Has the Internet ruined the US Republic?

[Primula Baggins]

Yes. I don't know if any evidence of crime will ever be found, but I certainly hope that no other president ever causes as much damage to our well-being and reputation.

[solicitr]

To our reputation? Agreed. To our well-being? I can't see that Dubyuh has done much damage. Except for taking a dive in the Microsoft antitrust case.

[axordil]

Down the line, damage to the reputation of the US can't help but endanger our well-being. I hate it that my son is growing up in a world where being called an "American" has become a bit of a slur on someone's character, and Bush and his ilk are the reason.

[yovargas]

It could be said that bad wars harm our well-being, even if in indirect ways. (The people dead or wounded in more direct ways.)

[solicitr]

Certainly or very real physical well-bing is endangered by the hideous fact that, for now, our friends fear us and our enemies don't.

[Primula Baggins]

You don't consider the huge deficits damage—or the money wasted on Bush's vanity war while our infrastructure crumbles, or the Katrina debacle?

[solicitr]

I have infinite trust in the capacity of the US Government to waste money and run up huge deficits no matter who's in the White House

The FEMA fiasco does bring into high relief one of the very worst aspects of the George II administration- the appointment of unqualified but ideologically correct nincompoops to technocratic positions. (As Sen Byrd said- that's what the Dept of Commerce is there for). Far too many wet-behind-the ears graduates of Regent and Liberty and Patrick Henry in way, way over their heads. Read "Inside the Emerald City" to see what damage this sort of thing caused in Iraq.

[Jnyusa]

I have infinite trust in the capacity of the US Government to waste money and run up huge deficits no matter who's in the White House

Clinton did have a better season.

The conclusion that can be drawn generally, I think, is that the former pigeonholing of tax-and-spend Democrats versus fiscally conservative Republicans no longer holds.

[solicitr]

Sad but true. There was a rare convergence in the mid-nineties with a DLC President and Gingrich' budget hawks on the Hill (as well as a nice fat 'peace dividend' to spend: the gutting of the military at that time is still having very ill effects today).

Unfortunately the Republican Party has been largely taken over by the Religious Right and their ilk, displacing the backbone of the old Taft-Eisenhower GOP: largely small-town Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce types, who were predisposed against red ink. No longer.

Rep Obey, chair of House Appropriations, was complaining on NPR this evening that his office has received 36,000 earmark requests from House members so far.

[baby tuckoo]

Soli, the "displacement" you speak of in the GOP took place a while ago, not recently. The Republican "backbone" (of which you also speak) preferred to think it wasn't hapening and, perhaps, just today are figuring it out.


I was among them (though not of them) at the time. It was at the end of Reagan's first term, the mid-eighties, that the religious right emerged as politically potent and red ink was no longer a red stain.


I disagree about the "gutting" of the military in the mid-nineties, but that is a different argument.

[solicitr]

BT, the RR's rise certainly began back then, but it took years before they really took over the leadership of the party. Bush 41 put foreign affairs in the hands of pragmatists like Brent Scowcroft and James Baker (much to the dismay of the Messianic Republicans). Balanced budgets remained at the top of the priority list until the fall of Gingrich and DeLay's effective takeover of the House. Ideological purity as a job qualification seems to have been a Bush 43 innovation.

As to 'gutting'- well, since 1990 the US Army has been reduced from 28 divisions, active and reserve, to 18; the Air Force from 37 wings to 21; the Navy from 202 surface warships to 110; attack submarines from 97 to 54; and while the Navy's carrier groups have only been cut from 15 to 12, that's deceptive since the number of Naval air squadrons has been slashed from 75 to 39: those carriers deploy over 1/3 empty.

[TheEllipticalDisillusion]

Luckily DeLay is gone. Maybe we will see a shift in budget concerns in Congress.

The lesson to learn from the diminished size of the US military is that you can't go whole hog into an invasion and hope to win it when you lack the sufficient resources.

[halplm]

this seems to have strayed WAY off topic...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

hal, are you wanting to have the thread split? I'm having trouble finding a convenient place to do so. If you have a suggestion, feel free to post it here or to PM me.