is that it's going to be hard -- very hard, harder than working with liberal Democrats -- to get the majority of the country to agree that we need to spend less, keep taxes low, and trim back the voracious entitlement state.
Not easy. But I'm happy to have Allen West on the same side.
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Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
70%? Isn't that the last passing grade on a test?
How about I tell my football team to go out on Sunday and attain 70% of their goals?
If West thinks we got 70% out of the deal, he can't count anyway.
Nov '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Act Four is to turn the courts around. Given Acts One-Three, this will take a cpl decades.
Act Five is to turn the bureaucracy around. Given Acts One-Four, this will take several decades.
Good luck!
Edited on August 1, 2011 at 8:03pmFeb '11
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Ok, we got dollar for dollar cap increase to spending cuts - except that the cap increase comes immediately while the spending increase cuts may materialize over the next decade. The Democrats got an immediate debt limit increase, a peskily damaging issue off the table until after the 2012 election, and a burnished reputation as moderate compromisers. I don't see how Republicans got 70% on this deal.
Jan '11
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Back in my clinical medicine days, there used to be a race to normalize blood sugars as quickly as possible in critically ill diabetics. Turns out that wasn't the best thing for them - if they had slowly got into their situation, it was best to get them back to homeostasis more gently, because their bodies had compensated to their abnormal state. It's a long winded way of saying that this financial mess has developed over many years - and balancing a budget today would be catastrophic, not just politically but also "in real life". If the freshmen Tea Partiers can take a longer view, they can get incremental gains that will be significant. Right now they look egotistical and arrogant - yeah, like Democrats. Stand down, keep quiet, be happy - or you'll lose the support of moderates like me. And - again - Bachmann is done. Her candidacy is finished due to her behavior and statements
May '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Put this on the Steyn-way and play it - From Mark's Sunday column:
"As Arthur Herman of the American Enterprise Institute pointed out this week, under present rules, if the government were to announce a spending freeze – that's to say, no increases, no cuts, everything just stays exactly the same – the Congressional Budget Office would score it as a $9 trillion savings. In real-world terms, there are no "savings," and there's certainly no $9 trillion. In fact, there isn't one thin dime. But nevertheless that's how it would be measured at the CBO."
That's because of base-line budgeting. The rules of the game have long been "fixed" by the "progressives." The left gets everything they wanted, an increase in the debt limit, the budget taken off the table for 2012 and phony cuts they can crow about. Oooo, we changed the tone! But the politicians are still tone-deaf.
Dec '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Rob, Act Two is the Senate AND the White House, which both are in reach in 2012.
And the Act Two crisis is finding out whether the new President, Republican Senate and Republican House are really committed to controlling the debt and eliminating deficit spending, or only campaigned on that platform in the knowledge that they could ignore it once in power.
Act Three is where we resolve the question: will our heroes save America, or will they let her sink under politics and governance as usual?
Jul '11
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
This is neither a schoolboy exercise nor a football game. At stake here is the future of our country, and small time winnings or losings that lose sight of that aren't worth savaging each other about.
Allen West is a hero by anybody's calculation, and the idea that he's some kind of turncoat to be disposed of with the handiness of disparagement, primary'd out of office is ludicrous. This man gave up his Army career under enemy fire, not rhetorical bullets, saying that he'd walk through Hell with a gas can for his soldiers, and that such a man is on our side is an honor.
His strategy seems reasonable to me. Win what we can, consolidate each victory and attack again. Nothing prevents our side from proposing true change in the nature of governance, or of budgeting or actual dismantling some of the bureaucracy, and each battle bust be waged as aggressively as possible.
Actually, the worst number around isn't the debt, but that 40% of our citizens who think that O'boy is OK. That's the real problem. Let's keep our eye on that ball. Change that, change the world.
May '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
That Lt. Col. Allen West and Thomas Sowell both ultimately support Boehner's plan certainly gives me pause. But I'm not yet convinced it does more good than harm, even ignoring the many procedural errors in the approach to this point.
Rob Long
...and then remember that Republicans only control 1/3 of the federal government
The House of Representatives controls appropriations, does it not? I'm far from an expert on the modern budget process, but my understanding is that not every authority of the House is subject to the veto of the President or Senate. If that is the case, why are House Republicans not using that authority to accomplish what they can now?
Dec '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Let's use a different clinical metaphor: a fever. A fever has a couple of salutary effects: it signals that an infection or inflammation is present, and it can help make the body less hospitable to the infectious agent. A fever that goes out of control can kill the body.
The TEA Party Movement has indicated the severity of the inflammation in Federal spending and taxation. Its heat has helped the political system start to fight the infection. If it overheats, it can damage the system it's trying to return to health.
The TEA Party Movement, however, is far less of a threat than the traditional treatment plan of taking a few debt-ceiling NSAIDs, masking the fever, and letting the infection continue eating away at the body politic.
Mar '11
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
West is making a sensible argument. His letter to his constituents details exactly his thinking on this subject.
The only thing that will save us in the long run are large changes to the entitlement state.
Even if we held out for those and didn't raise the debt ceiling, Obama would not have allowed them. They were not possible in these negotiations.
Not raising the debt ceiling has real, calculable consequences. Some of these may come to pass regardless, but if a downgrade happens there is no one to blame now but the Democrats who are in power.
So, they fought for the cuts they could get passed, which was the right thing to do.
He is not arguing this solves the debt problem. It is merely an opening salvo.
Apr '11
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Pray tell Erik, where will you go if the Republican party becomes dominated by TEA Partiers i.e. conservatives? I agree this disaster must be undone gradually so as to not kill the patient, the nation, but the only change we have gotten is rhetorical. Democrats got what they wanted: a raise in the debt ceiling allowing them to continue their fiscally irresponsible ways. Republicans got a promise of cuts some time in future that experience tells use will not occur. I don't know what makes that such a good deal but then again I am not a moderate. To use your analogy of a diabetic, the patient will promise to reduce his or sugar intake 10 years from no if you allow them to add Twinkies to their diet today. Is that the moderate approach to health?
Dec '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
On the first point: conceded.
On the second point: actually, this deal makes sure that the issue of the next big debt increase becomes a central issue in the 2012 campaign. No, there won't be a debt limit showdown in Congress in the summer of 2012 -- but that means that the issue will be injected into the campaign rather than contained in Washington.
On the third point: what moderate compromise? The Democrats look more like they capitulated. It's certainly how their Lefty base sees it. And Obama is STILL shouting from the rooftops that he wants tax increases -- he wants 'em, he wants 'em, he wants 'em, complete with stomping of the feet.
May '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
The "long view" ignores the inherent advantages Democrats have and will continue to have.
It is easier to rack up large debts than to pay them off. It is easier to circumvent laws and the Constitution than to work within their authority. It is easier to create laws, agencies and bureaucracies than to undo them. It is easier to destroy trust with our allies than to regain trust. It is easier to lie, demonize and demagogue than to win people over with truth and virtue.
Democrats can win twice as much in half the time. Meanwhile, Republicans are still drafting plans that assume Republican majorities decades from now.
Does that mean Republicans must exercise every last inch of their power at all times? Perhaps not. Perhaps some compromise is necessary to hold voters while our culture is restored.
But don't tell me "slow and steady" is a no-brainer.
May '11
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
That is a terrific analogy that resonates with me. However, I don't think Bachmann and other staunch conservatives are trying to do anything more that controlling the IV glucose that is killing this semi-comatose patient who is dying from acute ketoacidosis. We are a long way from homeostasis.
Edited on August 1, 2011 at 9:09pmOct '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Tommy De Seno: 70%? Isn't that the last passing grade on a test?
How about I tell my football team to go out on Sunday and attain 70% of their goals?
If West thinks we got 70% out of the deal, he can't count anyway. · Aug 1 at 10:48am
I'd say the better analogy is that, if your football team is down 28-7 at halftime, you're not going able to score 21 points on one play to tie the game up. You have to score one touchdown at a time.
Jul '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Aaron Miller
But don't tell me "slow and steady" is a no-brainer.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Aaron, but I've come to see you as more of a Burkean conservative. This statement, as well as the impulse to suddenly and immediately slash spending and rapidly rollback government on the part f the Tea Party, seems to fly in the face of Burke. Maybe this point is better suited for its own conversation in the Member Feed, but does anyone get the feeling, like I do, that Burke is turning over in his grave at the Tea Party's statements and actions?
May '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
I think it was Churchill who said something to the effect that America can be counted on to do the right thing - after exhausting all other alternatives.
The deal had to be done and was the best we could do. It at least kept the dialogue momentum running in the right direction. Unfortunately I think that events are far outpacing our movements and we will encounter some very dark times before we truly do the right things.
Rob I think your steps make sense but are really required steps in order to achieve the steps that are truly important:
1. Roll back the size and scope of Govt. and its cost.
2. Roll back and reform the regulatory burden imposed by Govt.
3. Place the currency on a strongly backed footing and manage it responsibly.
Dec '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Start at the beginning.
Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee called us racists for negotiating the terms of a hitherto normally routine debt ceiling bill is because this bill ostensibly should have been a piece of cake, not a sugar coated devil sandwich, just like all the other past bills to increase the ceiling, as our historic first Islamic apostate president pointed out had occurred throughout the Reagan era (at short term intervals, however, not to reach beyond an election date more than a year away—let’s hope they miscalculated).
So a routine bill conflated into high drama stimulated by the histrionics Democrats typically use to infuse their message with emotions and have it seep into the folded coils of the inattentive independent’s throbbing brain matter, paradoxically, has brought more clarity to the ways Washington stuffs its pockets with our money. That’s a win for transparency.
However, we would have been better off defeating a simple bill because even if the inevitable epithet of racist can’t hurt us, compounding debt will. Now, in addition to guaranteeing government profligacy which a simple bill would have allowed anyway, we also have a praesdium organized to raise taxes in November.
Dec '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Many should take exception to—but not be offended by—the soft bigotry of low expectations of this straw man position of the tea party movement’s petulant impatience.
A constitutional amendment has to go to the states to ratify, which will take years or decades to ratify.
Why all this talk about the myopia of the tea party movement if it’s not the projection of one who suffers from it?
Oct '10
Re: Allen West Makes (Even More) Sense
Stuart Creque
Let's use a different clinical metaphor: a fever. A fever has a couple of salutary effects: it signals that an infection or inflammation is present, and it can help make the body less hospitable to the infectious agent. A fever that goes out of control can kill the body.
The TEA Party Movement has indicated the severity of the inflammation in Federal spending and taxation. Its heat has helped the political system start to fight the infection. If it overheats, it can damage the system it's trying to return to health. · Aug 1 at 11:28am
Using another clinical analogy, once a round of antibiotics is started, stopping before treatment is completed can be more harmful than never having started. The infection becomes stronger, and less susceptible to that line of attack. Regardless of what happens this week, the GOP is and will portrayed as radicals and extremists, the bad guys, protecting fat cats and corporate jets and throwing granny off a cliff.
Will massive spending cuts really be so much easier with Republicans in the Senate and the White House? Easy like Obamacare? Or Hillarycare?